Matheson Foreign Waste Ban Bill to Get Subcommittee Vote

October 27, 2009

Washington, D.C.—Congressman Jim Matheson said today that his legislation to stop foreign countries from sending their radioactive waste to the U.S. and Utah for disposal is advancing this week.  The Radioactive Deterrence Import (RID) Act—HR 515—will be considered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Environment Thursday, Oct. 29th.  Matheson is a member of the subcommittee, which held a hearing on the bill Oct. 16th.

"The 1980 federal law which set up disposal of radioactive waste by the states never anticipated that foreign countries would send their waste here for permanent disposal.  The whole system is designed for the domestic needs of our country's nuclear industry.  Let Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain and other countries handle their own radioactive waste," said Matheson.

Matheson's bipartisan bill is a response to a license application from a Utah company to import 20,000 tons of low level radioactive waste from Italy for processing in Tennessee, with 1,600 tons slated for permanent storage at a Utah company's Tooele County site.  The RID Act would ban the importation of foreign radioactive waste with narrow exceptions involving defense or national security needs.

Matheson said the subcommittee markup will be held at 1 p.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

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