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Last revised: April, 1996
Nuke Notes
Crisis Averted in Ward Valley
by Tori Woodard
IF ENOUGH PEOPLE MAKE A BIG ENOUGH FUSS, THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO LISTEN.
That became clear this winter in the Save Ward Valley campaign.
Thanks to the media coverage, letters, post cards, phone calls, and faxes that our coalition generated, President Clinton agreed in January to veto any legislation that would transfer federal land in Ward Valley to the State of California so the State can construct a nuclear waste dump. People camping on the site of the proposed dump since October, and the fact that hundreds of people are on an Emergency Response Network to defend the land if necessary, showed the depth of our commitment to stopping the dump.
The resistance camp got Ward Valley into the national media for the first time. The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Associated Press, and several regional newspapers came out to do stories, calling us "ecological guerrillas." They were more impressed with our used Army tent than with our nonviolence guidelines. Regardless of their slant, the national news stories did carry facts about the proposed dump - that it would be unlined, 18 miles from the Colorado River, and similar to a nuclear waste dump near Beatty, Nevada, that has already leaked all the way down to groundwater.
GOVERNMENT WILL STUDY WARD VALLEY SOME MORE
In February the Department of the Interior announced that before it transfers the land to California, it will study the proposed dump project for another year. They will have Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) test for tritium under the Beatty site and at various depths under Ward Valley. Tritium (which is radioactive hydrogen) has been found 100 feet below the surface in Ward Valley. The only way it could have gotten there is from the above-ground nuclear bomb explosions in the '60s.
The theory behind these unlined desert dumps is that dry soil that is several hundred feet deep will provide a natural containment for radioactive waste. The presence of tritium under Ward Valley debunks that theory by demonstrating that radionuclides do travel down through dry soil. At Beatty, Nevada, much higher levels of tritium were found under the dump and around its perimeter than were found some distance from the dump.
U.S. Ecology (the dump operator at Beatty and proposed dump operator For Ward Valley) illegally dumped liquid waste containing tritium directly into the ground at Beatty. They say they would never, never do that at Ward Valley, so they don't think the Beatty leak applies to Ward Valley. However, one cloudburst could fill the trenches in Ward Valley with as much water as the total amount of liquid waste that was dumped at Beatty. The rainwater could mix with radionuclides in the trench and carry them down toward the Groundwater. Any way you look at it - wet or dry - uncontained tritium travels.
Livermore Lab's role in all this is to be an independent agency that will confirm the findings of tritium at both sites and see if it has gone below 100 feet at Ward Valley. Of course, LLNL is neither independent from the nuclear waste arena nor unbiased. The Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to give LLNL a key role in waste management. DOE's draft Waste Management plan proposes to truck mixed waste from five California nuclear weapons related sites to Livermore, where it would be incinerated. The ash would then be buried at Livermore's Site 300 or at the Nevada Test Sits.
On their own, the tritium tests won't save Ward Valley. In its press release, the Interior Department said it would use the results of the tritium tests to determine the conditions for transferring federal land in Ward Valley to the State of California for the dump project. The press release doesn't say they will consider canceling the project altogether.
CITIZEN OPPOSITION STILL KEY
Only continued mass opposition to the dump project will force the government to abandon it. Toward that end, people are still camping on the land where the trenches would be dug. They need you to spend a week or more in Ward Valley helping them maintain the round-the-clock vigil. The Ward Valley Coalition is organizing a large Spring Gathering in Ward Valley from April 11-14. Numbers count; the authorities hope the resistance to the dump will ebb during their year-long study, and they will notice how many people come to the Spring Gathering. You will enjoy your visit if you come to Ward Valley in April; wildflowers will be blooming and desert tortoises will be out of their burrows. The Spring Gathering will include workshops, strategy meetings, cultural performances, community meals, and nature walks. It will be an opportunity to make a spiritual connection with the land and with indigenous people from the area.
For more information about the Spring Gathering, or to send financial support if you can't go to Ward Valley in person, please contact the Save Ward Valley office at 107 F Street, Needles CA 92989. Phone: (819) 928-8287.
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