Matheson helps revive bill on foreign waste

A bill to block importing foreign radioactive waste — spurred by EnergySolutions' proposal to bring in 20,000 tons of it from Italy — was reintroduced Wednesday in Congress by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

"We're the only country in the world that takes this right now. I think that's bad policy," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.

He and Reps. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., reintroduced the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act, or the RID Act. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., also introduced an identical bill in the Senate. They match a bill introduced in the last Congress that had hearings in the House, but never advanced out of committee.

The bill was originally introduced after EnergySolutions applied to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from nuclear plants in Italy. It would be processed in Tennessee. After that, about 1,600 tons of residual waste would be disposed in Utah. EnergySolutions' application is still pending.

Gordon, the lead House sponsor of the bill, said, "One can only wonder what the effects would be if there was an environmental spill like the recent TVA disaster (a dam break that unleashed a flood of toxic slurry), but this time involving radioactive materials."

Terry, the other prime co-sponsor, said, "The transportation of low-level nuclear waste into the United States is a dangerous practice and must be stopped."

Matheson complained that no one now seems to be in charge of deciding whether to allow the import of such waste —so Congress should step in to clarify the situation and ban it. He said problems were evident in a hearing on the bill last year.

"It was hilarious during the hearing. We had the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Northwest Compact (of nuclear power plants), and the state of Utah pointing the finger at someone else about who's in charge on this," he said.

Matheson also said, "The concern is we don't think that Italy is just a one-time event, that it is probably the tip of the iceberg."

For example, he said that during last year's hearing, EnergySolutions said it was not discussing similar shipments from other countries. But, Matheson said, "Two days later in the newspaper in London, it said Energy Solutions is talking about taking the low-level radioactive waste from Great Britain as well. In fact, they had a member of Parliament say, 'We don't need to build a dump here, we could just ship it off to Utah."'

Matheson said, "Our space (at EnergySolutions' Utah facility) should be reserved for our own needs, and other countries can solve the waste disposal issue for themselves."

The bill has caused a split in the Utah delegation. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has opposed it, saying Congress should allow individual states to decide themselves whether to take such waste. He was attacked during the past election for that stand by his opponent, Democrat Morgan Bowen, who noted that Bishop took tens of thousands of dollars in donations from EnergySolutions officials.

However, freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, co-sponsored the bill on Thursday. He said, "I will oppose the importation of foreign waste. We are not so desperate for economic development that we need to solicit waste from foreign countries. This is simply good public policy."

Matheson said that bipartisan support should help move along the bill this year, and he hopes for committee action soon. "I think we've got policy on our side," he said.

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