As expected, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to ban importation of Class B and C radioactive wastes, ending a yearslong controversy in the Legislature. What was unusual is that the bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Craig A. Frank, voted against it.

SB24 was guaranteed to pass, having sailed through the Senate without a dissenting vote. Leaders of both houses and both parties supported it. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. had come out for the ban during a press conference.

Frank, R-Pleasant Grove, outlined one reason for passing SB24, when he addressed the House.

"It is clear that if we ask our people, the people that we represent, if they would prefer to ban B and C wastes, I think we would find that they would prefer that action," he said.

Radioactive material is used to our benefit in medicine and food preservation, he said.

He added that the National Academy of Sciences is wrapping up a study concerning low-level radiation exposure. It will address risk models that have been in effect for more than 50 years, he said. It may show a potential for hazard — or "we may find the other extreme, though," Frank said.

"But if we go back to the people and the voice of the people, the people that we represent, I think the policy is clear. . . . We need to stand up and be counted here for the people of this good state of Utah."

His unusual position on the matter may stem from changes in the bill as it worked it way through the Legislature.

During the House's noon break, Frank said he was asked to co-sponsor SB24 in the House probably because he was a member of the joint legislative task force that had studied the issue.

The task force recommendations were the basis for the bill, which originally did not contain a ban on B and C. This is radioactive wastes that are considered low-level but are "hotter" than the Class A waste presently disposed in Tooele County by Envirocare of Utah.

Only after Envirocare's new owners announced the company would not continue seeking the hotter material, and legislators and the governor spoke in favor of a ban, was the bill amended to prohibit importation of B and C.

Frank, asked to co-sponsor SB24, apparently harbored concerns about the later version.

Speaking on the House floor, he pointed out that this is an important bill, with the most important part the ban on importing B and C wastes.

He said a small amount of B and C waste are generated in the state.

"As we create this policy for our state . . . all parties are comfortable with this," he said. Frank urged his colleagues to "do the politically expeditious thing and to vote for this bill."