Utah, DOE still negotiating depleted uranium deal

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Energy has yet to sign an agreement with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert that calls for sending two trainloads of low-level radioactive waste from a former South Carolina nuclear weapons complex to Texas instead of Utah, a DOE spokeswoman said Thursday.

Herbert's office announced in February that he and DOE Assistant Secretary Ines Triay reached a verbal agreement to keep any more depleted uranium from the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C., from coming to the state.

Herbert made the request after questions arose about whether the material could safely be disposed of at EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. Depleted uranium is different from other waste disposed of there because it becomes hotter over time — for up to 1 million years.

Energy Department spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said Thursday that Triay has not signed the letter Herbert sent in March detailing their agreement. If the waste were to be sent to Texas, it would likely go to Waste Control Specialists' facility in Andrews County near the New Mexico border.

Stutsman said Triay will respond to Herbert's letter but changes will be made.

"Contrary to the governor's letter, the Department of Energy has not made any final decisions on the storage and disposal for the 2nd and 3rd shipments of depleted uranium from the Savannah River Site. Our edits will include language that reflects our understanding of the agreement," Stutsman wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"The department is continuing to analyze potential alternatives and expects to make a decision soon."

It is unclear if the DOE plans to dispose of the waste in Utah in the future.

State and federal officials are undergoing a rule-making process to determine if the material can safely be disposed of in Utah, which could take at least two years. Funding for the Savannah River Site cleanup project came from federal stimulus money that was intended to create jobs quickly.

Environmental groups and state officials protested the shipments out of concern they would be disposed of before it was determined if the material was safe. One shipment from the cleanup has already arrived in Utah and is awaiting disposal.

Vanessa Pierce, executive director of the nuclear waste watchdog group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said she's worried the DOE's response to Herbert's letter means Utah may still be a disposal option for the other two trains.