Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club
Position Statement on Radioactive Waste

The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club reaffirms its historic commitment to promoting reduction in the generation of radioactive waste and safe & proper management of those wastes remaining and to opposing efforts to make Texas a dumping ground for the nation’s radioactive wastes.

The Lone Star Chapter recommends that management of radioactive wastes in Texas incorporate the following principles:
• A publicly accountable state agency, not a private company, should be licensed to manage any radioactive wastes (although the State may contract with private companies to operate management sites).
• No new states should be added to the existing radioactive waste compact (Texas and Vermont), and the compact “loophole” – allowing the Texas Compact Commissioners to contract with any state, group of states, or company to import unlimited amounts of radioactive waste to be disposed of in Texas – must be closed.
• Radioactive wastes should not be buried below ground. Above-ground storage of waste in “assured isolation” facilities has the potential to avoid the health hazards of below-ground burial and avoid the high cost associated with remedial action that inevitably will be required if below ground disposal is used. If assured isolation is pursued, it must be statutorily defined so as to require inspection and monitoring on all sides of the facility, environmental monitoring, easy access to the waste canisters and ability to repackage the waste as leaks are detected, preventative maintenance, adequate financial assurances to repair damage or degradation, and “zero-release” as a design objective.
• Radioactive waste should be kept as near the site of generation as possible, with sites of the largest generators (the nuclear power plants) used for management of waste from other locations, in order to minimize the risks of accident or injury from transportation of such wastes.
• All decisions on the management, siting, storage, and transportation of radioactive waste should be made with full and effective public participation so that decision-makers and the public have a full range of information on which to base decisions.

Adopted by the Executive Committee of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club at its meeting in Austin, Texas on January 22, 2006.

Sierra Club Seeks Disclosure of Secret Waste Management Plans
August 18, 2005

Texas Family Fights Uranium Mining
July 25, 2005

Uranium Mining Company Seeks Legislative Exemption from Oversight
May 13, 2005

AP: Tons of uranium byproduct waste headed to West Texas
April 29, 2005

Sierra Club Endorses Gallego Resolution on Radioactive Wastes
April 26, 2005

Sierra Club Opposes Radioactive Waste License Amendment
April 11, 2005

Radioactive Wastes Headed through the Metroplex
March 10, 2005

Radioactive Waste Bill Nears Final Vote Groups Tell Senate to "Can It!"
May 26, 2003

Greed Prevails: Senate Passes Bill Making Texas National Commercial & Federal Dumping Ground
May 7, 2003

Radio Ad Alerts Public to Terrorist Threat from Nuclear Waste Bill
May 2, 2003

Disaster in the Making: Nuke Waste Bill Passes Texas House
April 23, 2003

Memo: Radioactive Waste Dump Could Be Disastrous for Texas
April 3, 2003

Bivins and West Propose Sticking Texas With Mountain of Federal Radioactive Waste
March 4, 2003

See how close
to your home
radioactive nuclear
waste will travel:

Reports & Articles

What is "Low-Level Radioactive Waste" and Why Should I Care?
February 1, 2005

Coming Soon to a Highway Near You--Many, many Containers of Radioactive Waste!
June 7, 2004

What is "Low-Level Radioactive Waste" Anyway?
March 1, 2004

TCEQ Moves Ahead With Radwaste Dump
December 18, 2003

TCEQ Nears Decision on Radioactive Waste Rules
November 2003

TCEQ Nears Decision on Radioactive Waste Rules
August 2003

2003 Radioactive Waste Principles

Beyond Nukes Fact Sheet and Conference Proceedings

Radioactive Waste Transportation Report from PIRG: "Radioactive Roads and Rails, Hauling Nuclear Waste Through our Neighborhoods" - June 2002

Mountain or Molehill? Sierra Club Report on Low Level Radioactive Waste in Texas - May 2002

Legislative

2003 Legislative Session
Rad Waste Legislators' voting records: House | Senate

2001 Legislative Session