Utah to hear proposal for second low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in state

Utah to consider second radioactive waste dump

SALT LAKE CITY — The former president of the only facility that can dispose of low-level radioactive waste for 36 states said Tuesday that he wants to open a new disposal facility in Utah.

Charles Judd said EnergySolutions Inc.’s facility in Utah’s west desert is running out of space and can’t handle future waste from the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. He wants to build a new site on state land about three miles from Interstate 80 in Tooele County.

By building on state trust land, Judd says the state’s schools could reap a financial windfall.

“We think the state ought to get a significant amount more than they are getting right now. If we were to use state lands, (schools) would benefit from tens of millions of dollars,” Judd told The Associated Press in an interview before presenting the proposal to the state’s Radiation Control Board.

Judd is also proposing increasing taxes on radioactive waste by 50 percent and doubling state oversight fees.

Judd made his initial pitch for a new facility at a time when the state is facing a $700 million budget shortfall, although he said it would be years before he could get his operation up and running.

In a statement, EnergySolutions President Val Christensen noted that opening a new facility is a lengthy and expensive process and that the company wasn’t aware of any progress Judd has made.

Judd was the president of EnergySolutions’ predecessor, Envirocare. He contends that EnergySolutions has thumbed its nose at Utah too often, citing its plans to dispose of waste from Italy’s shuttered nuclear power program over objections from two Utah governors and the public.

His comments touting the economic benefits of a new facility resemble those EnergySolutions made last year, when it offered to share revenue from disposing foreign nuclear waste with the state during another tough budget year if it dropped its objections to importing the material. The idea was supported by some lawmakers but rebuffed by former Gov. Jon Huntsman.

Judd said his company, Cedar Mountain Environmental, would not seek to import foreign low-level radioactive waste or depleted uranium.

Depleted uranium is different from other low-level radioactive waste because it becomes hotter over time. EnergySolutions has been disposing of the material for years.

Environmental groups and some in Congress have raised concerns that depleted uranium becomes so hot that it shouldn’t be considered Class A waste, the lowest classification for radioactive waste and the only type EnergySolutions is licensed to handle.

In response to EnergySolutions’ plans for the Italian waste, an effort is also under way in Congress to ban the importation of foreign low-level radioactive waste.

The measure’s lead sponsors, U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., contend that the U.S. should preserve capacity at its disposal sites for domestic waste at a time the nation is increasingly looking at expanding the use of nuclear power.

EnergySolutions has repeatedly said capacity is not a problem at its facility.

Judd said there will be no shortage of domestic waste in the future, including waste created at EnergySolutions’ site.

“Right now there’s not a great need. There’s ample capacity for this year, but we see in the future a great need for these facilities,” he said. “One of the bigger needs is just to clean up the (EnergySolutions) site.”

But first, Judd will have to get regulatory, legislative and gubernatorial approval. It’s unclear how much of an appetite lawmakers would have for approving a new site. Utah Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they were unaware of the proposal.

A spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, who is facing a special election this fall, said Herbert did not support a second disposal site. She did not elaborate.

The nuclear waste watchdog group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah began calling on lawmakers Tuesday to send a quick, strong message that Utah doesn’t need another disposal site.

“It’s not surprising Judd is trying to sell a bill of radioactive goods to the state of Utah because the state has allowed EnergySolutions to make nuclear waste dumping a marquee industry in the state,” said HEAL Utah’s executive director, Vanessa Pierce. “But that’s not an image that the state should be perpetuating, and Herbert and the Legislature can put a stop to this right now by saying ‘no.’”

EnergySolutions shares fell 15 cents, or 2 percent, to $7.34 Tuesday.