Utah's elected officials attempted to put the best face they could on it. But the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board's recommendation last week that Private Fuel Storage be granted an operating license to store spent nuclear fuel rods in a facility on the Goshute reservation in Tooele County was a major setback.

The recommendation now goes before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which could give final approval to the license application. Utah officials have gamely suggested that the 2-1 decision could provide a basis for an appeal. Still unresolved is whether the Bureau of Land Management will authorize shipment of the spent nuclear rods — waste created in electrical power generation in the Midwest and elsewhere. Other options include a federal court challenge and a challenge to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has some authority over tribal lands.

Still, the decision of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board establishes a greater urgency to find some means to halt the placement of the storage facility. None of the nuclear waste that would be stored at the facility was generated in Utah. Utah shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of the largely political delays that have hamstrung the use of a permanent, underground storage facility at Yucca Mountain, Nev. Although PFS officials describe the Goshute site as "temporary" storage site for spent nuclear rod storage, recall that the federal government's definition of "temporary" in these affairs is 40 years. After 40 years, seeking a licensure renewal would seem a more likely scenario for PFS than to file for an application at a different location.

As it stands, PFS has eight years invested in the licensing of a facility on land owned by the Skull Valley band of the Goshute Indian Tribe. In a meeting with the Deseret Morning News editorial board earlier this year, PFS Board Chairman and CEO John Parkyn said the application meets the technical requirements set down by the NRC. Parkyn said he expected other challenges but noted that PFS had followed the application processes very carefully, which should serve it well in the event of a procedural challenge.

Although federal and state officials have embarked on many challenges to the license application to this point, the recommendation of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board means Utah has entered a new stage of the fight. Utah must exhaust every legal means to keep this spent nuclear waste out or face the reality of becoming the surrogate to Yucca Mountain — and the nation's repository for nuclear waste.