Unanswered Questions Surround Nuclear Waste Importation
December 5, 2007, WASHINGTON – Concerned about a company’s application to bring foreign nuclear waste into Tennessee, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon is seeking answers to questions about the proposal.
EnergySolutions, a Utah-based company with operations in Tennessee, has applied for a license to bring 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy to the United States for processing and disposal.
“With the challenges this nation faces in disposing of our own nuclear waste, importing waste from other countries and disposing of it here is a terrible idea,” said Gordon. “Tennessee should not become the dumping ground for nuclear waste from around the world.”
If the application is approved, the waste would come through the ports of Charleston and New Orleans and be sent to Tennessee for processing. Some of the waste would be sent to Utah for burial, but most would be incinerated in Tennessee.
Gordon contacted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with his concerns and urged the agency to reject the application.
“The waste would get all the way to Tennessee before it is determined if it meets federal regulations,” said Gordon. “Before that determination is made, that waste would travel across the state. Do we really want to transport 20,000 tons of foreign nuclear waste across Tennessee?”
Gordon is not the only one with questions. The NRC – the agency that will decide the fate of the application – has given EnergySolutions 30 days to respond to its own questions about the application.
According to the NRC, the amount of waste EnergySolutions wants to import is 25 percent more than the largest application ever submitted to the agency.
