March 28, 2000

U.S. Abandons Plan to Build a Nuclear-Waste Incinerator

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    By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

    DENVER, March 27 -- The Energy Department said today that it was abandoning a plan to build the country's first nuclear-waste incinerator in southern Idaho, a decision that was hailed by environmental groups that used considerable political and financial might to fight the plan.

    The decision was part of the settlement of a lawsuit the groups had filed against the department seeking to stop construction of the incinerator, or failing that, to collect $1 billion in damages if it began operating. The plaintiffs were largely concerned that wind currents might have blown radioactive and toxic dust across western Wyoming, an area that includes Yellowstone National Park and the upscale resort community of Jackson, Wyo., where the main opposition group, Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, is based.

    "The magnitude of this victory cannot be overstated," said Tom Patricelli, executive director of the Yellowstone group. "I know it sounds like a cliché, but the people came together and spoke. We made a lot of noise, and we were right. So we got on their radar screen."

    In addition to stopping construction plans for the incinerator at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, which is 90 miles west of Jackson, the settlement calls on Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to appoint a panel of experts to explore alternatives to incineration as a method of nuclear waste disposal.

    Mr. Richardson said halting the construction "eliminates a potentially festering problem in the future."

    But in a broader context, he added, "I also want a careful examination of new technology as an alternative to incineration. I'm not satisfied that that has been fully explored. There may not be a better way, but we need to examine all alternatives."

    The lawsuit, which named Mr. Richardson among others as a defendant, was one of many tools the environmental groups used to persuade the government to reconsider plans for the incinerator. They mounted intensive lobbying and direct-mail efforts, paid for in part with $500,000 in donations, 20 percent of which came from two notable Jackson home owners -- Harrison Ford, the actor, and James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, who each donated $50,000.

    "This is a marvelous example of how people gathered together to bring Goliath to his knees," said Gerry L. Spence, a well-known lawyer who worked at no cost for the environmental groups. He, too, lives in the target area, just outside of Jackson in the small town of Wilson.

    Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, Gov. Jim Geringer of Wyoming and Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming -- all Republicans -- also played crucial roles in the negotiations.

    As part of the settlement, the Energy Department will proceed with plans to build a plant at the laboratory that compacts waste for shipment to the department's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Currently, 65,000 cubic meters of waste is awaiting treatment in containers. Most of it is diluted radioactive and hazardous material built up during 50 years of cold-war weapons research. The waste includes up to one ton of plutonium-239, which is equal to the power of 166 of the kind of atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in World War II.

    By law, the waste must be disposed of by 2018.

    Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company