Standoff over waste from Italy to drag on

Trial set for next fall about EnergySolutions' import of Italian debris

By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune

It might be another year before a judge decides who has the final say on importing foreign radioactive waste to Utah.
EnergySolutions Inc. requested the federal court ruling in hopes of securing the right to import low-level nuclear waste from Italy and other foreign countries over the objections of the state, the public and members of Congress.
U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart will preside at a weeklong bench trial in the case next fall, according to recently filed papers. Critics hope Congress will pass a bill to outlaw most foreign waste imports before the judge decides.
Those involved have little to say about the delay.
The Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-level Radioactive waste is the target of the Salt Lake City company's request for a declaratory judgment. It was created by Congress as part of a national system to manage the flow of low-level radioactive waste and made up of representatives from its eight member states. The compact has no comment, said the panel's attorney Michael S. Tribble.
Compact members granted EnergySolutions' predecessor, Envirocare of Utah, special permission more than 25 years ago to accept low-level radioactive waste at a Tooele County disposal site. Since then, the 1-mile-square site has taken more than 90 percent of the waste going to the nation's three low-level waste landfills.
Low-level waste does not include high-level spent reactor fuel, which remains dangerous for thousands of years. Rather, waste in the Tooele County site, primarily from government cleanups and nuclear reactors, is considered hazardous for about 100 years.
"We have no comment," said EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker.
The nuclear waste company basically argues that the compact has no jurisdiction over EnergySolutions' privately owned and operated facility. The compact contends Congress gave it authority for low-level waste within its entire regional boundary.
EnergySolutions triggered the controversy last fall by applying for a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import 20,000 tons of waste from Italy's reactor cleanups and bury about 1,600 tons of it in Utah. The NRC had considered waiting for the judge's ruling before deciding on the license, but is proceeding with the license request, said NRC's Stephen Dembek.
"The Commission will consider all pertinent information with respect to both the substance and timing of its decision," he said.
Legal delays give proponents of a foreign-waste ban more time to build support. Co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, a Utah Democrat, the bill faced an uphill battle this year because Congress has only a few more weeks in this session.
"At the heart of the lawsuit is EnergySolutions' desire to force policymakers out of the debate about whether the world's nuclear waste should be dumped in the United States," said Vanessa Piece, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. "While this legal delay will keep the Italian waste out Utah for another year, we need the rest of our congressional delegation to join Representative Matheson in taking decisive action by banning the disposal of foreign nuclear waste altogether."
fahys@sltrib.com