Leroux, Jules Marie Auguste]]> Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Bailey, Albert]]> Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Erie County (N.Y.) -- Maps]]> Erie County Department of Planning]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Peace]]> Security, International]]> Browder, Earl, 1891-1973]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)/Rare Book Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Cholera--Epidemiology.]]> Cholera--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Newman, James M., -1860]]> Rare Book Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Freemasonry.]]> Freemasonry--New York (State)--History.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> ENG]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Freemasonry.]]> Freemasonry--New York (State)--History.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> ENG]]> Seneca]]> Seneca Nation of New York]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)/Rare Book Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Catholic churches.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Religious organizations--United States.]]> Church buildings--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> ENG]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Photographic postcards.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> Buffalo Country Club.]]> Buffalo Morning Express]]> ENG]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Photographic postcards.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> Buffalo Country Club.]]> Buffalo Morning Express]]> ENG]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Photographic postcards.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> Buffalo Country Club.]]> Buffalo Morning Express]]> ENG]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Photographic postcards.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> Buffalo Country Club.]]> ENG]]> Postcards--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Photographic postcards.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Societies and clubs.]]> Buffalo Country Club.]]> [illegible] (author)]]> ENG]]> Carpenter's Hand]]> Developmentally disabled--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Baxter, Tim (On-line Editor)]]> Mombrea, John (On-line Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Kaufman, Ken (Composer of original score)]]> Newberg, Rich (Lyricist and Composer of lullaby _Let Me Cradle Your Dreams_)]]> Sunday, Bonnie (Lyricist)]]> Moriarty, Kathy (Musical Performer)]]> Giovenco, Joseph (Field Assistant -- Ukraine)]]> Buscaglia, Jennifer (Research Assistant)]]> Dadey, Kelly (Director)]]> Foster, Joseph D. (Tape Operator)]]> eng]]> Faivre, Jules-Abel]]> Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Faivre, Jules-Abel]]> Rare Book Room of the B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]> Early Twentieth Century (1900-1925)]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]>
Initial projections for the cleanup of radioactive waste pegged costs at $235 million dollars. The project, it was thought, would take seventeen years to complete. By 2018 the amount spent totaled $2.3 billion dollars. The full cleanup price tag could be in the range of $10 billion dollars, according to earlier estimates by the U.S. Department of Energy.  

In 2020, forty years after the site was declared a National Demonstration Project, efforts were still underway to dismantle and remove the remaining contaminated buildings still standing on the site. Other efforts were focused on either dismantling and removing radioactive waste material from burial and storage areas or making them more secure. Environmental watchdog groups continue to raise serious questions about public safety and health.

WIVB-TV, the CBS affiliate in Buffalo, closely covered the West Valley story and presented many reports that focused on the grassroots efforts that helped shape the massive cleanup project. The movement grew in intensity as New York State and the federal government considered proposals to accept more nuclear waste at the site. 

This overview is the first of five groups of television news reports, videos, and films documenting the political, economic, and social processes that led to a forty-year cleanup effort that is still in progress. The multi-billion-dollar undertaking continues to serve as a national demonstration project. 

The reports and summaries that follow are compiled by WIVB-TV senior correspondent (ret.) Rich Newberg. He played a major role in covering initial events as they unfolded in the early 1980s. 

Overview Summary: (1979 - 2020)                

1. The Nuclear Waste Challenge
CBS report by Robert Schackne lays out the challenge: 1979
“Some 600,000 gallons of lethally radioactive liquid waste that must be disposed of by a technology that has never been developed.” 

2. Migrating Radioactive Waste
WIVB-TV report by Rich Newberg: 1982
Sand “lenses” in trenches containing low level nuclear waste provide paths for migration of contaminated rain water. Sierra Club issues a warning that the “flaky” bedrock is not a suitable barrier.  

3. Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Reports by WIS-TV, Columbia South Carolina: 1983 
Problems at West Valley lead to a rethinking of plans to activate a similar privately-owed nuclear reprocessing plant in Barnwell, South Carolina.

