On Monday Pierce cited a March 31 memo by Institute for Energy and Environmental Research president Arjun Makhijani, who said that as a whole the waste stream from Italy would constitute Class C radioactive materials. EnergySolutions is only permitted to accept Class A waste, which is considered less hot or dangerous than Class B and C matter. Makhijani said incinerating materials in Tennessee could further concentrate the radioactivity found in the materials coming from Italy.

Makhijani is recommending that EnergySolutions provide "detailed, independently-verified and publicly-available data describing the characteristics of each waste stream." Ward said Makhijani's report uses words like "could" and "assume," describing a situation that Ward said doesn't exist. "It's completely off base," he said about Makhijani's criticism.

Meanwhile, efforts in addition to Huntsman's stance continue to strive toward making sure EnergySolutions never gets the chance to accept Italy's waste.

Overwhelming public opposition to EnergySolutions' plans prompted the NRC in a rare move earlier this month to issue what it calls a "fact sheet," intended to answer questions and address concerns found in more than 900 comments submitted to the NRC, including some from members of Congress.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is co-sponsoring legislation, including a congressman from Tennessee, that would ban importing nuclear waste unless it was first produced in the United States. Utah's Radiation Control Board has also written a letter to the NRC in opposition to EnergySolutions' proposal.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com