By Josh Long
Jackson Hole Guide

The British parent of an American company which was awarded a contract to treat nuclear waste and other hazardous waste in Idaho has been accused by an environmental group of discharging radioactive contaminants into both the air and sea in Europe.

BNFL, Inc., an American subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels, will treat 65,000 cubic meters of hazardous materials at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory beginning in 2003, if it obtains a clean air permit and hazardous waste and PCB permit.

British Nuclear Fuel, which is partly owned by the British government, operates two plants at its Sellafield site in England, where the company is charged with eliminating nuclear waste and reprocessing nuclear fuel.

Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, a UK-based organization, cited many alleged environmental problems associated with British Nuclear Fuel's work in 1997, including:

• Waste discharge from the Sellafield/Thorpe plant that has polluted the Irish sea and air. Lobsters on the Irish coast have been tested for high levels of radioactivity.
• Rates of childhood leukemia 14 times the national average have been recorded in the Sellafield communities.
• Pigeons living around the Sellafield site have been found to be "severely contaminated" by nuclear waste, carrying high concentrations of plutonium in their feathers.

Lawsuits are also pending, according to a 1997 CORE statement. However, CORE representatives could not be reached for comment, or to provide documentation to support their allegations.

David Campbell, manager of BNFL, Inc., said "the statements they make stretch the truth, to be mild."

Campbell said some levels of radio-activity have been detected in the sea. However, according to several studies, including one by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, the levels of radiation are "of no radiological significance" and below a dose "one would receive from background radiation" such as exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, he said. The fact that rates of leukemia are so high in Sellafield communities has apparently prompted several studies to find a causal relationship between the nuclear plant and the disease for the last decade.

However, Campbell wrote, no studies "have shown any link between a radiation dose from the site and childhood leukemia." He adds that analysis by several boards "has concluded that levels of radiation in the environment near Sellafield are hundreds of times too low to account for childhood leukemia." Studies have shown pigeons at the Sellafield site have been contaminated with some radio-active particles, Campbell said. He noted the UK's Agriculture Ministry and Environmental Agency were immediately informed, and added there were "low levels of contamination," not "severe" contamination, as reported by CORE.

Campbell did acknowledge that British Nuclear Fuels discharges some of its waste water into the Irish sea. However, he said, as in the U.S., the company is required to meet stringent rules and regulations to manage nuclear waste. CORE also reported four Irish citizens filed a lawsuit against British Nuclear Fuels. Campbell did not confirm whether the suit had been filed.

In 1980, the environmental group was founded by local residents to fight the importing of spent nuclear fuel to Sellafield for reprocessing.

According to a group release: "CORE's aim is to fight the wide range of nuclear issues facing Cumbria and its communities as a result of British Nuclear Fuel's reprocessing and associated operations ...."

British Nuclear Fuel has managed nuclear fuel services including reprocessing for the commercial nuclear industry for more than 40 years.