4. Who Would Accept Radioactive Waste?
CBS report by Bill Curtis: 1982
The small Texas Town of Tulia considers accepting radioactive waste from sites such as West Valley. Tulia sits on top of one of the biggest salt beds in the country. Salt beds are one of three geological formations deemed suitable by the federal government to store radioactive waste. 

5. West Valley Chosen for a National Demonstration Project (1980)
WIVB-TV Report by Allen Costantini: 1982
Ten years after Nuclear Fuel Services stopped operations at West Valley, control of the site is turned over to the state and federal governments and the Westinghouse Corporation. Westinghouse is the primary contractor hired to clean up the site at West Valley. The 600,000 gallons of high-level liquid waste is to be solidified into a glasslike substance and then moved to a secure storage outside of the region.
            
6. Entering the First Radioactive Cell for Testing 
WIVB-TV Report by Rich Newberg: 1983
Rich Newberg and photographer Jay Lauder cover the first tests conducted by Westinghouse experts inside a radioactive cell where uranium was extracted from spent fuel rods. The tests would help establish the best techniques for preparing the facility for the task of solidifying the high-level liquid radioactive waste. 

7. Storing the High Level Radioactive Waste
Video by CHBWV West Valley Decommissioning Team: 2015
The West Valley Demonstration project becomes the first site in U.S. history to place high level radioactive waste into long term outdoor storage. This video traces the history of the nation’s first and only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the enormous task of cleaning up the waste it generated during its six year run, from 1966 to 1972. (see West Valley File 5 of 5 in this collection for present and future safety concerns.)

Background
West Valley is located In the Cattaraugus County Town of Ashford. It is here where Nuclear Fuel Services once served as the nation’s only commercial plant that reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods used to produce atomic energy. The rods contained plutonium and uranium which could be recovered for reuse. The first rods were delivered to the plant in 1966, but when federal regulations toughened, the costs were deemed too much to bare. The plant closed in 1972.

The entire site initially became the responsibility of the state of New York. In 1961 the state had bought and leased 3,300 acres of West Valley land for atomic industrial use. The plant was first owned by a subsidiary of the W.R. Grace Company, which later sold the operation to Getty Oil. 

The Cleanup Challenge
Hundreds of thousands of gallons of high-level radioactive liquid waste needed to be removed from underground steel storage tanks located on an eight-acre burial ground site. Another fifteen acres of burial land is also of major concern because it served as one of the nation’s six commercial burial grounds for radioactive waste. The material was buried in unlined soil trenches and included at least fourteen pounds of plutonium. Yet another burial site contained waste from the reprocessing operations at West Valley, including damaged irradiated fuel. This waste was buried in fifty-foot-deep holes.  

Environmental activists, scientists from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and professors from the University at Buffalo pointed out that the trenches were geologically unstable, and that ground water could be contaminated and migrate from the site. In addition, the area is situated on a fault line and is potentially susceptible to earthquakes. 

A group called The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes was formed in 1974. Some of its members specialized in technical aspects of radioactive waste disposal and health effects of radiation. The Coalition began putting pressure on the state and federal governments to have the West Valley site stabilized and cleaned up. It also fought against proposals to have additional nuclear waste material brought to the site for burial, incineration, other waste processing, or disposal. 

The Coalition played a major role in the creation of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act which was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. It gave the U.S. Department of Energy the responsibility to solidify the high-level waste. It also granted the D.O.E.  the authority to address the issues involved in decontaminating and decommissioning the facilities. West Valley is believed to be the only radioactive waste site in the country with its own act of Congress.  

In 1982, the federal government took control of two hundred acres at the West Valley site, including the underground high level radioactive waste tanks, the high level waste burial grounds, and the contaminated buildings where nuclear fuel rods had been reprocessed. 

