Overview
- A Wayne County judge converted a preliminary injunction into a permanent order on May 27, 2026 that forbids Wayne Disposal from accepting any more FUSRAP TENORM at its Van Buren Township landfill.
- The ruling relied on expert testimony and data including yearly increases in perimeter radiation since 2017, detections of lead-210 in groundwater, and cancer‑cluster findings to conclude new shipments create unacceptable health and environmental risks.
- Republic Services, which owns Wayne Disposal, said the facility is engineered to handle the waste and announced it will appeal the decision, arguing the ruling could hinder federal remediation and interstate commerce.
- The court left intact other legal fights: the landfill had already received more than 600,000 tons of TENORM before the injunction and residents have appealed EGLE’s January approval of a 23% vertical expansion.
- The order protects nearby homes, schools, and waterways by blocking further shipments, and it could reshape how the Army Corps’ FUSRAP program and private operators site and move radioactive cleanup material going forward.