Washington - United States Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) released the following statement again urging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold public meetings on the decommissioning of the Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corporation site in Newfield. Today, Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson announced that the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and Governor Jon S. Corzine are in full support of the senators request.

The South Jersey specialty metal manufacturer, which is moving to Brazil, accumulated a large pile of low-level radioactive waste during its operations at Newfield, and is seeking NRC permission to cover that pile with soil and fence it off for one thousand years. The senators last week wrote to Chairman Dale E. Klein urging the NRC to hold public meetings on this plan.

It is wrong to keep our citizens in the dark about goings-on in their backyard, and unjust to deny them an opportunity to voice their concerns. Having public meetings to discuss an issue as sensitive as this one is a basic right we should extend to all New Jerseyans, and a meeting should be held before the plan is accepted by the NRC, in order to ensure full input from the community. We have heard the public outcry on this issue, and it is due time that the NRC hears the public as well.

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