WASHINGTON — EnergySolutions Inc., a Salt Lake-based company that handles nuclear waste, filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of up to $500 million in stock.

The company said it intends to apply to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ES." It didn't disclose how many shares will be offered, nor did it provide an estimated price range for the offering.

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to pay employees and to repay outstanding debt, with the remainder being used for general corporate purposes.

Val Christensen, general counsel for the company, said the S-1 filing with the SEC is the first step in the process of a public offering of shares. Christensen estimated that the process could last well into the summer before completed.

EnergySolutions operates a low-level radioactive waste disposal site in Clive, Tooele County — about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. It is one of the largest privately owned disposal sites in the U.S. and handles 96 percent of all commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal in the nation.

Asked his reaction to the news, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Thursday that he thought "it would be a bad thing for a governor to comment on a company's plans to go public. That's something they have to plan and prepare for."

Huntsman Corp., founded by the governor's father, Jon Huntsman Sr., completed its own IPO in early 2005, shortly after Huntsman Jr. took office.

As to whether EnergySolutions' IPO would be good for the state, Huntsman said, "That's clearly up to the investors. If the headquarters is here, and they remain viable as a company — and you have to remember that many of their assets are out of state but the headquarters is here — clearly the state benefits. And then it's up to the shareholders to decide what's in their interest."

Earlier this month, Huntsman and the company signed a one-page agreement saying the company would withdraw its request for a license amendment to nearly double the amount of radioactive waste storage allowed at its Tooele County location.

Steve Erickson, who often has opposed EnergySolutions expansion proposals as the director of the Citizens Education Project, said the IPO could have upsides and downsides.

Of concern was that the money would not stay in Utah, and there could be a greater influx of investment from out-of-state interests. That could push the company to pursue its plans, especially for nuclear waste recycling, more aggressively.

"It could mean that there is more money for investors so they can pursue their larger goals, which are well beyond what they do at their little plot of land west of Salt Lake," Erickson said.