Reversing Stance, Wheeler Settles Nuclear Waste Cleanup Fight With DOE

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has settled a long-running fight between Region 4 and the Energy Department (DOE) over applying water standards to radionuclides at a Superfund cleanup, setting a precedent by reversing the region’s push to impose technology-based effluent limits but backing its push to apply water-quality based standards. In a 15-page letter sent Dec. 31 , Wheeler backed Region 4 and Tennessee’s position that water-quality based standards apply as cleanup standards for a landfill discharging wastewater containing radionuclides at...