Matheson: British News Reports Indicate Utah Site would be Home to UK Nuke Waste?

Salt Lake City, UT—Congressman Jim Matheson today reacted to published reports that yet another European country is eying Utah’s low-level radioactive waste disposal site as the solution to its nuclear cleanup problems.

“My fear that the current proposal to import Italy’s waste was just the tip of the iceberg seems valid, based on this news out of Great Britain,” said Matheson. “We know the US has limited storage space for domestically produced waste. If we don’t set limits on foreign waste now, where will this all end?”

Matheson said a report in the UK Nuclear Facilities Monitor Exchange Publication (May 12, 2008 issue) quotes an EnergySolutions director telling British officials that “his company’s low-level waste disposal site in the U.S. could serve to provide much-needed capacity as several UK reactors move into the decommissioning phase.”  The company representative was speaking at the Nuclear New-Build Conference in London that was held in early May.

The proposal was even talked about in the British Parliament by a House of Lords Member—Lord Jenkin of Roding— who said that the company had raised the possibility of transporting low-level radioactive waste from Great Britain, to Clive, Utah.

“It’s clear from the recent Congressional hearing on my legislation to update U.S. nuclear waste policy that confusion reigns regarding authority on dealing with the proposed importation of foreign radioactive waste,” said Matheson.  “This latest report reinforces my concern that Utah will become the repository for the nuclear waste of foreign countries wishing to dispose of radioactive waste to solve their problems at Utah’s and the U.S.’s expense.”

 

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