Utah Is Closer to Controlling Disposal of Nuclear Waste in State
By Judy Fahys, The Salt Lake Tribune -- Mar. 3
Lawmakers took another step Tuesday in drawing a line on low-level radioactive waste.
The bill is intended to increase the control elected leaders have over
radioactive-waste disposal in Utah, closing a loophole that has allowed federal
and state regulators to approve dozens of applications for disposal of hotter
and more hazardous forms of chemical and radioactive waste. Once enacted, future
disposal of hotter waste at Envirocare of Utah, a commercial landfill in Tooele
County, would have to be specifically granted by the Legislature and the
governor.
Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said HB145 accomplished what the Legislature's
waste task force had wanted: stopping a repeat of last fall's struggle over
highly concentrated waste from Fernald, Ohio, and Niagara Falls, N.Y., that the
U.S. Energy Department was steering to Envirocare.
The Energy Department had persuaded Congress to re-label the cleanup sludge
to skirt the state's ban on waste classified as "B" or "C."
Envirocare has a license for "A" waste, the lowest classification on
the A-B-C scale.
In setting new standards for involvement by elected leaders, the measure did
not cap the waste at current hazard levels, instead allowing Envirocare to
incorporate three license changes now being reviewed by the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
Activists lamented that lawmakers had built allowances into HB145 for
increased radioactive concentrations and potential for dangerous and
uncontrolled chain reactions. But they focused instead on the bigger picture of
adding control by elected leaders.
"We're still better off than we were," said Jason Groenewold of the
Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah.
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