Huntsman: "We Deserve Better" than to Store Foreign Nuclear Waste

Feb 22, 2008 by Jeff Robinson

(KCPW News) Governor Jon Huntsman doesn't want foreign nuclear waste coming into Utah or into the United States. He's expecting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny EnergySolutions' request to import 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy.

"The NRC, I think, is going to take a federal position on this, and I suspect their decision is going to be to block the foreign importation of waste," he said. "I'm guessing, I don't serve on that commission, so I don't have any say."

But if the NRC does approve the request, environmental groups claim the governor still has the authority to stop it from coming to Utah, under a nuclear waste agreement called the Northwest Interstate Compact.

The governor says he's not sure he has that authority, but if it turns out he does, he'll consider invoking it.

"I don't like the stuff coming into our state. I never have," he said. "We're moving toward the point where we won't have any of it, whether it's international or domestically produced coming into our state, and I'm very proud of the fact that we're moving to that end point. We deserve better. If we are presented with a policy call that we alone control, I'll certainly consider that."

Governor Huntsman says the NRC should consider that Utah has a cap on the amount of waste it will allow into the state while making its decision.

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