Rutherford County Citizens Upset With Secret Dumping

Rutherford County citizens angry over radioactive waste dumping at a nearby landfill got a chance to air their concerns last night.

The state’s Solid Waste Advisory Board held a public hearing in Murfreesboro about the practice of burying some waste from nuclear sites in Middle Point Landfill. Low-level radioactive waste has been dumped at that site since the early ‘90s unbeknownst to residents or local officials.

Grant Kelly sat on the regional board that approved an expansion of the landfill three years ago. Speaking at the hearing, he says even he didn’t know.

“We have had numerous meetings over numerous years and we’ve all many, many times ‘are there any special wastes? Are there any hazardous wastes?’ We asked so many different ways and they said nothing but regular household waste and municipal waste. Now, somebody is lying.”

Many said the secrecy over dumping makes it hard to trust the standards regulating what constitutes a safe level of radiation.

Mark McHugh screens the radioactive material that comes into Middle Point. He says the waste is essentially regular trash and safer than the fertilizer gardeners commonly use on vegetables.

“The last number in 10-10-10 or 0-0-46 fertilizer is the percent of potassium that’s in that. Now that’s naturally radioactive, so much so that a truckload of 10-10-10 fertilizer would not pass our process. That’s how little radioactivity we allow in our material.”

The solid waste board will hold another public hearing next week in Nashville. Its recommendations are due in early September.