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radioactive
waste disposal, the Northwest Compact, to use its authority to
derail EnergySolutions' plans.
"I
would ask the Compact to carefully examine the situation that is
unfolding with EnergySolutions to determine if it serves a
national purpose," said U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.
"It appears that it is exploiting a loophole in our country's
nuclear waste regulatory framework and its agreement with the
Compact to put the United States on a path to becoming the nuclear
garbage repository of the world."
The
letter, released Friday, takes a different tack in trying to block
the Utah-based company from accepting the waste - the discards of
Italy's dismantled nuclear reactor program.
Italy
sends its used fuel rods to France for reprocessing. But 20,000
tons of its low-level waste, including plant components, would be
shipped to EnergySolutions' processing plant in Tennessee under
the company's waste import application now being reviewed by the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The
estimated 1,600 tons would go to the Tooele County landfill for
final disposal. While Italians have discussed the possibility of
building their own disposal site, political opposition has
prevented it.
EnergySolutions
spokesman Greg Hopkins had no comment on Barton's letter and said
the company would proceed with the NRC process.
A number
of speakers who addressed the Radiation Board Friday said taking
Italy's waste would create a bad precedent, especially because so
many nuclear-powered nations have no disposal sites of their own
and because the Utah company's business plan has taken on an
international scope in recent years.
"You
are about to set a precedent about this that will be heard all
over the country and around the world," said James O'Neal, a
Provo resident opposed to the Italy waste license.
The board
grappled with advice from its legal counsel that it appears to
have no authority to stop the waste outright. It decided instead
to send a letter expressing its concerns to the state's
congressional delegation, to the NRC and to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.,
who has indicated he will not object to foreign waste going to the
EnergySolutions site.
Visitors
to the board meeting clapped when Vice Chair Stephen Nelson
offered wording basically saying that national leaders need to
assess the national crunch for low-level waste before allowing
large volumes of foreign waste.
"Do
we need to reserve capacity for our own use?" board member
Pat Cone asked. "Where are we going to send ours, to Italy,
when ours is full?"
Salt Lake
County resident Mary Draper applauded the panel.
"I
think you have a chance to show some real courage, some real
backbone for Utah and our country," she said.
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