WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 — The manufacture of consumer products out of radioactively contaminated materials discarded from commercial nuclear power plants and government bomb factories could become a fact of American life. In an extraordinary move, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked the National Academy of Sciences to offer its advice about the controversial practice.
RICHARD MESERVE, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, made the request Wednesday during the public portion of a special National Academy of Sciences committee meeting in Washington.
Meserve asked the NAS panel to examine the practice of releasing radioactively contaminated solid waste materials into everyday commerce. He said this type of recycling is necessary to ensure the continued viability of the commercial nuclear power plant industry and the Cold War decommissioning activities of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“There has basically been no guidance as to how those problems should be addressed,” Meserve said to the panel of NAS scientists. “It is our hope that we will get your findings and recommendations as to how we should proceed in a timely manner.”
Meserve’s request of the NAS panel is the latest development in a long standing government and industry led effort to establish a consistent system governing the release of solid materials from NRC licensed facilities.
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http://www.msnbc.com/news/511583.asp
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-Administrator / Owner
"Everything was true. God was an astronaut. Oz really is over the
rainbow. ...and Midian is where the monsters live." -Nightbreed
RICHARD MESERVE, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, made the request Wednesday during the public portion of a special National Academy of Sciences committee meeting in Washington.
Meserve asked the NAS panel to examine the practice of releasing radioactively contaminated solid waste materials into everyday commerce. He said this type of recycling is necessary to ensure the continued viability of the commercial nuclear power plant industry and the Cold War decommissioning activities of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“There has basically been no guidance as to how those problems should be addressed,” Meserve said to the panel of NAS scientists. “It is our hope that we will get your findings and recommendations as to how we should proceed in a timely manner.”
Meserve’s request of the NAS panel is the latest development in a long standing government and industry led effort to establish a consistent system governing the release of solid materials from NRC licensed facilities.
Want to learn more?
http://www.msnbc.com/news/511583.asp
------------------
-Administrator / Owner
"Everything was true. God was an astronaut. Oz really is over the
rainbow. ...and Midian is where the monsters live." -Nightbreed