FEINSTEIN PUSHES FOR STRONGER RULES ON LAB CLEANUP; SENATOR SEEKS NEW ROCKETDYNE AREA STUDY.Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer More stringent standards should be used in cleaning up the nuclear facilities at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Santa Susana can refer to several places:
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (born June 22, 1933) is the senior U.S. Senator from California, having held office as a senator since 1992. She is a member of the Democratic Party. asked the Clinton administration Noun 1. Clinton administration - the executive under President Clinton executive - persons who administer the law to impose the stricter standards that the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and has said it has been unable to negotiate with the Department of Energy, which is doing the cleanup work. ``She's basically saying she wants these tougher standards to guide the cleanup,'' said Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Feinstein. In a statement released Friday, the California Democrat said that because of chemical and radioactive waste produced at the site and the proximity to residential neighborhoods, the federal government ``should take extra caution to make sure the Santa Susana site is cleaned up adequately.'' In letters to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, Feinstein also called for funding to begin a community health study. The senator's statement comes in the wake of last month's UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX report that showed higher cancer death rates among workers exposed to a chemical used in rocket testing. That report was a companion to a 1997 UCLA report finding higher cancer rates among radiation workers at the lab. Rocketdyne's parent company, Boeing Inc., is working under a federally funded $148.5 million contract from the Department of Energy to clean up the nuclear portion of the facility in the hills between Simi Valley and Chatsworth that had been used for nuclear and rocket engine testing for decades. DOE officials said the cleanup standards being used had been accepted by a range of agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent U.S. government commission, created by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and charged with licensing and regulating civilian use of nuclear energy to protect the public and the environment. , the federal EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. guidelines and the state Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
Tougher standards, though discussed between DOE and EPA, would require more work and funding, said Roger Liddle, DOE's deputy assistant manager for environmental management. ``There's a practical limit as to how many taxpayer dollars you want to spend on the issue,'' said Liddle. ``We will spend, and we will do, whatever it takes to do the right thing.'' Standards for radiation cleanup are set by a computer models that determine how many cancer deaths could result from various levels of radiation exposure. The DOE is working from standards that allow radiation exposure to be 15 millirems per year, officials said. They say the cancer risk is approximately three chances per 10,000 people; the EPA usually uses standards that put cancer risk from various contaminants between one in 10,000 and one in 1 million, officials said. ``We've been trying to get the DOE to agree to at least look'' at the standards, said Larry Bowerman, chief of the EPA's office of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is a Federal law of the United States contained in 42 U.S.C. ยงยง6901-6992k. It is usually pronounced as "rick-rah" or "Wreck-rah. Corrections Activity. ``There has been a problem,'' he said. ``What Feinstein is trying to do is resolve a difference of opinion'' between the two agencies. Bowerman said that the EPA would set the exact standard after making a survey of the facility, but that DOE has said such a survey could only be taken after the limits were set. ``DOE seems to want us to agree to the . . . cleanup levels before we do the survey,'' said Bowerman. ``We didn't feel like we should need to agree.'' However, Liddle said the issue is merely a technical one between the two agencies, and not a dispute. ``There's this impression we're having this big feud with EPA and that's not it,'' he said. |
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