Subj: (GDR) U.S. Ups Estimate of Plutonium Waste - NY Times
Date: 10/21/00 1:05:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Ndunlks
BCC: Phikent

Global Deactivation of Radiation
Feel free to forward this report onto a friend, or another mailing list. Please encourage everyone who shares our interest in
Global Deactivation
to visit our website for further information at GDR (www.gdr.org)

If you have any information that might help in the Deactivation of Radiation, please send to: DrGeedari@GDR.org. To Subscribe to our free reports, Send your request with the words "Subscribe GDR" in the subject area to Subscribe GDR. Or go directly to the sign up section on GDR.. at Global Deactivation of Radiation Web Site EMAIL List Signup
Help spread the need to finding ways to  deactivate radiation. 

GDR needs: researchers, volunteers, web designers and funds.


From: Ndunlks@aol.com, eaglegp@aol.com (GDR Researcher Steven L. Wilson, Sr and GDR Founder Fred M Davis)


Global Deactivation of Radiation 3 Cents Long-distance environment savings http://www.gdr.org/environment.html
OUR SUPERSTORE http://www.gdr.org/excel.html


U.S. Ups Estimate of Plutonium Waste - NY Times


NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The Energy Department has increased by 10 times its estimate of how much plutonium and other man-made radioactive material has been released in the ground or buried in poorly built containers, the New York Times said on Saturday.

The Times said that the department for years had stated that more than 97 percent of plutonium and related waste generated by the first four decades of nuclear weapons production was in "retrievable" storage awaiting burial at a new depository.

Only about 3 percent had been placed in soil or buried, it said.

Energy Department officials now say there is 10 times the amount of such wastes in the soil and in inadequate containers than previously estimated, the Times said.

The new estimate was said to come three years after an environmental group called the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said the government's data was inconsistent and contradictory.

Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the group, told the Times that the government was doing little to address the problem of wastes in the dirt and in rusty, leaking barrels.

The Times cited a July letter to Makhijani from Carolyn Huntoon, assistant secretary for environmental management at the Energy Department, saying the department would not change the way it was managing the buried wastes.

The department's policy is to gather information on them and review them on a case-by-case basis, it said.

In a statement to the newspaper on Friday, Huntoon said the department would ask the National Academy of Sciences to review the Energy Department's strategies.

Huntoon added that the National Academy of Sciences backs the department's policies toward the wastes.

The Times said it was unclear how much material had leached into the ground at dump sites around the country.

03:23 10-21-00

Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Get your GDR T Shirt now!