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Gordon foreign waste ban to get committee vote on The Murfreesboro Post
Tomorrow (Nov. 19), the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider Congressman Bart Gordon’s bill concerning foreign radioactive waste. Gordon’s bipartisan legislation, the Radioactive Import Deterrence (RID) Act, H.R. 515, would prevent foreign-generated radioactive waste from being processed in Tennessee and disposed in the U.S.
The full committee markup of the RID Act will begin at 8:30 a.m. CST. A live webcast can be viewed on the E&C’s website when the hearing begins http://energycommerce.house.gov/.
Tomorrow’s markup comes after the E&C’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment held a legislative hearing on October 16 and passed the RID Act on November 3.
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Background:
Tooele Transcript Bulletin - Foreign nuclear waste has no place in America
The hazardous waste industry, and nuclear waste in particular, have never been simple issues within Tooele County. While some along the Wasatch Front would like to see this genie put back into the bottle, most local residents have long realized our hazardous waste corridor is here to stay — requiring us to take a more pragmatic and nuanced view of the industry.
Hazardous waste has created jobs for county residents. It has also contributed millions of dollars to county government coffers in the form of mitigation fees — funds that were used to construct Deseret Peak Complex. Although that contribution has declined drastically in recent years, it remains an important revenue source within county budgets.
Waste fees subsidizing general state operations - Salt Lake Tribune
Industry » Legislature should close loophole that pumps waste fees into general fund, group says.
It's been a long-standing principle in Utah to have hazardous waste operators cover the cost of state oversight. But with the economic slump and waste fees lagging, the self-supporting fund for hazardous waste regulation is short some $2.3 million.
An industry group has been looking since spring for a way to stanch the flow, and its focus has landed on the Utah Legislature. Turns out lawmakers have been reaching into the fund, called the Environmental Quality Restricted Account, for millions to cover other programs, some unrelated to the environment.
"The bottom line for us," said Bill Sinclair, deputy director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, "is, if we can't meet our revenue needs through fees, there will be consequences."
Depleted uranium - Salt Lake Tribune
DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until, roughly, the year 1002009. The acronym also gives sound guidance for where depleted uranium should be buried: deep underground.
But a lack of deep, underground storage space and a growing need to find permanent storage for 1.4 million tons of DU is "clearly driving" federal regulators to erroneously steer the materials to shallow burial sites like EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah.
That's the contention of Kansas State University Geologist Charles G. Oviatt and a pair of Brigham Young University scientists, geologist Steve Nelson and climatologist Summer Rupper. In a letter to the NRC, which is gathering input in the early stages of a three-year review of DU disposal issues, they cite a "programmatic failure" by the agency to properly plan for deep disposal of depleted uranium.
Radiation board requires safety report on depleted uranium - Salt Lake Tribune
EnergySolutions won't be able to bring more depleted uranium to Utah until the company proves the waste can be safely disposed in Tooele County for the long run.
That's what the Utah Radiation Control Board decided Tuesday by sticking to principles it adopted last month, even after the company threatened legal action.
The limit on DU, as depleted uranium is often called, does not go into effect for several months, and that leaves open a window for EnergySolutions to bring up to 15,000 drums of it from a government cleanup in South Carolina. But board members said their action Tuesday actually gets the safeguard in place sooner than originally expected.
EnergySolutions sent its attorney to the board meeting Tuesday to warn of potential legal consequences if the board did not backtrack on actions taken at its October meeting.
Company to present regulators some options -- and a warning - Salt Lake Tribune
EnergySolutions » Lawyer expected to outline "acceptable," unacceptable" paths
EnergySolutions Inc. says state regulators are tinkering too much with the depleted uranium provisions of its operating license, and the nuclear waste company is sending its lawyer Tuesday, along with a politely worded threat to sue, to the Radiation Control Board.
Company spokesman Mark Walker said EnergySolutions has no comment in advance of the discussion. But the company's eight-page outline of the radiation board's legal options range from what it considers "preferred" to "unacceptable."
"To avoid litigation of this issue," EnergySolutions says, the board must not impose a moratorium or follow through with the pending license change, says the prepared presentation of Craig D. Galli, an attorney for the company. The statement is contained in prepared testimony obtained by The Tribune through an open-records request.
Scientists: Nuke panel owes Utahns an apology - Salt Lake Tribune
Three scientists say federal nuclear regulators owe Utahns an apology -- and a policy change -- for allowing shallow burial of depleted uranium, including the 49,000 tons already at EnergySolutions Inc.'s landfill in Tooele County.
