• Salt Lake City, UT (December 17th, 2025) – On December 19, 2025, the NorthWest Interstate Compact (NWIC) on radioactive waste management will meet to review a controversial proposal that would allow, for the first time, foreign nuclear waste to be permanently dumped in the US. Over a million cubic yards of nuclear power hazardous, radioactive waste from unspecified nuclear power sites in Ontario, Canada would be shipped for 10 years across the U.S. and buried at EnergySolutions’ waste site in Clive, Utah. 

88 organizations in the US and Canada and health and environmental advocates, including HEAL Utah and Nuclear Information and Resource Service, are calling on the NWIC Commissioners to fully review the proposal by getting the answers to basic questions about the proposal, including what materials will be imported to be dumped in Utah’s soil.

Unanswered Questions About The Proposed Import of Foreign Radioactive Waste

• What exactly is the waste?
  What radionuclides does it contain, in what concentrations and total amounts, and in what physical forms (solid, liquid, or gas)?
• Who generated the waste?
  Which Canadian nuclear power reactors and related facilities produced it, and from what industrial or nuclear processes does it come?
• How much long-lived radioactivity is included?
  How much plutonium, uranium, and other long-lasting radioactive materials would be imported over the 10-year period?
• Is this a foot in the door? EnergySolutions has nuclear operations around the world. Is this the first step to becoming an international dump?
• Who is legally and financially liable?
  Because this waste is both radioactive and hazardous, who bears responsibility under U.S. hazardous-waste laws during transport, disposal, and long-term stewardship?
• What precedent does this set to import more international nuclear power waste?
  Does approving this request open the door to additional foreign radioactive waste from around the world coming to Utah, the Northwest, and the United States?
• How will the waste be transported?
  Which roads, railways, and waterways will be used over the next decade, and which communities will be exposed along those routes

The groups have provided materials and a longer list of important questions and concerns. You can find a list of organizations on the document titled “88 US and Canadian Groups Oppose Dumping Foreign Nuclear Hazardous Waste in Utah and US.”

Context:

During the meeting on November 25th, more than 50 attendees listened as nine public commenters, from Utah, across the U.S., and Canada, unanimously opposed EnergySolutions’ proposal to bring in foreign radioactive and hazardous waste for permanent disposal in Utah, citing threats to public health, transportation safety, and transparency.

So called “low level” radioactive waste from nuclear power includes long-lasting radioactive elements such as plutonium-239 (dangerous for a quarter to half a million years) and one of the most deadly substances known, iodine-129 dangerous for a 160 to 320 million years, strontium 90 which causes bone cancer and leukemia, cesium 137 which causes heart disease, and hundreds of other kinds of radioactive material that increase risks of cancer, birth defects, reduced immunity and heart disease.

As of now, EnergySolutions still lacks Compact approval to import the waste and dispose of it in the US. They are planning to submit their application to expand their facility in Clive, UT with the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control. This will be the only option for Utahns to submit public comments locally, but that will be on expanding the waste site, not on importing unspecified foreign waste. Concurrently, EnergySolutions will also need to secure approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for an import license for the Canadian waste, but there is no public comment or meeting opportunity with NRC unless a party legally intervenes and requests an administrative process.

However, based on the Compact discussion on November 25th, EnergySolutions could begin importing radioactive waste even before their expansion cell application is open for public comment in Utah, pushing out the public process until after EnergySolutions has already been allowed to import a substantial amount of waste.  

Quotes for consideration

“Before Utah is asked to become a dumping ground for foreign radioactive waste, the public deserves clear answers. We still don’t know what’s in this waste, who made it, how much long-lived radioactivity it contains, who is liable if something goes wrong, or which communities will be put at risk along transport routes. Decisions of this magnitude should not be rushed or made behind closed doors.”

• Lexi Tuddenham, Executive Director, HEAL Utah

“This proposal raises serious questions about transparency, safety, and fairness. Communities in Utah and across the Northwest are being asked to accept radioactive waste from another country without basic information about its contents, its risks, or the long-term consequences. That’s not informed consent, and it’s not responsible governance.”

• Carmen Valdez, Senior Policy Associate, HEAL Utah

“Approving this request doesn’t just affect Utah—it sets a dangerous national precedent. Once the door is opened to foreign radioactive waste, it becomes much harder to close. The public deserves a full, transparent review before the United States becomes a permanent destination for the world’s nuclear waste.”

• Cathryn Chudy, Board Member, Oregon Conservancy

• “Nuclear power makes long-lasting deadly radioactive and hazardous waste–It is dirty, dangerous and expensive. The world needs to stop making nuclear power waste, not trafficking it across  international boundaries to dump on other countries. If asked, the US public would say NO, which is why this decision is being buried in a compact commission vote. We call on the NWIC Commissioners to say NO,” said Diane D’Arrigo with Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which has been tracking the nuclear waste issue since the late 1970s.