Sierra Club wants to block uranium waste shipments

An environmental group doesn't want nearly 32,000 tons of what it calls radioactive waste from Oklahoma to travel down the main streets of Moab, Monticello and Blanding on its way to a disposal facility on White Mesa in San Juan County.

The Glen Canyon Group of the Sierra Club's nuclear-waste committee recently filed a petition with the Utah Division of Radiation Control to stop the waste coming from FMRI Inc., in Muskogee, Okla., into Utah.

The waste would be shipped to the International Uranium Corp.'s mill on White Mesa, a sparsely populated plateau in southeastern Utah. Earlier this month, the DRC granted an amendment request by the mill's owners to accept the new waste, which the DRC calls "alternate feed material."

"I know there are people on White Mesa who are concerned about various health problems," said Sarah Fields, chairwoman of the Glen Canyon Group's nuclear-waste committee.

One of the fears about the waste from FMRI Inc. is over thorium, found naturally in the earth's crust and contained in the waste from Oklahoma. As thorium decays, it produces the radioactive gas radon. The concern about radon is that it could cause lung cancer in humans.

In a hearing last January in front of the DRC, Thelma Whiskers, a Ute Indian, asked the DRC to move the mill to protect Utes living nearby from getting sick. She says activity at the mill, which has been in operation for more than 20 years, is making people ill.

"So I wish you people would listen to me," Whiskers said. "We don't want it to be close to the Ute Reservation."

The Glen Canyon Group's petition calls for a new adjudicative-type hearing that would include lawyers for all parties. The group also wants the meeting to be open to the public and held in Blanding, located about four miles from the mill. Normally such a hearing is held in Salt Lake City.

The DRC previously listened to public comment about the mill's amendment during a public hearing Jan. 5 in Blanding.

Dane Finerfrock, DRC director, said in that hearing he addressed public concerns about dangerous chemicals in the waste and radon. As of this week, he is still satisfied with the amendment request.

"Is it a done deal? No." Finerfrock said in a phone interview. "That's why we're going through the appeals process.

"We believe the tailings (waste) can be disposed of by IUC safely," he added.

For more than 10 years, the mill has received hundreds of thousands of tons of radioactive waste from at least four states and parts of Canada. Each time waste is accepted from a source not listed in IUC's license, an amendment to the mill's license is required.