Geologist Stephen T. Nelson and climatologist Summer B. Rupper, both of Brigham Young University, and Kansas State University geologist Charles G. Oviatt, say it is "absurd" for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deem depleted uranium safe for surface disposal.
The uranium enrichment waste gets increasingly hazardous for a million years, and that's too long to reasonably ensure the safety of any shallow landfills, especially one like the Tooele County site that is underwater a few hundred of every several thousand years. Those wet cycles could spread long-lived radioactive material throughout the Great Salt Lake basin, the scientists say.
Deseret News | Salt Lake County opposes importing N-waste
A resolution backing a federal effort to block the importation of radioactive waste from foreign countries found unanimous support from the Salt Lake County Council and attracted the attention of two Utah congressmen.
Reps. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican, and Jim Matheson, a Democrat, noted their appreciation of Councilwoman Jani Iwamoto's resolution to support a U.S. House bill, and companion Senate bill, aimed at stopping low-level radioactive waste from outside the U.S. being imported and stored in domestic repositories.
Chaffetz, who phoned into the council meeting, and Matheson, who sent a representative, are supporting the bill scheduled to go before a U.S. House committee Thursday. Iwamoto told the council she was concerned not only with Utah becoming the world's nuclear waste dumping ground, but also about the numerous risks that come with transporting the potentially harmful material.
Deseret News | House panel OKs bill to ban importing foreign N-waste
A House subcommittee endorsed Tuesday a bill to ban importing foreign, low-level radioactive waste — which would block an EnergySolutions proposal to import 20,000 tons of it from Italy, process it in Tennessee and dump it in Utah's western desert.
EnergySolutions conceded after the vote that the bill pushed by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., likely will soon pass the full House, but said the Senate may block it.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, said before his panel passed the bill on a voice vote, "We on the committee will not allow the United States to be the world's dumping ground."
Ban on importing foreign nuclear waste advances | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
Legislation that would ban the importation of foreign radioactive waste took a small step forward on Tuesday when a House subcommittee signed off on the bill.
The legislation, co-authored by Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, was proposed in response to an application by EnergySolutions Inc. to bring in 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italian nuclear facilities to the U.S. The material would be processed at a company plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and then shipped to Utah for storage.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy and Environment subcommittee passed the bill onto the full committee by a voice vote.
Deseret News | Funds dwindling to oversee Utah's hazardous waste
Businesses that handle some of Utah's most dangerous materials are being inspected less often because of dwindling funds to pay for the work.
State monitoring of hazardous and radioactive waste has for years been funded by fees collected from commercial waste companies. That fund — which reached nearly $6 million in 2006 — has fallen off with the down economy, dwindling to just $30,000 at the end of the last fiscal year.
Utah is still adequately regulating hazardous waste operations but is no longer able to inspect them as often as in the past, said Dennis Downs, director of the state's hazardous and solid waste division. That not only includes monitoring of large hazardous waste disposal sites in Utah but also regular checks on hundreds of smaller operations — from autobody shops and dry cleaners to oil refineries — that generate and store dangerous materials.
Funds dwindling to oversee Utah's hazardous waste - Salt Lake Tribune
Regulation » Inspections of businesses that handle disposal are becoming less frequent.
Salt Lake City » Businesses that handle some of Utah's most dangerous materials are being inspected less often because of dwindling funds to pay for the work.
State monitoring of hazardous and radioactive waste has for years been funded by fees collected from commercial waste companies. That fund -- which reached nearly $6 million in 2006 -- has fallen off with the down economy, dwindling to just $30,000 at the end of the last fiscal year.
Utah is still adequately regulating hazardous waste operations but is no longer able to inspect them as often as in the past, said Dennis Downs, director of the state's Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste. That includes not only monitoring of large hazardous-waste disposal sites in Utah but also regular checks on hundreds of smaller operations -- from auto body shops and dry cleaners to oil refineries -- that generate and store dangerous materials.
Hanford News: Utah Bill seeks to ban foreign nuclear waste
A bill designed to keep foreign countries from disposing their nuclear waste in the United States is taking a small but significant step toward getting a U.S. House committee vote for the first time.
On Thursday, the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act will undergo a process known as markup, where members of a House subcommittee will debate and recommend changes to the bill before it advances.
The bill to ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste was drafted in response to a Utah company's plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy's shuttered nuclear power program through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility in the western Utah desert.
Nuclear power water rights protests triggers public hearing - Salt Lake Tribune
State water officials have decided to schedule a public hearing on a proposal that would transfer water rights amounting to billions of gallons from Kane and San Juan counties to a company that wants to build a nuclear power plant at Green River.
