Only Congress might halt nuclear waste

Powerful Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., praises many Italian imports: Ferrari cars, Armani suits and delicious prosciutto ham.

But when it comes to importing Italian low-level radioactive waste to Utah, he winced and exclaimed Friday, "It makes me say, 'Mama mia!' "

Markey chaired a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to ban shipment of such foreign waste to America. Witnesses from all sides of the issue said action by Congress may be the only way to stop it, if recent court rulings hold.

EnergySolutions has proposed to import to its Clive, Utah, facility 20,000 tons of such Italian waste, including lab coats, shoe coverings, cleaning cloths and similar materials used by workers at nuclear-power plants. It would go to Utah after processing at a Tennessee facility.

That import was opposed both by Utah and a compact of Northwest states, one of many compacts nationwide that Congress set up to let regions control what nuclear-plant wastes they may import — and thereby make each region take care of most of its own waste.

However, EnergySolutions successfully argued in federal court that it is a private facility and not part of the national compact system, so the state and Northwest compact could not stop it from importing foreign waste. The case is now on appeal.

If the ruling holds, witnesses said, only Congress could stop importing such foreign waste to Utah. Critics said lack of congressional action could make America, and specifically Utah, the world's dumping ground and threaten to break up the compact system. EnergySolutions said it is much ado about nothing.

"Using 4.3 acres of disposal capacity for internationally generated material will not turn the United States into 'the world's dumping ground,' " said EnergySolutions President Val Christensen.

Christensen said his company previously committed to use no more than the 4.3 acres at Clive for foreign disposal, and he said Friday that it is now also willing to commit to take such foreign waste for no more than 10 years.

He testified that "will give us ample time to establish, or assist in the establishment of, low-level radioactive-waste-disposal facilities abroad. We are exploring opportunities with several European and Asian countries to site LLRW facilities."

He said banning EnergySolutions from taking foreign waste would hurt its efforts to be a player in current expansion of nuclear facilities abroad — and handling waste and safety for them — because now it could offer an extra perk of temporarily helping to handle some low-level nuclear waste in Utah.