Utah leaders rally against proposed nuclear waste storage site

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Sen. Orrin Hatch on Friday rallied public opposition to a proposed storage site for spent nuclear fuel on the Goshute Indian reservation, urging Utah residents to submit their comments to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management before the May 8 deadline.

Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of power utilities, wants to store up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel above ground on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

"We have an opportunity to put the final nail in the coffin of PFS," Huntsman told about 100 people at the State Capitol Complex.

Congress created a federal wilderness area near the proposed storage site that opponents hope will block movement of nuclear waste there by rail. Opponents are now focused on fighting plans for a transfer station at the site, which could handle shipments arriving by truck.

So far, more than 10,000 people have weighed in during the BLM's 90-day comment period, officials said. Opponents would like to see at least 110,000 comments before May 8, when the 90-day period ends. Huntsman noted that about the same number of people have already expressed their preference for one of three designs for a state quarter.

The state also launched an Internet campaign, with about 20 Web sites promoting the letter-writing campaign against the PFS plan.

"The more we get, the better chance we have of getting the BLM to back off," said Hatch, R-Utah.

Hatch and Huntsman were joined at the "No Way Day" rally by U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Chris Cannon, R-Utah, state and local leaders, business associations and environmental groups. U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, both Utah Republicans, were not at the event, but also oppose the plan.

Opponents contend it is too dangerous to transport nuclear waste to the site, with rail lines and roads passing close to hundreds of thousands of Utah residents. The site is also near a military bombing range for jet fighters.

"Storing high-level nuclear waste in an aboveground facility next to a bombing range doesn't make sense, and it can't and won't be a solution," Bishop said in statement.

PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin also encouraged people to write the BLM - in support of the project. She said the company spent eight years crafting its application for the proposal, and that the plans meet federal and state safety requirements.

"We also encourage people to educate themselves and make sure they're up to speed on both sides of the issue," Martin said.

PFS won a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this year to build the temporary storage facility. But the license was granted just as several of the utilities that make up PFS pulled out of the project.

The facility is planned to be an interim storage site until the federal government opens a national repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Political opposition, money shortages and other problems have delayed the project, and Energy Department managers now can't say when the site will open.

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On the Net:

Private Fuel Storage: http://www.privatefuelstorage.com.

Utah Department of Environmental Quality: http://www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/no_high_level_waste/index.htm

For far more extensive news on the energy/power visit:  http://www.energycentral.com .

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