Nuclear agency can't stop import of foreign radioactive waste

[n2doc]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells lawmakers it has no power to stop a Salt Lake City firm from taking tons of waste from Italy, processing it in Tennessee, then disposing of it in Utah.

April 14, 2009 in print edition A-15

The NRC wrote in an April 9 letter to Reps. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) that the Atomic Energy Act doesn't distinguish between domestic and foreign waste. The NRC says that as long as the material can be imported safely and someone is willing to accept it, the commission can't keep it waste out.

Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions is seeking a license to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in the western Utah desert.

Matheson and Gordon are sponsoring a bill that would ban the import of low-level radioactive waste unless it originated here or was imported for a strategic national purpose.

more:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/14/nation/na-nuclear-waste14

There's the USA for ya, exporting jobs, importing radioactive waste. What a Country!

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Just how radioctive is this stuff?

Are we talking about thousands of deaths, or about millions of deaths?

:shrug:

--d!

[Nihil]

3. Come on, you know the answer to this already ...

If you mention the word 'radioactive' then you are automatically
talking about millions of deaths ... haven't you been paying
attention to all of the anti-nuclear posters in this forum?

Gosh, that must make them feel that they are wasting their time ...

[pscot]

2. The public can stop it

If the TV "news" hyped this the way they hype dead blonds it would stop in a hurry.