246 words10 February 2010GreenwireGRWREnglish© 2010 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved
A potential competitor to EnergySolutions Inc. proposed a second radioactive waste facility in Utah yesterday, claiming that the EnergySolutions' facility in Utah's west desert is running out of room and that another facility will store the excess low-level radioactive waste more safely and with more financial benefit to the state.
The current facility disposes of low-level radioactive waste for 36 states and will not be able to handle future waste coming from the decomissioning of nuclear power plants, the former head of EnergySolutions, Charles Judd, told the state's Radiation Control Board yesterday. EnergySolutions refutes that claim.
Judd urged the board to consider a new site for another waste dump on state land about 3 miles from Interstate 80 in Tooele County. Building on state lands would generate tens of millions of dollars for the state trust land fund, which could then be funneled to Utah schools, he said. He claimed his facility would also be safer since it would use twice as much radon barrier to cover the site.
Judd also proposed increasing taxes on radioactive waste by 50 percent and doubling state oversight fees. The proposal comes at a time when the state is already staring down a $700 million budget shortfall, although Judd noted that if the project is approved it would still take years before he could get it up and running (Brock Vergaki, AP/ABC News, Feb. 9). -- DFM
CRESP Newstories and Links related to risk-based cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites and cost-effective, risk-based management of potential future nuclear sites and wastes. CRESP seeks to improve the scientific and technical basis for environmental management decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) and by fostering public participation in that search.
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