Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990                   TAG: 9006150441
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

N.C. WASTE FACILITY BEHIND SCHEDULE

The state Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority needs to re-examine its schedule for choosing and opening a site, said John McMillan, its executive director.

At a meeting of the panel Thursday, he also said that costs will exceed original estimates of $40 million, but he could not predict a final price tag.

McMillan said he did not know what effect the delay would have on North Carolina's membership in the Southeast Compact, an agreement among eight states. The agreement calls for North Carolina to open a repository for low-level radioactive wastes by 1993 to replace one in Barnwell, S.C.

Gov. Jim Martin had been notified of the delay, said David Prather, a Martin spokesman. Prather said he did not know if Martin had talked with officials in other states about the delay.

Under the agreement, North Carolina would accept wastes from the eight states for 20 years. The other states in the compact are Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama.

The facility would be designed to contain materials, clothing, equipment, pharmaceuticals and laboratory chemicals contaminated by radioactivity.

It would not hold highly radioactive materials such as spent nuclear fuel rods, officials said.

The authority has named Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc. of Columbia, S.C., to choose a site for the facility and to design and operate it.

Sarah Voorhees, a spokeswoman for the authority, said she did not know the cause of the delay.

"There will be a delay and at this time we do not know how much of one," she said. "At this time that is about as specific as we can be. We obviously are behind, but at this point we don't know how much."