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The Daily Tar Heel

Local Nuclear Waste May Move to Nevada

President Bush announced that a new nuclear waste storage facility will open in 2010 at Yucca Mountain.

President Bush approved a national plan last week that authorizes using the Yucca Mountain facility to centralize used nuclear fuel storage, based on recommendations from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The site, which is based in Nevada, will not be open for another eight years.

Keith Poston, spokesman for Carolina Power & Light Co., which manages Shearon Harris, said the company supports Bush's decision.

"It's based on a study of scientific evidence for the last 20 years," Poston said.

"We're solidly behind this decision to locate (the waste) at one place."

But Poston also said storing used fuel at Shearon Harris is not a safety hazard.

"It's not dangerous," he said. "These are safe facilities.

"We have protective measures in place."

Poston said CP&L already has given money to the government so a national facility can be built as a central location for nuclear waste.

"Our customers have paid more than $400 million into making a central site and we have been waiting for the government to respond," Poston said. "(Our site) should not be seen as a permanent storage facility.

"We would prefer to move (the nuclear waste) to a central location."

But Poston said the recent on-site expansion of Shearon Harris' storage capabilities is still needed to handle the amount of immediate nuclear waste.

"(Radioactive waste) has to be stored for five years until it cools down enough for it to be transported," Poston said.

"For right now we will use the expanded site."

Bush's announcement comes just after a decision by the N.C. government not to distribute the drug potassium iodide to the general public.

Potassium iodide, or KI, is commonly administered to victims of nuclear exposure because it blocks the thyroid gland from receiving radioactive iodide, but this is only one area of concern to those exposed to radiation.

There are many radioactive materials released in a meltdown, and radioactive iodide is only one of those.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a measure that provides all states a free supply of KI for those residents living within 10 miles of a nuclear facility.

But Mel Fry, N.C. director of radiation protection, said the state's decision not to accept the drug was in part because of a concern that victims would incorrectly think about KI as a cure for exposure.

"The position of the state of North Carolina is that rather than to stockpile and distribute KI for general use, it is better to identify zones that need to be evacuated before the exposure can occur," Fry said.

"Offering a particular drug could give a false sense of security or even delay evacuation. The benefits don't offset the logistics.

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"I'd rather protect people through evacuation."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.

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