Workshop avoids mention of N-waste coming this way

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission grappled with the hot topic of long-term solutions to the storage of depleted uranium and tried to steer clear of the burning issue closer to home — EnergySolutions' pending arrival of tons of the stuff.

Shipments of 10,800 metric tons of depleted uranium are on line to be disposed of at the company's Clive facility in Tooele County after a contract was inked with the U.S. Department of Energy this summer.

An official from that agency cautioned participants in a public workshop Wednesday in Salt Lake City that any analysis performed so far on what storage conditions should be imposed was not done specific to Clive.

"This is not a risk assessment," said Marty Letourneau with the Department of Energy. "To use this as a means to prove this facility or that facility can or cannot dispose of depleted uranium is a completely inaccurate interpretation."

"This" was scenarios depicting varying conditions for disposal — such as dry or humid, low water table or not — and depth of cover to assist in the commission's crafting of a rule governing storage of depleted uranium.

The workshop was the first of two input-gathering meetings in Salt Lake City hosted by the commission as the regulatory agency develops a "technical" basis for site-specific conditions it should impose with a new rule to come out for public comment in 2011.

NRC officials anticipate a long-range need to develop storage capacity of potentially more than a million metric tons of depleted uranium in light of two commercial uranium enrichment facilities receiving licenses and applications pending for two more.

Depleted uranium is a man-made byproduct from uranium enrichment operations in the production of nuclear fuel. While some of it has applications for military use, the NRC reports that commercial demand is much less than what will be generated.

The commission concedes DU, as it is commonly called, is a unique "waste stream" that merits consideration of additional restrictions for storage because unlike other low-level radioactive waste it grows more radioactive over time, peaking at a million years.

EnergySolutions already has 43,000 metric tons of DU stored at Clive and has agreed to retroactively modify its storage conditions to fit any new rule put out by the commission.

That agreement has not mollified HEAL Utah's criticism of storing DU in Utah, nor eased the sting of the Utah Radiation Control Board's Tuesday decision to reject imposing any statewide moratorium until the federal rule is in play.

The activist group asked for the moratorium earlier this year, a request mulled by the board for months prior to its rejection.