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TONAWANDA NUCLEAR SITE INFO

" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. [1953] We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. " [1961] ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Sixty-four years ago U.S. President Harry Truman gave the order to use two atomic bombs against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This turning point in human history is well known to virtually all Americans and most of mankind. (For a revealing discussion of the little-known targeting details see an article from the May 2003 issue of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.) Yet until recently, few American citizens were aware of the extensive harm done here at home by Manhattan Project operations and the subsequent massive "Cold War" atomic weapons buildup. The health and lives of tens of thousands of unsuspecting workers and their families were sacrificed. Dozens of communities where production facilities were located were carelessly contaminated with radioactive materials and wastes, and still remain so. These Poisoned Workers & Poisoned Places are casualties of a Cold War that had no winners. Tonawanda, NY is one of these "legacy" communities. Today, some of its citizens are fighting with their own government to rectify past worker wrongs and to correct inadequate Army cleanup actions at the contaminated properties. These pages are dedicated to advancing this struggle.

Mushroom cloud from "Little Boy", much of the Hiroshima bomb's uranium was refined at Tonawanda, NY

TONAWANDA SITE FUNDAMENTALS

*Seaway* CURRENT UPDATES

LIBRARY

ENERGY EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION PROGRAM

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WNY NUCLEAR DUMPS

West Valley nuclear waste site

New independent West Valley study shows nuclear waste removal to be the safest and the least costly long-term management option Excavation and removal of all the radioactive wastes, including the deadly dump and tank wastes, from the West Valley, NY nuclear site is both the safest and the least costly long-term management option for New Yorkers, according to a State-sponsored study. This physically most unsuitable waste storage location would never have been selected under the subsequent radioactive waste facility siting regulations (10 CFR Part 61). All attempts to control erosion will inevitably fail in this steep glacial till valley; see photos. The ensuing discharge of wastes will poison the downstream water supplies of Cattaraugus Creek, Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. Given these new independent findings it remains to be seen if voters can muster the leadership necessary to change the State's current path and to pass a bond issue to exhume the West Valley nuclear wastes in the near term. Buttermilk Creek landslide, near the West Valley nuclear waste burial grounds  For years, shortsighted NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, a public corporation) and federal officials have backed indefinite onsite maintenance, not because it will save money and avoid environmental disaster in the long term, but simply because it is less costly in current budget years. The Department of Energy and site owner NYSERDA want the long overdue, 1987 court-ordered, sitewide closure NEPA decision at West Valley, NY to be delayed thirty more years while DOE/NYSERDA implement an "interim actions" decision process. In fact, their proposed "enhanced interim action end state" constitutes a de facto CERCLA long-term onsite management decision and as such clearly violates SEQRA, NEPA, and the Coalition's twenty year-old Stipulation of Compromise Settlement requiring a sitewide NEPA closure decision. It also represents a colossal failure of leadership that even surpasses the original siting blunder of a naive Nelson Rockefeller. Application of CERCLA ("Superfund") at West Valley would render public participation toothless and result in governments throwing away billions trying to maintain waste isolation at this untenable location. The DOE employed the same NEPA-evasion strategy at the Niagara Falls Storage Site in the 1980s, squandering millions on a faulty "interim" tumulus that otherwise would never have been sited; see the NFSS story. The Spitzer administration did not offer to join the Coalition in its complaint against DOE for a lawful cleanup process at West Valley. Instead NYSERDA joined DOE's "Core Team" and secretly planned this illegitmate CERCLA "interim end state". (See the 3/1/07 EPA letter to DOE and 4/17/07 DOE response that outline this illegal CERCLA plan). If these "interim actions" are allowed to proceed (note: the 2006 NYSERDA lawsuit against the DOE has been all but dropped) the 1987 court-ordered, NEPA sitewide closure process will be effectively terminated, an unconscionable act to long-time public interest participants. This would neutralize the most effective public interest watchdog the site has had: the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes. Unwisely, in November 2008, NYSERDA and the DOE proceeded to release and solicit public comment on an "interim actions" decision document. This document is the result of the illegitimate "interim actions end state" process that the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes has challenged. The case remains under review in federal district court. Instead, a safe, fiscally sound outcome at the West Valley site requires that New York State government take the following actions: Gov. Paterson should ask NY's two Democrat Senators to withdraw from consideration in the Senate the West Valley Remediation Act (WVRA) bill. This bill was originally scripted by NYSERDA at former Gov. Pataki's direction. NYSERDA should vigorously pursue its lawsuit against the DOE, but drop its complaint for minimal CERCLA damages. NYS Attorney General Cuomo should take legal actions to enforce completion of the 1987 sitewide NEPA process, which was illegally terminated following release of the 1996 sitewide closure draft EIS, and to assure compliance with the letter of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act including: 1) injunctions to stop illegal "interim actions" being conducted before the legitimate NEPA sitewide review process ROD is issued; this ROD should have been issued over ten years ago, 2) a declaration that DOE is responsible for exhumation of the high-level waste tanks, the NRC-licensed Disposal Area (NDA) and the federally-sourced materials in the SDA, as well as removal of the process buildings and soils, and 3) a declaration that NRC must perform a site-specific EIS to fulfill its main WVDPA task: prescribing site-specific cleanup criteria. But first, Gov. Paterson needs to end the State's conflict of interest at the site by declaring that the State Disposal Area (SDA) burial ground must be exhumed, even if that means a substantial share of this cost is borne by New Yorkers and bonding of the project is required. On May 24, 2007 Republican Congressman Randy Kuhl re-introduced the WVRA bill as H.R.2476, joining NY's two Democrat Senators in pushing this irresponsible piece of legislation. Rep. Kuhl first introduced this bill two years ago. Ignoring the opposition of over 40 citizens' groups, Senators Schumer and Clinton previously re-introduced the WVRA bill in the 110th Congress as S.81.

