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4 <br />RESOLUTION OF THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />OPPOSING <br />THE SITING OF A RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY <br />AT THE WAKE/CHATHAM COUNTY SITE <br />WHEREAS, a site located on the Wake County side of the border of Wake and <br />Chatham Counties is under consideration for use as a "low-level" <br />radioactive waste disposal facility and a license application to establish <br />and operate a facility at that site has been submitted by Chem-Nuclear <br />Systems, Inc.; and <br />WHEREAS, citizens and local elected officials of Chatham, Wake and Orange <br />Counties have serious concerns regarding the potential negative impacts of <br />utilizing this particular site for a waste disposal facility and have <br />closely monitored the process of developing site studies, waste handling <br />and transportation plans, as well as the licensing review process; and <br />WHEREAS, consultants who are not under contract to Chem-Nuclear Systems, <br />Inc. but who are experts in low-level radioactive waste generation, <br />disposal and regulation, hydrology and other fields germane to this siting <br />and licensing process have found that the proposed site is not optimal for <br />burial of wastes and that its proposed capacity is far greater than <br />necessary to contain - as initially intended - the low-level radioactive <br />waste generated in twenty years by the Southeast Compact states; and <br />WHEREAS, the proposed site does not, in the expert opinion of many <br />consultants and state regulators, meet licensing requirements that will <br />provide reasonable assurances that the health, safety and welfare of the <br />citizens of the region will be adequately safeguarded; and <br />WHEREAS, the continued investigation and consideration of this site will <br />result in the expenditure of enormous sums of public funds; <br />NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />that the Board opposes the continued consideration, under the current <br />matrix of site suitability and use parameters, of the Wake/Chatham site for <br />a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility; and <br />BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board requests that The Honorable Fred <br />Heineman introduce legislation modifying the federal Low-Level Radioactive <br />Waste Policy Act to provide for: 1) a national low level waste repository <br />in a location not constrained by ground water concerns or other <br />consequential environmental factors; 2) the regulatory permissibility of <br />establishing single-state low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities; <br />and 3) the establishment of standards requiring minimal concentration <br />levels, volume reduction and waste .form stabilization of all radioactive <br />contaminated materials destined for subsurface disposal. <br />B. TRANSFER OF COUNTY OWNED PROPERTY TO TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL <br />FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING <br />County Manager John Link asked the Board to consider adopting a <br />resolution that would authorize staff to pursue a process that would result <br />