This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
There is funny doublespeak in EnergySolutions' request for permission to take "down-blended class B and C nuclear waste" into its Clive repository.
Utah, in 2005, banned acceptance of classes B and C nuclear waste because they are different in composition and more radioactive than the class A waste that Utah agreed to accept. Diluting the B/C waste does not reduce its total radioactivity; it simply spreads it out. Accepting it in any form cannot help but add to any radioactivity already present.
According to the Tribune's Oct. 5 story "Utah environmental group says 'downblended' waste means double radioactivity in landfill," "a national backlog of B and C nuclear waste has been building for three years," so there must be general agreement that classes B and C are different (both in quality and strength of radioactivity) from class A waste.
The Texas repository (ready next month) designed for B and C waste is structurally distinct from EnergySolutions' Clive site. Texas has covered concrete vessels well underground, whereas Clive has above-ground piles covered with dirt. The Texas site sounds like a safer place to put hotter B and C nuclear waste.
Please, Gov. Gary Herbert, just say "no" to blended waste.
Naomi Franklin
Salt Lake City