Mark Walker, public affairs officer for Envirocare, said the company is one of only three or four facilities that can accept depleted uranium. The material was classified as Class A by the NRC, which did an in-depth safety analysis in making the decision.

Both the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and Envirocare had to demonstrate that the company's disposal cells can safely handle it, Walker said.

Barney said if Makhijani's argument about future exposure is valid, "then you wouldn't be able to dispose of anything in a near-surface facility." Much of what these facilities handle has a long half-life, he said.

"A lot of elements that we take, and that everybody takes, have very long half-life, billions of years," said Tye Rogers, Envirocare vice president for compliance and licensing. The half-life isn't the important factor, it's how much radiation is emitted, he said.

If the concentration of the uranium is too high Envirocare could not accept it, he said.

Dane Finerfrock, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said he can't conceive of "any way that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would say that no uranium is acceptable for shallow land burial."

But what will happen if the NRC rules that depleted uranium should no longer be considered Class A waste?

"Whatever the regulatory bodies decide is the prudent course, and the prudent and safest manner to manage this material, we'll support that," Barney said.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com