Sept. 12 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Agency authorized a license for
Private Fuel Storage LLC to build and operate a nuclear waste repository
in Skull Valley, Utah.
The commission voted 3-1 on Sept. 9 to deny the state of Utah´s final
appeal in the matter. The state had argued that one of the 7,000 F-16
military jets flying each year from nearby Hill Air Force Base could
crash into the site, causing radioactive contamination.
Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight electric utilities, has
entered into a lease agreement with the Skull Valley Band of Goshute
Indians to build a facility to store spent nuclear fuel on the Goshute
Indian reservation, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
The consortium would pay $3.2 billion to construct, operate and
decommission the 100-acre facility, which would be located within an
820-acre control area.
Power companies, running short on space to store spent nuclear fuel
rods, want to build a temporary storage facility on the reservation. The
site would store about 40,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel in a maximum of
4,000 aboveground casks.
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