In 1985 Congress required states to assume responsibility for the storage and management of what it termed “low level” radioactive waste generated within their borders. Watchdog groups say much of this waste is “high level” and dangerous. At West Valley, New York State maintains control over the fifteen acres of “low level” burial grounds mentioned above. This area had closed in 1975 after radioactive water had filtered through an inadequate landfill cap and found its way into surrounding streams that eventually drain into Lake Erie.

The greatest challenge to the federal government was finding a company that was capable of turning the liquid high level waste into a solid and more stable material for storage. Between 1996 and 2002, Westinghouse removed most of the high level liquid waste from the underground tanks and converted it into glass logs. It used a process known as vitrification. 275 intensely radioactive logs were formed and initially stored deep in the bowels of the reprocessing building, which helped provide shielding from the radioactivity.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy selected the company that goes by the name CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, LLC as its contractor. Its tasks were to secure the storage of the high-level waste and to demolish the closed radioactive buildings and the underground piping. 

In order to secure the storage of what came out of the underground tanks, 275 stainless steel canisters containing the vitrified waste were placed in steel-lined giant concrete storage casks, each weighing 87 1/2 tons.

A 16,000 square foot reinforced concrete storage pad now holds 56 casks for what is termed “long term passive storage.” The casks are certified to hold the high-level waste for fifty years. Since there is no designated national repository for high level nuclear waste, the material must remain on the grounds of the West Valley site, at least for now.

A coalition of radioactive waste experts and concerned citizens prevented more waste from coming into West Valley and has been providing oversight of cleanup efforts since the late 1970s. As final decisions for the site are expected to be made by 2022 or 2023, critical issues of health and safety continue to be raised by these citizen watchdogs. (See File 5 of 5 in this collection for detailed concerns involving air and water contamination.)
 
In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy said its Office of Environmental Management “is continuing to make safe and steady progress with decommissioning activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project. 

With regard to ongoing concerns by citizen watchdog groups, the DOE statement reads, “The goal of the extensive demolition activity air and radiation monitoring program is to detect any change in radiological conditions, so that work can be slowed, modified, or even stopped to protect employees, general public and the environment.  The work is carefully planned and carried out such that all contamination is controlled within the boundaries of the demolition area. (See File 5 of 5 in this collection for the full statement by the U.S. Department of Energy.)]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter)]]> (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (WIVB-TV Graphic Arts Director) ]]> Vetter, Tom (Editor)]]> Schackne, Robert (CBS News Correspondent)]]> Roberts, John (WIS-TV Columbia, South Carolina)]]> Curtis, Bill (CBS News Morning Anchor)]]> Costantini, Allen (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Lauder, Jay (WIVB-TV Photographer)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes)]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> Pillittere, Joe (Communications Manager for West Valley contractor)]]> Bower, Brian (DOE Director for West Valley Demonstration Project)]]> Bembia, Paul (NYSERDA Director at West Valley)]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State)]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> 1. This video file begins with a film entitled “The Story of Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing.” It was produced by Nuclear Fuel Services and describes the operation of the plant at West Valley. It describes the benefits of “unlocking the power of the atom” which “promises almost unlimited energy sources.” The plant’s mission is to reclaim the uranium and plutonium inside spent nuclear fuel rods used by atomic power plants, researchers, and test reactors throughout the United States. The material is shipped to West Valley in “ruggedly built trucks and special railroad cars.” The plant is capable of the processing of up to one ton a day of spent fuel elements.
(Runs: 11 minutes)

2. Reporter John Beard’s story of a recommendation by the New York State Department of Energy that the plant reopen as a storage facility for more spent nuclear fuel. Beard’s report includes a warning by environmentalists who say that “West Valley is a time bomb threatening to leak radioactive liquid into the soil and eventually into the waterways of Western New York.” Some local residents are in favor of the reopening, saying it would be beneficial for tax purposes and jobs. 

