URGENT! Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority considers radioactive dump

Date: Wednesday May 20

Time: 5:00pm

 Where: City Council Chambers

A resolution 15-7 for Sandia Lab’s Mixed Waste Landfill will be considered. High level radioactive and chemical wastes from nuclear reactor meltdown experiments and nuclear weapons testing were haphazardly disposed in the dump in plastic bags, cardboard boxes and steel drums that decay and corrode. High level radioactive waste requires deep geologic disposal. All is above Albuquerque’s drinking water aquifer in shallow pits and trenches. There are no liners beneath the wastes leaking from the dump. The dirt cover installed above the wastes is worthless to prevent the wastes from reaching groundwater.

Other dumps at Sandia and Kirtland that also held radioactive and chemical waste have leaked and contaminated the groundwater and had to be excavated. Sandia’s records show the dump contains 119 barrels of plutonium and americium contaminated waste; chlorinated solvents; tons of depleted uranium; waste from Three Mile Island accident; nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site. Metallic sodium is present that can cause an explosion. Two uranium fires have occurred at the dump. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from a nuclear reactor and storms have poured into the dump wastes.

The radioactive and chemical wastes are extraordinarily dangerous and will threaten people for hundreds of thousands of years if not excavated and safely stored. Sandia has the technology to safely excavate the dump but instead has applied for Corrective Action Complete – that means leaving the waste to threaten the public forever.

Come and speak out!

Dave McCoy, Director

Citizen Action New Mexico

505 262-1862