Please Deny EnergySolutions' Import Application (IW023)

Granting this request would set a dangerous precedent for the U.S. to become the world’s nuclear waste repository at a time when our own low-level waste disposal capacity remains uncertain. Filling up our domestic resources for low-level waste disposal with another country’s nuclear waste will put considerable pressure on existing U.S. disposal sites to expand and create a need for new sites to open up. The emergence of new and larger low-level nuclear waste sites due to foreign waste disposal constitutes an unreasonable risk to public health and safety. Having to safeguard these sites from terrorist attacks or other acts of intrusion will put considerable strain on our national defense and security. Furthermore, the transportation of this waste into our ports and through our cities and towns presents an unacceptable risk to our health, safety, and security.

EnergySolutions states in its application that “the sources of this material are not fully known” and that some of the waste may be above allowable contamination for processing and disposal in Utah. The Commission should not agree to allow this import when the nature and hazards of this material remain unclear.