N-waste meeting set for Salt Lake City

Utah is one of two spots in the nation picked by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to host a pair of public workshops to gather input on rules for storage of depleted uranium.

The decision to select Utah comes even as state radiation control regulators are mulling the possibility of imposing a ban on storing depleted uranium here until the commission crafts its rules.

A commission spokeswoman said Utah was picked for workshops on Sept. 23-24 in Salt Lake City because a low-level radioactive waste forum will be held the same week in Park City and many stakeholders will already be in the area.

A request earlier this year for a moratorium on the storage of depleted uranium prompted members of the Utah Radiation Control Board to ponder their legal authority to enact such a ban at a meeting this month. Depleted uranium is the man-made byproduct of the enrichment of natural uranium in nuclear reactors. Although not as radioactive as natural uranium, critics fear its transformation as "hotter" waste over time poses unacceptable health risks.

Given the complexity of the issue, a second meeting is scheduled in mid-July in which HEAL Utah will get to present its "side" of the debate to the board. HEAL is opposed to the storage of depleted uranium, arguing there are no safe conditions for its disposal.

Those in the business of disposing of low-level radioactive waste — EnergySolutions — will counter with their arguments on how depleted uranium can be stored without risk to public health. Although the Utah-based company has no contracts in place for the storage of large quantities of depleted uranium, it already accepts some amounts that make up other radioactive material.

The commission, which said it will announce exact locations of the workshops as the dates grow nearer, has posted on the Federal Register a number of issues it will solicit comments on.

In its efforts to come up with rules governing "site-specific" conditions for the long-term storage of depleted uranium, the commission will define what "significant quantities" of depleted uranium means and if there should be a lower threshold for "small quantities" and thus additional restrictions for disposal.

At this point, the commission considers a 10,000 year timetable sufficient for evaluation of disposal facilities, but is considering if that is adequate given the changing radioactive nature of depleted uranium. It will also look at imposing specific requirements relevant to the different forms depleted uranium can take on, including a gas byproduct.

The need to come up with a rule governing conditions for storage of depleted uranium is the result of the country increasingly turning its attention to nuclear power as an energy source.