Groups rally opposition to importing nuclear waste

EnergySolutions Inc. is seeking to import the low-level radioactive waste through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. If approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it would be the largest amount of nuclear waste ever allowed into the country.

After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be shipped to Utah, home of the country's largest and only privately owned low-level radioactive waste dump.

The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah submitted 1,300 comments in opposition Tuesday, the last day to send comments to the NRC. The commission isn't expected to rule on the import license until September at the earliest, spokesman Dave McIntyre said.

The environment alliance contends if any foreign waste is allowed in, the company will ask for more in the future. EnergySolutions has publicly said it intends to seek more foreign business and that its Utah disposal site is one of its competitive strengths.

"It's clear that if this Italian waste proposal is granted, it will set a dangerous precedent for Utah and the United States to become the world's nuclear waste dumping ground," said John Urgo, alliance outreach director. "We should not open the door even a crack to foreign nuclear waste being disposed here."

EnergySolutions has said it has plenty of capacity at its site for the Italian waste and that it would pledge to cap the amount of foreign waste accepted at the site to 5 percent of all capacity.

The company says if its site took all of the low-level radioactive material from the decommissioning of all 104 U.S. reactors, it would still have nearly 50 million cubic feet of unused capacity. It also says the Italian waste would represent less than 1 percent of the waste it accepts annually.

The Utah Attorney General's Office filed a request Tuesday for a public hearing before the NRC makes a decision.

Utah wants the NRC to conduct an environmental assessment, evaluate the risks to health and safety, and recognize there is no place to send the waste because the Northwest Interstate Compact has declared it's not allowed here, Assistant Attorney General Denise Chancellor said.