Time-out: NRC delays decision on Italian waste proposal

Tribune Editorial
Salt Lake Tribune

    And it didn't look good for the home team - the 2.5 million Utahns who stand to gain nothing except an unwanted distinction: home of the world's dumping ground. Because federal regulations require the NRC to rule solely on the safety of the proposal and without regard to the origin of the waste, the license likely would have been approved.
    Then, as time was about to expire, the NRC wisely called a time-out. The agency announced Monday that it will hold the license request "in abeyance" until a federal judge determines if the Northwest Interstate Compact has the authority to reject the proposal.
    The operating board of the federally sanctioned compact, which is charged with controlling the flow of radioactive waste into the eight-state region, slammed the door shut to Italian waste this spring. But EnergySolutions filed a lawsuit claiming the compact lacks jurisdiction over privately owned disposal facilities.
    With the trial scheduled for next September, the NRC's decision buys Congress time to ban imported waste, and settle the issue once and for all. To rightly reserve our nation's dwindling disposal space for domestic waste, and preserve Utah's reputation as a tourist destination.
    But the delay also gives EnergySolutions, which has approached Great Britain about importing waste and makes no secret of its international aspirations, time to buy some more members of Congress. Company officials have pumped thousands of dollars into campaign coffers in recent years, and money talks in Congress. Fortunately, voters talk even louder.
    Thousands of Utahns have already joined Gov. Jon Huntsman, the Utah Radiation Control Board and state tourism officials in opposing the proposal and supporting a ban on radioactive imports. But, among Utah's congressional delegation, only Rep. Jim Matheson has co-sponsored the import ban bill.
    So call your federal legislators. Tell them that Utah shouldn't be the world's nuclear dumping ground. Tell them it's time to get off the fence and push this bill through Congress.