Evaluation of the West Valley Remediation Act bill

Appalling irresponsibility by NY's Democrat US Senators: July 2003, Schumer introduced the site transfer "study" bill; 9/30/05, Presidential-aspirant Clinton and Schumer introduced S.1806, the Pataki administration's WVRA bill, in the Senate.

Public overwhelmingly calls for full waste removal
Comments on the 1996 West Valley sitewide closure draft EIS
Great Lakes United resolution on West Valley Nuclear Wastes

West Valley workers seek EEOICPA compensation for cancers
Former West Valley operator, Nuclear Fuel Services, has near-criticality spill
New firm to wrap up DOE operations at West Valley
Safety lapses result of contractor's rush to pocket acceleration bonuses

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Niagara Falls Storage Site

A Long History of Poor Decisions Blatant violations of NEPA are highlighted in a 1994 ROLE letter; also see DEC's comments on the 1984 DEIS (note comments 4-7, and 9-22), and officials' recommendations for management of the K-65 residues. *update* Legislative Mismanagement of K-65 Residues IEER report slams DOE mismanagement of K-65 residues 1994 walkover survey of the NFSS vicinity CWM radiation survey disputed Army will not form new group; Rauch letter; Army plan met by unified local government resistance.

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Did you know?:
Atmospheric A-bomb testing in Nevada during the 1950s released 150 million Curies of iodine-131, approximately 15 times the amount released by the Chernobyl meltdown. Downwind fallout heavily contaminated much of the U.S. milk supply with I-131 and strontium-90; New York State was one of the more affected areas. ... more

The most recent report of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII) finally has confirmed what independent experts have been saying for many years: the dose-effect relationship is linear right down to zero dose, i.e. there is no safe dose of ionizing radiation below which cancer effects are not seen. The report states that 10 rems (100 mSv) of ionizing radiation, which is roughly the lifetime exposure to the average level of unavoidable background radiation (100 mrem/year), produces a cancer rate of 1 cancer in 100 people so exposed. Further, inheritable mutations produced in egg and sperm cells, which occurs in animal models, also occurs in humans. The report advises that individuals who have received whole body CT scans (several rems) should be followed for health effects.

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LEGISLATIVE WATCH > NYS starts nuclear cleanup rulemaking > West Valley transfer to feds opposed > High-level waste declassified > High-level K-65 Residues misclassified

NUCLEAR WASTE NEWS > HLW likely to remain onsite indefinitely > Texas approves WCS's huge LLRW dump > Texas is sued over K-65 residues dump > NRC finalizes dilution as 'solution'

WAR ON IRAQ > Will Obama honor his Iraq pullout pledge? > Obama: Gitmo prison to close > More Bush administration felonies > Bush's Plamegate

INFORMATION FOR VOTERS > Billions to bail out corrupt corporations, but Obama won't reorganize for public benefit > Species extinction: 25-30% already gone > Universal health care

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Cost of the War in Iraq

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The Bush/Blair war ... "Shock and Awe" has destabilized the entire region;
4300 US soldiers and 700,000 Iraqis killed in an illegal war;
meanwhile the "Doomsday Clock" moves closer to midnight.
Greenspan denounces Bush policies, yet like most US media,
ignores the consequences of huge 'off-budget' Iraq war costs.
1994 Cheney video: Cheney/Bush41 reasons not to invade Iraq.
A true democrat spells out Bush's responsibility for the war;
Back at home, the Bush Administration is caught trying to limit atomic worker compensation payments.

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About TNSI

Last updated June 2, 2009

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