Would Utah firm open U.S. door to nuclear waste?
Matheson warns nation could become world's nuclear garbage dump
"I recognize that small amounts of waste have been permitted entry into the U.S. in the past; however, encouraging other nations to actively pursue disposal options in the U.S. seems shortsighted at best," Matheson, D-Utah, wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Dale Klein, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Opposition in Utah has been fierce at the grass-roots level, and the state's Radiation Control Board is also drafting a letter to Congress and the NRC.
Federal agencies, too, have pointed out concerns that the world in general is unprepared to deal with accumulating nuclear waste at all levels.
• Only 10 of 18 nations surveyed last year have disposal options for low-level nuclear waste, and none has options for all classes of such waste, according to the Government Accountability Office.
• According to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission analysis, the EnergySolutions plan is 25 times bigger than the largest previous import from outside North America.
If approved, the company would ship up to 20,000 tons of metal piping, sludge, wood, contaminated clothing and other mildly radioactive material from Italian nuclear-power plants to Tennessee, process most of it, then dispose of the remainder in Utah. It would be by far America's largest import of nuclear waste.
The proposal, which entered a 30-day public-comment period on Feb. 11, is gathering opposition from environmentalists, regulators and members of Congress. It would not only pave the way for more such imports, critics say, but also give nations less incentive to take care of their own nuclear waste.
"The NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has an obligation to deal with the waste generated in this country first and not accept foreign waste that fills up existing sites," Clements said.
Company's response
For its part, EnergySolutions says critics misrepresent how much material would be ultimately disposed of in Utah. Most material would be recycled or incinerated at its plant in Tennessee. Just 8 percent — about 1,600 tons — of the original volume would travel to Utah, the company wrote in a letter to the NRC.
"EnergySolutions does not believe the United States should be responsible for the world's nuclear waste," company spokesman Mark Walker writes in response to e-mailed questions from a reporter. But as reliance on nuclear power grows worldwide, "the U.S. is in a leadership role to provide technical solutions."
Recent comments
If you toxicate the usa with nucular waste where would animals live…
MM95 | Oct. 8, 2008 at 1:43 p.m.
I think the the Italians can keep their waste. The u.s does not need…
Hobo cheese wrestler | Oct. 8, 2008 at 1:38 p.m.
It is horrible that EnergySolutions would want to put the whole state…
Resident of USA | March 25, 2008 at 4:47 p.m.