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, emerges as a major voice of opposition.
Those against reopening the facility as a repository call for a ban against spent fuel moving through Cattaraugus County. Congressman Stanley Lundine (D-Jamestown) says it there is “a remote possibility that the site could reopen as a federal nuclear waste storage facility. Lundine points out there is limited storage space and “seismic or environmental problems.” Researchers have determined that West Valley sits in a seismic fault zone. 
(Runs: 3:05)

3. Reporter Rich Newberg’s story on more safety questions raised by area environmentalists. A former lab supervisor at Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) says there had been problems with the crane that moved the radioactive rods in the pool of water that stored them. David Pyles says there were problems stopping the crane, causing rods to “slam” into other canisters. A spokesman for NFS says he knew of no crane problems while the plant was in operation.
 
Another concern is raised about the potential for a leak in a portion of a containing wall, as described in a study commissioned by the Federal Energy Commission. The report says this could occur if there were a seismic occurrence in the area. NFS terms that a “minor” defect. Environmental scientist Ray Vaughan says it’s “absurd to talk about bringing in more fuel.”
(Runs: 2:07)

4. Reporter Rich Newberg’s story showing a petition by area residents calling for a ban on any further nuclear waste to West Valley, as well as the removal of all present nuclear waste stored at the site. 

Dairy farmer Emil Zimmerman, who owns 7 cows and 175 acres of land in West Valley, expresses his concerns. He can see the site from his farm. 
(Runs: 1:55)

5. Reporter Rich Newberg’s story showing deer heading toward the low level nuclear burial site.
They are then seen eating grass twenty feet above radioactive waste. The New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) says its samples of deer in the area shows the animals safe for human consumption. 

However, in the early 1970s when the plant was active, state environmental officials became concerned when high levels of radioactive strontium 90 and cesium 137 were found in deer and fish. Even then, the levels were deemed not to pose an imminent danger to humans. 

Since the plant’s closing, leaks were detected in the low level burial ground area. 

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, says the grass where the deer were grazing is contaminated. 

Newberg reports that contaminated water will soon be drained from the site and placed in a holding pond, but that there are no plans to fence off the pond from area animals. 
(Runs: 1:47)

6. Rich Newberg’s report on concerned citizens meeting to map out a strategy to fight a proposal to reopen the nuclear waste storage facility at West Valley. 82 communities in 10 states have banned the transportation of nuclear waste within their borders. The citizens against the proposal express concerns that a major accident involving a vehicle transporting nuclear waste, or an accident at the plant, could threatened the entire region. They say the environmental risks would outweigh the economic gains if the plant facility were to reopen as a storage site. 
(Runs: 1:32)

7. Rich Newberg’s story on concerns by the Buffalo nuclear medical and research communities about a lack of storage space for low level nuclear waste. They support the reopening of the West Valley burial site for this type of waste. Only South Carolina and the state of Washington are accepting radioactive waste from Buffalo and other hospitals and research labs around the country.

Dr. Monte Blau, PhD., the chairmen of the University at Buffalo Department of Nuclear Medicine (1976 - 1983) believes low level nuclear waste should be stored in the regions where they are generated. 

The use of radioactive isotopes injected into patients are able to help identify tumors in the body. Radioactive tracers have been powerful tools in fundamental studies of the nature of cancer.  
With South Carolina and Washington having second thoughts about accepting waste from other states,  there is a growing concern that the practice of nuclear medicine might be forced to come to a halt. 
(Runs: 1:57)

8. Rich Newberg’s story on the Department of Energy assuring New York Governor Hugh Carey that the federal government will manage and pay for cleanup efforts at West Valley. However, in order for that to happen, Congress must pass a bill that environmentalists warn could lead to a reopening of the site as a nuclear storage facility. 
(Runs: 1:19)

9. Rich Newberg’s story on environmentalists warning that the West Valley low level nuclear burial site has serious issues that should rule it out as a repository for future nuclear waste. They say plutonium is buried there, even though that practice was prohibited in 1977. 

They also point to leaks in the burial ground in 1975. Water, they say infiltrated the ditches where radioactive waste is stored. They say strontium 90 and plutonium should be unearthed and put in bins above ground.

