Homeland Security looks over Utah nuke waste site :: The Daily Herald, Provo Utah
Homeland Security looks over Utah nuke waste site :: The Daily Herald, Provo Utah: "Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 12:00 AM
Homeland Security looks over Utah nuke waste site
N.S. Nokkentved DAILY HERALD
State officials and others hoping the U.S. Department of Homeland Security might block a proposed nuclear waste storage site in Utah may be in for a disappointment.
The agency has no regulatory authority.
No one really knows what to make of a recent visit to Utah by officials of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Officials came out last week to look over the site of a proposed storage facility for highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial power reactors.
"We're thrilled that they came out and made an assessment," said Connie Nakahara, special assistant attorney general. "But we're disappointed that it won't include transportation."
The state has long objected to the proposal by eight private utilities, known as Private Fuel Storage LLC, to establish a temporary storage site for spent reactor fuel on the Skull Valley Indian Reservation.
Every roadblock the state has tried to put in the path of the radioactive waste site has been rejected. Now the hope that the national agency might find a fatal flaw also may fade.
"Homeland Security made it very clear that (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has jurisdiction on site," Nakahara said.
The federal security officials assured the state that an assessment would be completed within a couple of weeks and submitted to the secretary within a month, she said.
"What might come of this is not clear," she said.
NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner asserted the agency's authority over such a site.
"NRC has responsibility for a decision on licensing the facility," Gagner said. The commission is expected to make a decision on the license this summer.
State officials have concerns about transportation safety and the effects of fighter jet crash into the site, and about the financial viability of PFS and just how temporary the site would be.
The consortium, in an agreement with the Goshute Band, would lease 820 acres of the reservation for the 100-acre storage site that would hold 4,000 steel-and-concrete containers of spent fuel rods. The lease would be for up to 40 years.
Homeland Security agreed to look the site over at the insistence of U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has complained about federal government involvement in the spent fuel storage project.
Hatch was able to extract a promise from Secretary Michael Chertoff to evaluate the site that Hatch says is too close to population centers and an international airport. The 44,000 tons of radioactive waste, sitting 52 miles west of American Fork and 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, is too tempting a terrorist target, he says.
Hatch has proposed legislation that would require such waste be stored only at federal sites or at the reactors where it was generated.
Many such sites, however, are equally close or closer to population centers, and many are running out of room to store waste, says John Parkyn, chairman of PFS.
Homeland Security's role is to provide coordination between federal agencies, to gather information, agency spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich said. Agency officials will report to the secretary, and it would be up to the secretary to make any recommendations.
But Homeland Security has no regulatory authority, Petrovich said. Any action would be up to the NRC.
"They're the ones that grant the licenses," she said. "They're the ones who would take any action under their regulatory authority."
Homeland Security officials who toured the site to evaluate security there were accompanies by a representative from the NRC.
"At the end of the day, the buck stops with them," Petrovich said.
N.S. Nokkentved can be reached at 344-2930 or at nnokkentved@heraldextra.com.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D4.
There are 1 comments on this story. "
Homeland Security looks over Utah nuke waste site
N.S. Nokkentved DAILY HERALD
State officials and others hoping the U.S. Department of Homeland Security might block a proposed nuclear waste storage site in Utah may be in for a disappointment.
The agency has no regulatory authority.
No one really knows what to make of a recent visit to Utah by officials of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Officials came out last week to look over the site of a proposed storage facility for highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial power reactors.
"We're thrilled that they came out and made an assessment," said Connie Nakahara, special assistant attorney general. "But we're disappointed that it won't include transportation."
The state has long objected to the proposal by eight private utilities, known as Private Fuel Storage LLC, to establish a temporary storage site for spent reactor fuel on the Skull Valley Indian Reservation.
Every roadblock the state has tried to put in the path of the radioactive waste site has been rejected. Now the hope that the national agency might find a fatal flaw also may fade.
"Homeland Security made it very clear that (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has jurisdiction on site," Nakahara said.
The federal security officials assured the state that an assessment would be completed within a couple of weeks and submitted to the secretary within a month, she said.
"What might come of this is not clear," she said.
NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner asserted the agency's authority over such a site.
"NRC has responsibility for a decision on licensing the facility," Gagner said. The commission is expected to make a decision on the license this summer.
State officials have concerns about transportation safety and the effects of fighter jet crash into the site, and about the financial viability of PFS and just how temporary the site would be.
The consortium, in an agreement with the Goshute Band, would lease 820 acres of the reservation for the 100-acre storage site that would hold 4,000 steel-and-concrete containers of spent fuel rods. The lease would be for up to 40 years.
Homeland Security agreed to look the site over at the insistence of U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has complained about federal government involvement in the spent fuel storage project.
Hatch was able to extract a promise from Secretary Michael Chertoff to evaluate the site that Hatch says is too close to population centers and an international airport. The 44,000 tons of radioactive waste, sitting 52 miles west of American Fork and 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, is too tempting a terrorist target, he says.
Hatch has proposed legislation that would require such waste be stored only at federal sites or at the reactors where it was generated.
Many such sites, however, are equally close or closer to population centers, and many are running out of room to store waste, says John Parkyn, chairman of PFS.
Homeland Security's role is to provide coordination between federal agencies, to gather information, agency spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich said. Agency officials will report to the secretary, and it would be up to the secretary to make any recommendations.
But Homeland Security has no regulatory authority, Petrovich said. Any action would be up to the NRC.
"They're the ones that grant the licenses," she said. "They're the ones who would take any action under their regulatory authority."
Homeland Security officials who toured the site to evaluate security there were accompanies by a representative from the NRC.
"At the end of the day, the buck stops with them," Petrovich said.
N.S. Nokkentved can be reached at 344-2930 or at nnokkentved@heraldextra.com.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D4.
There are 1 comments on this story. "
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