Utah Court Green-Lights Importation of Italian Nuclear Waste

A federal court has determined that Salt Lake City–based EnergySolutions can import 1.600 tons of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) from Italy to its facility in Clive, Utah, ruling that its efforts fall outside the regulatory jurisdiction of the Northwest Compact, a coalition that includes Utah and seven other states.

The decision (PDF) by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart for the District of Utah Central Division denies the Northwest Compact’s claim that EnergySolutions could only store low-level nuclear waste at its 439-acre facility if it was generated within the compact boundaries of member states. The Italian waste would occupy 4.3 acres of the total disposal area, EnergySolutions had said.

“The Court … is troubled by the potential for abuse if private LLRW disposal facilities were to be left so completely at the whims of the compacts,” Stewart wrote. “Uncertainty thus created may be sufficient to deter private efforts to increase LLRW disposal capacity, and thereby frustrate, in part, the intent of the Acts.
“Furthermore, the potential to regulate a private LLRW facility out of existence is the potential to severely interfere with interstate commerce and is not, in this case, accompanied by an unambiguous expression of Congressional intent to permit such interference.”

“We have always felt confident in our legal position and appreciate the thoroughness of Judge Stewart’s decision in this case,” said Steve Creamer, CEO and chairman of EnergySolutions, in a statement last week. “Our Clive, Utah disposal facility is a private commercial facility that is licensed by the State of Utah under delegated authority by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We are pleased that this ruling ends any question on this matter.”

The company said that the Clive facility has been safely disposing of low-level material for over 20 years and has been disposing of residuals from internationally generated material for more than eight years. “The Northwest Compact has never voiced an objection to the Clive facility’s disposal of this material until recently.”
The waste is pending the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of an import-license request submitted by EnergySolutions in September 2007, which it had delayed until the court made its decision.

The Northwest Compact is one of 10 created in 1985 by two separate but interrelated bills: the Low Level Radioactive Policy Amendments Acts and the Omnibus Low Level Radioactive Waste Interstate Compact Consent Act. Both granted congressional consent to all nuclear waste compacts ratified by the states up to that point.

Congress has also recently taken up the issue. Earlier this year, Reps. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah), and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) introduced H.R. 515 (PDF), a bill that would allow foreign radioactive waste to be imported only if it would be returned to a U.S. government facility, originated in the U.S., or is approved by the president to “meet an important national and international policy goal.” Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced a companion Senate measure, S.232.

In a related story, Italy’s Senate approved a modified version of a bill on Thursday that clears the way for a nuclear energy renaissance in the country. The bill had already been revised and passed by the lower house last November. The Senate’s version contains modifications that must be approved by the lower house before it becomes law, Reuters reported.

Electricité de France and Italian power company ENEL have already signed an agreement to build at least four EPR power plants in Italy, starting work by 2013. Apart from selecting nuclear plant sites, the government will have to define rules for nuclear waste storage, introduce a streamlined procedure for new plants’ approval, and set up an agency to supervise nuclear safety, Reuters said.

Sources: District Court of Utah Central, U.S. Congress, Reuters