Another issue brought to light focuses on sand “lenses” discovered in a clay burial ground area.
Radioactive tritium was said to have migrated from the sides of trenches in 1977. 

Activists say there is inadequate monitoring of the soil composition.

Those who favor reopening the burial grounds say it is becoming more difficult to dispose of waste from nuclear medicine. 
(Runs: 2:23)

10. Rich Newberg’s story on the federal General Accounting Office (GAO) proposal for full funding of the West Valley cleanup in exchange for a reopening of the site for more nuclear waste. 
Judith McConnell of the Sierra Club Radioactive Waste Campaign says, “that’s like sweeping up a pile of dirt and then turning around and dumping another one on the floor.”

Governor Hugh Carey’s office says the GAO proposal carries little weight. 
(Runs: 1:58)

11. Rich Newberg’s story on New York Governor Hugh Cary’s signing of a bill that sets up a five member siting board for future burial of radioactive waste. 

While he assures the public there will be no future burial of high level radioactive waste at the West Valley site, he leaves the door open for future nuclear medical waste disposal at the low level radioactive burial grounds. 

Carol Mongerson of the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes reacts by saying, “that will never be acceptable to the people of the area.”
(Runs: 1:47)

12. WIVB-TV’s Washington D.C reporter Bob Patrick’s story on New York Governor Hugh Carey’s support of a bill sponsored by Congressman Stanley Lundine (D-Jamestown). The bill would separate the federal government’s willingness to clean up the high level nuclear waste at West Valley from the insistence by some federal energy officials that the site remain open for the disposal of more radioactive waste.  
(Runs: 1:33)

13. Rich Newberg’s report on Cattaraugus County lawmakers hearing from area residents opposed to reopening West Valley for the storage of nuclear waste. 

Dairy farmer Emil Zimmerman testifies that conditions exist where contaminated water could leak from radioactive trenches where waste is buried. He cites one such case. 

There is a speaker in favor of burying solid, low level nuclear waste at the site. He is Kenneth Dufrane, a former worker at Nuclear Fuel Services who now represents Chem-Nuclear Systems, a company interested in the site. He says the radioactive leaks are “very minor…and did not cause any kind of a problem to anyone at any time.” 

Twelve thousand petitions are signed by citizens against future burial at the site. 
(Runs: 2:00)

14. Aerial and ground video of West Valley site
(Runs: 3:29)]]> (publisher of digital)
]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Beard, John (Reporter)]]> Petrick, Bob (Reporter)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Ameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes)]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> 1. WIVB-TV reporter Bob Petrick’s interview with Rep. Stan Lundine of Jamestown. The lawmaker says three important committees in the House of Representatives have approved some sort of West Valley project. 

Now one bill has to be crafted that will be passed by the House and then the Senate.
(Runs: 2:01)

2. Shots of artwork and tee shirts representing the cause of environmentalists who are opposed to reopening West Valley for more nuclear waste. One graphic by those who are against nuclear power and weapons states, “JOIN US…FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN." A tee shirt worn by an environmental activist reads, “DON’T DUMP ON US” “MAKE THE POLLUTERS PAY.” Another tee shirt put out by the Sierra Club Radioactive Waste Campaign reads, “YOU CAN’T RUN FROM RADIOACTIVE WASTES!”

The visuals are followed by reporter Sandy White’s interview with Judith McDonnell, a volunteer who works in the Sierra Club’s Radioactive Waste Campaign. She says thirty people are going to Washington D.C. to lobby against the McCormick bill, which calls for the siting of four high level nuclear waste repositories by the end of 1984. West Valley and the Finger Lakes region are under consideration. The bill calls for funding to come from the federal government and not the nuclear industry. 

