This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Posted: 7:31 AM- EnergySolutions is seeking state approval to merge two low-level radioactive waste cells into one supercell on a square-mile patch of land in Utah's west desert.
The new cell would pile waste 83 feet high, up from about 53 feet under terms of the company's operating license.
The Utah Division of Radiation Control will hold public hearings Wednesday in Salt Lake City and Tooele on the proposal that would expand the capacity of the waste site by nearly 50 percent.
The division will continue to gather public comment until Nov. 10, then decide whether to amend EnergySolutions' license for the supercell, said Greg Hopkins, EnergySolutions vice president of communications.
Hopkins said the division's Radiation Control Board gave tentative approval for the expansion last spring, with final approval awaiting a public airing of the company's plans.
EnergySolutions, formerly Envirocare, has been in business since 1988 near Clive, a rail spur 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, taking medical waste, contaminated soil and assorted debris from nuclear power plants and decommissioned defense depots.
In a separate proposal, Radiation Control Director Dane Finerfrock has given permission for EnergySolutions to increase its waste site from 543 acres to 1,079 acres.
That plan remains on hold, however, as a public-health group challenges Finerfrock's authority. The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah says that decision belongs to Gov. Jon Huntsman and the Legislature and has filed a lawsuit now before the Utah Supreme Court.
Envirocare was founded by Khosrow Semnani, who sold it last year to a private equity group led by New York City-based Lindsay Goldberg & Bessemer, Peterson Partners and Creamer Investments.