Orange County NC Website
2 <br /> RESOLUTION OF THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> OPPOSING <br /> THE SITING OF A RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY <br /> AT THE <br /> WAKE/CHATHAM COUNTY SITE <br /> WHEREAS,a site located on the Wake County side of the border of Wake and Chatham Counties is <br /> under consideration for use as a"low-level" radioactive waste disposal facility and a license application <br /> to establish and operate a facility at that site has been submitted by Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc.; and <br /> WHEREAS, citizens and local elected officials of Chatham, Wake and Orange Counties have serious <br /> concerns regarding the potential negative impacts of utilizing this particular site for a waste disposal <br /> facility and have closely monitored the process of developing sitestudies, waste handling and <br /> transportation plans, as well as the licensing review process; and <br /> WHEREAS,consultants who are not under contract to Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. butwho are <br /> experts in low-level radioactive waste generation, disposal and regulation, hydrogeology and other <br /> fields germane to this siting 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 necessary to contain- as initially <br /> intended -the low-level radioactive waste generated in twenty years by the Southeast Compact states; <br /> and <br /> WHEREAS,the proposed site does not, in the expert opinion of many consultants and state regulators, <br /> meet licensing requirements that will provide reasonable assurances that the health, safety and welfare <br /> of the citizens of the region will be adequately safeguarded; and <br /> WHEREAS,the continued investigation and consideration of this site will result in the expenditure of <br /> enormous sums of public funds; <br /> NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Orange County Board of Commissioners that the <br /> Board opposes the continued consideration, under the current matrix of site suitability and use parameters, <br /> of the Wake/Chatham site for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility; and <br /> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board requests that The Honorable Fred Heineman introduce <br /> legislation modifying the federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act to provide for: 1) a national <br /> low level waste repository in a location not constrained by ground water concerns or other consequential <br /> environmental factors; 2)the regulatory permissibility of establishing single-state low-level radioactive <br /> waste disposal facilities; and 3)the establishment of'standards requiring minimal concentration levels, <br /> volume reduction and waste form stabilization of all radioactive contaminated materials destined for <br /> subsurface disposal. <br /> This the 17th day of October, 1995 <br /> * Moses Carey,Jr., Chair <br />