In fighting against the bill, McDonnell says there are no provisions for local community input on where the repositories are placed. She claims it is a federal “preemption of state’s rights.” She adds the West Valley site has a history of leakage and sits on “an earthquake fault…” She says the site should “be cleaned up and closed and that nothing else should be dumped there at all.” McDonnell says two weeks earlier, nineteen people went to the nation’s capital and lobbied more than seventy congressmen. The new lobbying effort seeks to reach at least one hundred twenty congressional offices. She says, “We feel that the government should take more time, there should be more study put into the siting of a high level repository, and we also feel that the state should have something to say about where this is going to be put and how it’s going to be done.”
(video then shows volunteers leaving for Washington)
(Runs: 2:08)

3. Reporter Marie Rice’s story on a radioactive spill at West Valley. Rain water had to be pumped out from a radioactive waste trench. A coupling that connected a plastic hose carrying the water from the trench to a nearby lagoon broke. About a thousand gallons of the liquid spilled onto the clay soil. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials termed it a minor accident. 

John Spagnole, the Regional Director of the DEC says the quantity was small and the contaminated concentrations were “miniscule.” He calls it “lightly dirty water or dusty water…”

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign says “a large amount of radioactive material” has entered the Cattaraugus Creek watershed since 1975. He says the most recent spill is “not one isolated event…” 

The Sierra Club wants to know what has previously made its way into Edman Brook, Buttermilk Creek and Cattaraugus Creek, whose water eventually flows into Lake Erie. Water samples have been sent to Albany for analysis. 
(Runs: 1:52)

4. Rich Newberg’s story on the price we pay for advanced nuclear medical technology. While nuclear medicine provides the means to help fight cancerous tumors and scan the innermost parts of the brain and other organs, the radioactive waste it generates requires special storage sites that most states don’t want to host. 

New York State Energy Commissioner James Larocca announces that the low level burial ground at West Valley “has had too many problems and is too closely identified with the rest of the facility to really be a viable option for us at this time.” 
(Runs: 1:43)

5. Rich Newberg’s second story on the news conference featuring New York State Energy Commissioner James Larocca. The commissioner declares that the state will no longer consider West Valley as a site for the burial of low level nuclear waste. The decision poses a problem for Buffalo area hospitals with departments of nuclear medicine.

Larocca also addresses the massive cleanup effort soon to take shape at West Valley, where 600,000 gallons of high level radioactive waste sits in underground steel storage tanks. He says cleanup work at West Valley will meet all state and national environmental policies and will involve the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 90% of the project, which at this time is projected to be $285 million dollars, will come from the federal government. 10% of the funding will come from the state. The federal Department of Energy is slated to take possession of the property no later than October 1, 1981. The project could last as long as 17 years according to first estimates. 
The high level radioactive waste would be solidified into a glass like substance and ultimately removed from the site to a federal repository for permanent disposal. 

At his news conference, Larocca states, “The agreement precludes the use of West Valley for any other purpose but the solidification removal of these wastes during the conduct of this project.”
(Runs: 1:37)

6. Rich Newberg’s interview with Monte Blau, PhD, chair of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University at Buffalo (1976 - 1983). He warns that nuclear medicine and research in Buffalo might be in jeopardy if there is not a place to store its radioactive waste. He says West Valley is a “reasonable place” to put radioactive medical waste. He says nuclear medicine and research are threatened with a shut-down “within three or four months” should there be no place to deposit the radioactive waste generated by these institutions. This includes cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment. He says, “Almost every patient that comes into a hospital in the state of New York receives one radio-isotope diagnostic procedure or another.”

In response, Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, says the nuclear burial ground at West Valley is not in good condition. He says, “It has leaked radioactive materials…” He says over 3 million gallons of water has been pumped out of the trenches that hold low level radioactive waste. He says radioactive tritium is released into Cattaraugus Creek “and into the water intakes, in effect, for the Southtowns and from Buffalo.”