They're going to get an earful.
Hundreds of people and organizations have filed protests on the action, which would transfer 29,600 acre-feet of water from Kane County and 24,000 acre-feet per year from San Juan County to Blue Castle Holdings, a company working to secure a license to build a power plant. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons. The company would lease the water rights for 70 years.
The Associated Press: Bill to ban foreign nuke waste makes small advance
A bill designed to keep foreign countries from disposing their nuclear waste in the United States is taking a small but significant step toward getting a U.S. House committee vote for the first time.
On Thursday, the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act will undergo a process known as markup, where members of a House subcommittee will debate and recommend changes to the bill before it advances.
The bill to ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste was drafted in response to a Utah company's plan to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy's shuttered nuclear power program through the ports of Charleston, S.C., or New Orleans. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in EnergySolutions Inc.'s facility in the western Utah desert.
Buyer beware - Salt Lake Tribune
EnergySolutions has a good thing going, a virtual monopoly on the disposal of Class A low-level radioactive waste in the United States.
The company's waste disposal facility at Clive in Tooele County serves as the sole repository for low-level waste generated in 36 states. And that waste stream produces a steady stream of revenue.
But, the publicly traded, profit-motivated nuclear waste disposal firm is not content. Like a Girl Scout troop with a truckload of cookies, EnergySolutions is knocking on doors in a bid for new business and higher earnings. It's determined to expand its territory, to go global, by importing radioactive waste.
Over the years, the company has accepted trifling amounts of radioactive waste from our friends in Britain and Taiwan, Germany and France, Canada and Mexico, without attracting too much attention. But now, it's trying to pump up the volume and acquire a license to import 20,000 tons of low-level waste from Italy. Its international aspirations are evident. And, if the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets a precedent by issuing the license, nations will be lining up to sign contracts and avoid disposing of these dangerous materials in their own backyards.
EnergySolutions clarifies 'contracts' claim - Salt Lake Tribune
EnergySolutions clarifies 'contracts' claim Italian waste » There are agreements, but no binding deal.
Washington » EnergySolutions has sent a clarification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission explaining that it did not have signed contracts to import Italian low-level waste after a congressman questioned the company's claim last week.
Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., quizzed EnergySolutions President Val Christensen about why the company argued in a June filing that it would suffer substantial economic harm if a license were not granted to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy.
Christensen acknowledged that the company did not have any contracts and the filing should have said "memorandum of understanding," which is not a legally binding contract.
In a filing with the NRC Friday, the company said that "upon further review" it would be more precise to use the word "memorandum" instead of "contracts."
Gordon, along with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is sponsoring legislation that would ban the importation of foreign low-level radioactive waste. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also is a co-sponsor.
Deseret News | Delay urged for water diversion
Critics of a plan to divert river water to support a proposed nuclear reactor in Emery County say any diversion should be put on hold until a new study of the Colorado River's water supplies is completed.
Additionally, they say Utah's water engineer should hold off until their protests are formally heard in the spring of 2010.
At issue is the transfer of 24,000 acre-feet of water from the San Juan River to the Green River in support of Blue Castle Holdings' nuclear reactor at an industrial park.
Another 29,600 acre-feet of water is pending for lease from the Kane County Water Conservancy District in support of the project's development.
Deseret News | Tailings spill shuts down EnergySolutions project until Tuesday
A truck carrying uranium mill tailings from a Moab cleanup project headed by EnergySolutions tipped over and spilled some of the radioactive dirt last Wednesday.
The multimillion-dollar cleanup project directed at properly disposing of the 16 million tons of uranium tailings was suspended until Tuesday for a safety evaluation, EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said.
"Safety is always our first priority," Walker said. "It's a self-imposed shutdown."
EnergySolutions, which was awarded the project nearly 18 months ago to haul the tailings 30 miles north of Moab, had been carting dirt up a haul road at the site Wednesday evening when the driver came too close to the shoulder and the truck tipped over, Walker said.
House panel weighs ban on imported nuke waste | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
A ban on importing foreign radio active waste is needed to ensure there's enough room to store waste generated in the U.S., including at Tennessee research facilities and Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear plants, Rep. Bart Gordon said Friday.
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Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, participated in a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy and Environment subcommittee on legislation he co-sponsored to enforce a ban.
The legislation was prompted by an application from EnergySolutions Inc. to bring in up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italian nuclear power facilities to the U.S., where it would be processed at a company plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The remaining material would be shipped to a company storage facility in Clive, Utah.
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