Utah governor nixes nuke shipment
Low-level radioctive material from Italy won't go to desert site.
SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Jon Huntsman said Wednesday he will block the shipment of Italian nuclear waste to Utah, reversing his earlier position that foreign waste should be an issue decided by the federal government.
EnergySolutions Inc. has an application pending before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste through Southern ports for processing in Tennessee.
After processing, about 8%, or about 1,600 tons, would be shipped to the company's dump in the desert about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City.
Huntsman said he directed Utah's representative on the Northwest Interstate Low-Level Waste Compact to vote against allowing the waste into Utah.
The NRC can approve the application, but the multistate group can keep the waste from coming here. Under the group's rules, a state that would get the foreign waste can veto it.
"As I have always emphatically declared, Utah should not be the world's dumping ground," Huntsman said in a statement.
"Our country has limited space to store even domestic waste and it would be most appropriate to have a federal policy against the importation of foreign nuclear waste. However, as the federal government is slow to adopt such a policy, Utah will lead the way," he said.
There was no immediate comment from Utah-based EnergySolutions.