Environmentalists have suggested that the radioactive waste be put in above-ground bunkers or buildings rather than in the ground.
(Runs: 2:19)

7. Rich Newberg’s interview with Dr. J. Steinbeck, Chief of Nuclear Medicine at the V.A. Hospital in Buffalo. He  demonstrates the use of a gamma camera on a cardiac patient. It is a procedure that relies on nuclear medicine. A radio tracer is injected into the patient, allowing the heart to be photographed during dilation and contraction. This allows a study of the heart while avoiding surgical procedures. Catheterization into the heart through an artery is not necessary. Nuclear medicine enables doctors to diagnose the presence of cancer at a much earlier stage. 
(Runs: 2:33)

8. Rich Newberg’s story on a proposal by federal energy officials to reduce a $35 Million dollar cash credit to New York State to $12 Million for the cleanup of 600,000 thousand gallons of nuclear waste buried at West Valley. Jamestown Congressman Stanley Lundine, along with congressman Jack Kemp and U.S. Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Alfonse D’Amato are telling U.S. Energy Secretary James Edwards that the proposal goes against an earlier commitment he made to New York. New York State Energy Commissioner James Larocca called the reduction proposal “…another double-cross in what now seems to be a series of double-crosses.” In October 1980, President Jimmy Carter had come to Western New York to sign the federal agreement with New York to clean up West Valley.
(Runs: 1:56)

9. Rich Newberg’s second story on a proposal by federal energy officials to reduce the cash credit to New York State for the cleanup of the West Valley nuclear waste storage site. Congressman Stanley Lundine calls the situation at West Valley, “A real and present danger.” He urges the Reagan administration not to charge New York State $23 Million dollars more for the cleanup project.
(Runs: 1:25)

10. Rich Newberg’s overview of high and low level nuclear waste storage issues at West Valley. Photos include receptacles containing radioactive waste that are placed in trenches on the West Valley property. Mina Hamilton, executive director of the Sierra Club’s Radioactive Waste Campaign, says eight pounds of plutonium are buried here. Another photo includes a trench where sand lenses could be providing underground migration paths for some of the radioactive waste. Hamilton says the flaky composition of the bedrock and the sand lenses pose a major threat of migration of radioactive material. There was also a filter blowout in the stacks in 1968, two years after the plant began reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods.

The Sierra Club says there has been a noted increase in small amounts of radiation around the nuclear storage site. It is questionable whether the amount of radiation poses an immediate health threat to the area. State officials say they will review any new evidence gathered by the Sierra Club.
(Runs: 1:46)

11. Bill Curtis, reporting for CBS News presents the story of the small Texas town of Tulia, which is considering accepting radioactive waste from sites such as West Valley. Tulia is located on top of one of the biggest salt beds in the country. A site in Tulia is one of several being considered by the U.S. Department of Energy. Salt beds, and the volcanic rock formations of basalt and tuff are believed to be suitable for the storage of nuclear waste. Besides Tulia, the federal government is examining sites in Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, Nevada, and Washington State. In Tulia, those in favor of accepting radioactive waste say it would create jobs. Those against say there are very real dangers attached to putting this kind of waste in an agricultural area.
(Runs: 5:24)

12. Rich Newberg’s story on federal officials addressing local residents, about five days before the U.S. government takes possession of the portion of the West Valley site that contains the reprocessing building and the burial ground licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The state continues to possess of most of the 3,300 acre site. 

Energy Department representative James Turi assures an audience of concerned citizens that, “We want to be good neighbors and we want to work with you.”

The high level radioactive waste cleanup project will take an estimated 16 years to complete. The federal government and Westinghouse Electric Corporation will attempt to turn 600,000 gallons of radioactive liquid waste into a glass like substance which would possibly be shipped off to a federal repository still to be designated.

Citizens Committee Chairman Peter Skinner calls for “…careful planning and public involvement from start to finish.” Westinghouse representative Ray Maison promises to keep the community “fully informed of what we’re doing and what we plan to do every step of the way.”  
(Runs: 2:33)

13. Exterior video of the West Valley facility and property.
(Runs: 2:05)]]> (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Rice, Marie (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Petrick, Bob (Reporter)]]> Curtis, Bill (CBS News Reporter)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> eng]]>