NRC delays decision on Italian nuclear waste
The NRC ruled Monday that it will wait until a federal court decides whether an interstate compact can block disposal of the waste in Utah.
The Salt Lake City-based company wants to bring the 20,000 tons of low-level waste from Italy through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans for processing in Tennessee. After processing, about 1,600 tons would be disposed at the Salt Lake City-based company's dump in the western Utah desert.
The proposal has drawn a record number of public comments — most in opposition to the plan.
Utah joined the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-level Radioactive Waste in 1982 under a plan by Congress to promote regional solutions for low-level waste. When EnergySolutions, then called Envirocare of Utah, sought to accept low-level waste in 1991, the state backed the company.
But at Utah's urging, the eight-state compact ruled earlier this year that EnergySolutions can only use its dump for domestic waste, not foreign waste.
However, EnergySolutions contended the compact has no authority over operations at its landfill in Tooele County about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City and has filed a federal lawsuit asking for a judge's ruling on the issue. Utah has agreed to become a defendant in that lawsuit. It was unclear Monday when a court would make a ruling on that case.
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the NRC's delay shows it is unclear who is in charge of regulating the import of foreign radioactive waste, and the need for a bill he is pushing with Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., to ban such imports.
"What we have is a company asking to dump foreign waste in this country, even though there's no state willing to take it, and it's created a policy vacuum that leaves us vulnerable to becoming the world's nuclear garbage dump," Matheson said.
Gordon said the delay may give him and Matheson time to enact their bill. "By postponing their decision until this lawsuit is decided, my colleagues and I will have time to get the ban on importing foreign nuclear waste signed into law," he said.
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