Utah Fights Nuclear Waste Storage in Court

Utah officials are asking a federal court of appeals to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) recent decision to issue an operating license to a private consortium of utilities to build a temporary above-ground facility to store spent nuclear fuel.

The state filed a lawsuit on Nov. 8 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that seeks to overturn NRC’s authorization for Private Fuel Storage LLC (PFS) to build and operate a facility to store approximately 40,000 tons of radioactive waste in Skull Valley, Utah, about 50 miles west of Salt Lake City.

Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has vowed to keep spent nuclear fuel out of his state. “With each passing month, we are expanding our efforts to oppose the PFS plan,” he remarks. “We are urging Congress, the Bush Administration, and the courts not to let PFS force us to accept nuclear waste that we didn’t produce, we don’t want, and shouldn’t have to take.”

Although PFS has yet to obtain a license from NRC, the commission voted 3–1 in September to authorize the facility. The waste would be stored at the site until a permanent disposal facility is completed at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, or elsewhere, which is not expected until at least 2012.

However, if NRC proceeds with issuing a license, it will be years before spent nuclear fuel could be stored in Utah. After obtaining a license from NRC, the consortium must still obtain administrative approval from two other federal agencies, including the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which has raised concerns about the proposed project’s transportation plan. PFS wants to ship waste to Utah by train over public lands.