PRESS RELEASE ** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ** October 5, 2011

BLENDED NUCLEAR WASTE COULD MORE THAN TRIPLE RADIOACTIVITY COMING TO UTAH

LOCAL GROUP URGES GOV. HERBERT TO KEEP NEW HOT WASTE STREAM OUT OF STATE

If state regulators approve EnergySolutions’ bid to begin bringing blended nuclear waste to Utah, it would dramatically increase the total radioactivity coming to the company’s disposal facility in the West Desert, according to a new analysis.

A review of state records and nuclear power plant inventories suggests that importing blended waste could increase radioactivity three- to four-fold, according to research by HEAL Utah.

The State of Utah banned hotter Class B and C radioactive wastes in 2005. Since then, EnergySolutions has repeatedly sought to begin “blending” nuclear waste – mixing the banned hotter wastes with permittable Class A waste, such that the resulting mixture slides beneath Utah’s limits.

In February, the company formally applied for state permission to begin bringing blended waste – now rebranded as SempraSafe – to Utah. In recent months, state regulators have sent strong signals that they are on the verge of approving that bid, as soon as October.

Patrick Cone, a member of the Utah Radiation Control Board from 2005 to 2011, sees the company’s bid to import blended waste as a clear effort to flout Utah’s laws. He was instrumental in getting the board to pass its unique waste stream rules – which order a company like EnergySolutions to do a detailed technical study before bringing a new waste stream to Utah.

“We have rules in place to handle blended waste,” says Cone. “Clearly they apply here. An important decision like this should be made methodically after a through review -- not rushed as the state appears ready to do.”

If the Division of Radiation Control does give EnergySolutions the go-ahead to begin dumping hot blended waste in Utah, all eyes will turn to Gov. Gary Herbert, who has previously stated his opposition to the practice. (see attached.)

“We’re confident Gov. Herbert will do the right thing,” said Matt Pacenza, HEAL policy director. “He’s made his opposition to blended nuclear waste very clear before and the courts have recently clarified he has the authority to reject this dangerous new waste stream.”

HEAL Utah sought to figure out how much more radioactivity SempraSafe would bring to Utah after EnergySolutions failed to disclose that information in its brief submittals to state regulators.

A review of state records shows that in 2010, EnergySolutions brought waste containing 7,450 curies of radioactivity to Utah. Analysis of a technical survey of nuclear power plants done by the Electric Power Research Institute (see attached for detail) suggests that blending could bring an additional 19,184 to 28,470 curies of resins to Utah every year. That would triple to quadruple the current amount.

“It’s a massive increase,” says Pacenza. “Blending would lock Utah in as the nation’s dumping ground for nuclear power waste, when we don’t even have nuclear power here.”

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