Doe Drops Tacoma As Nuclear Waste Port

The Energy Department has decided not to ship highly radioactive nuclear waste through Tacoma’s port and will transport it instead through California and South Carolina naval ports, officials announced.

“I’m very pleased,” said U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, who along with other legislators, fought the idea of using the Port of Tacoma.

The announcement was made Thursday by Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary.

The 42,000 pounds of nuclear waste is from spent fuel elements collected from research reactors in 41 nations, including Zaire, Brazil, Greece and Pakistan. The reactors, many of which were established with U.S. assistance, are used for scientific research.

Energy department officials had argued that the waste needed to be brought back here to keep it out of the hands of terrorists.

Port of Tacoma Commissioner Pat O’Malley disputed that policy, saying it made more sense to send the material to countries that could reprocess it, such as Scotland or Japan.

“As a region, we have a reason to celebrate,” he said. “As a nation, I don’t think we have much to celebrate.”

Most of the material, 19 out of the 20 metric tons, will be sent through the South Carolina port.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she’d been writing letters and pressuring O’Leary’s office to drop Tacoma as a site since last May.