Radioactive Landfill Expansion Hearing Planned
KUTV: Radioactive Landfill Expansion Hearing Planned: "Radioactive Landfill Expansion Hearing Planned
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(AP) A proposal to nearly double the size of the Envirocare landfill for low-level radioactive and hazardous waste is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday.
If approved, Envirocare would expand its site from 543 acres to 1,079 total acres with land immediately north.
``Quite simply, it's for the (proposed) capital improvements at this time,'' said Envirocare spokesman Mark Walker. ``To put new equipment on the part of our site that's already licensed would take up disposal space.''
The state Division of Radiation Control must take public testimony on the matter before it finalizes the preliminary license for the expansion. The Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman must also give their approval before the license is issued.
Envirocare has said it has adequate capacity at the landfill to accept low-level radioactive and hazardous waste for up to 20 years.
The license application allows for the possibility of disposal in the new area, along with receiving and storing waste.
All that would be needed for additional disposal, if legislative and gubernatorial approval were already given, would be a letter from Dane Finerfrock, the state director of radiation control who also serves as executive secretary of the advisory Radiation Control Board.
Walker said Envirocare will ask the Legislature to pre-approve disposal even before Finerfrock reviews specific plans for it. That way, Envirocare will only have to return to state regulators to get approval for the expansion.
Finerfrock said he would require Envirocare to provide more technical data before it can build landfill cells on the new acreage.
The company plans to upgrade rail lines and the waste-delivery equipment on it, add a compactor and shredder and construct a new administration building.
The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL) opposes the expansion.
``At some point, we as a state have to ask when we are ready to walk away from taking the nation's nuclear waste,'' said HEAL Director Jason Groenewold.
Envirocare is one of three U.S. sites licensed to take commercial low-level radioactive waste. A Washington state site is limited to taking waste from nine states, and the South Carolina facility is set to close its doors to all but three states in 2008.
That leaves Envirocare to handle much of the commercial radioactive waste that comes from nuclear power plants primarily, as well as from medical and research facilities. The Utah site also counts on federal cleanup waste for about half of its revenue.
Groenewold criticized a state regulatory process for controlled material that would let the company to get approval from political leaders before the disposal expansion plan is thoroughly reviewed.
``They are asking the Legislature and the governor to approve a (technical assessment) when the actual steps have not been completed,'' he said. ``So, they are putting the cart before the horse.''
The state's public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in Salt Lake City. Public comment also will be taken at the Radiation Control Division through Aug. 17."
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Email this Article Email It
Print this Article Print It
(AP) A proposal to nearly double the size of the Envirocare landfill for low-level radioactive and hazardous waste is scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday.
If approved, Envirocare would expand its site from 543 acres to 1,079 total acres with land immediately north.
``Quite simply, it's for the (proposed) capital improvements at this time,'' said Envirocare spokesman Mark Walker. ``To put new equipment on the part of our site that's already licensed would take up disposal space.''
The state Division of Radiation Control must take public testimony on the matter before it finalizes the preliminary license for the expansion. The Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman must also give their approval before the license is issued.
Envirocare has said it has adequate capacity at the landfill to accept low-level radioactive and hazardous waste for up to 20 years.
The license application allows for the possibility of disposal in the new area, along with receiving and storing waste.
All that would be needed for additional disposal, if legislative and gubernatorial approval were already given, would be a letter from Dane Finerfrock, the state director of radiation control who also serves as executive secretary of the advisory Radiation Control Board.
Walker said Envirocare will ask the Legislature to pre-approve disposal even before Finerfrock reviews specific plans for it. That way, Envirocare will only have to return to state regulators to get approval for the expansion.
Finerfrock said he would require Envirocare to provide more technical data before it can build landfill cells on the new acreage.
The company plans to upgrade rail lines and the waste-delivery equipment on it, add a compactor and shredder and construct a new administration building.
The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL) opposes the expansion.
``At some point, we as a state have to ask when we are ready to walk away from taking the nation's nuclear waste,'' said HEAL Director Jason Groenewold.
Envirocare is one of three U.S. sites licensed to take commercial low-level radioactive waste. A Washington state site is limited to taking waste from nine states, and the South Carolina facility is set to close its doors to all but three states in 2008.
That leaves Envirocare to handle much of the commercial radioactive waste that comes from nuclear power plants primarily, as well as from medical and research facilities. The Utah site also counts on federal cleanup waste for about half of its revenue.
Groenewold criticized a state regulatory process for controlled material that would let the company to get approval from political leaders before the disposal expansion plan is thoroughly reviewed.
``They are asking the Legislature and the governor to approve a (technical assessment) when the actual steps have not been completed,'' he said. ``So, they are putting the cart before the horse.''
The state's public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in Salt Lake City. Public comment also will be taken at the Radiation Control Division through Aug. 17."
posted by Greta Jane at Tuesday, August 09, 2005
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