Quest for 'hot' waste halted

Envirocare of Utah's bid to take hotter Ohio waste has been shelved, bringing an end to weeks of divisive debate on Utah's role of accepting "hotter" radioactive waste.

On Tuesday, Envirocare announced it would withdraw its application to modify its license to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that would enable the company to accept uranium mill tailings from Fernald, Ohio.

"We're working with the Legislature and state regulators, not against them," said Tim Barney, senior vice president of Envirocare. "We just feel like this is the right thing to do."

The announcement met with cheers from waste opponents.

"I think what we have to keep in mind is that Envirocare is still accepting a very large amount of dangerous waste, that they still have applications pending to take yet even hotter wastes, but that with the continued outcry of Utahns we can turn this around," said Jason Groenewold, director of Families Against Incinerator Risk "We have to continue that fight, because the rest of the nation would love nothing more than to dump the stuff on Utah."

At issue is the Department of Energy's plan to ship the waste to one of two sites, Envirocare of Utah's landfill in remote Tooele County or the Department of Energy-owned Nevada Test Site, north of Las Vegas. The waste is more radioactive than uranium mill tailings that Envirocare is currently licensed to accept. To accept the Ohio waste, the NRC would have to modify Envirocare's license.

The plan was to ship 8,890 cubic yards of the waste now stored in silos in Ohio to Envirocare for underground burial. In order to do that, DOE would first pursue a reclassification of the Fernald tailings so that commercial companies could bid on the waste.

On Tuesday, the House passed an energy bill that included a provision by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, that would reclassify the waste as "commercial," thereby allowing companies like Envirocare to bid on the disposal contracts.

That provision provoked a public uproar in Utah.

On Monday, an organization called "Alliance for Unity," which includes general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced its opposition.