Nuclear Information and Resource Center (NIRS)
The Nuclear Information and Resource Center (NIRS) is one of 39 environmental and peace organizations that won a landmark lawsuit against the U.S Department of Energy for failure to follow-through on adequate environmental cleanup during its 50+ years of nuclear weapons research, testing, and production. Part of this settlement was the establishment of the MTA Fund (Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund), which provided $6.25 million for tribes and non-profit organizations to assess and conduct independent technical and scientific studies regarding the multitude of technical, ecological, and health issues surrounding the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.
Clark University was chosen by the non-profit peace and environmental groups as the conservator of these reports to ensure they remain available to the public in perpetuity. The unconventional election of university as conservator is an innovative example, particularly within the era of Web 1.0, of higher education as protector and provider of information through wide dissemination.
The research and reports available in this series were conducted by the Nuclear Information and Resource Center (NIRS) with their allocated portion of the MTA fund.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu.
-
Out of Control – On Purpose: DOE’s Dispersal of Radioactive Waste into Landfills and Consumer Products
Nuclear Information and Resource Center (NIRS), Diane D'Arrigo, and Mary Olson
The purpose of this project was to understand how much nuclear weapons-generated radioactive waste, material and property the Department of Energy (DOE) releases into the marketplace. We sought to identify how the radioactivity gets out, legally and practically, and to the extent possible, where it goes. Since the production of atomic power and weapons involves many of the same radioactive-waste generating facilities throughout the nuclear fuel chain, we also sought to understand the larger context in which this man-made radioactivity is managed and released into general commerce.
We reviewed DOE’s national and site-specific policies, guidance, rules and procedures which allow some radioactive contamination out of the weapons complex. This DOE-generated radioactivity can go directly to hazardous and solid waste facilities, to recyclers of scrap, concrete, plastics, soil, asphalt, rubble, paper, equipment and other media--none of which are intended to take Atomic Energy Act regulated radioactivity.
Since much basic information about ionizing radiation is written by those who seek to minimize concern about its impact, NIRS offers extensive framing of these issues including the difficulties of detecting radioactivity and concerns about bias and inadequacy of even the fundamental units of radiation.
This report is accompanied by fourteen appendices, all of which are available here as supplemental downloads.
This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at digitalrepository@clarku.edu
