This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
EnergySolutions seems to have effectively deployed a "rose by any other name" strategy to dodge regulation and bring blended nuclear waste to its West Desert facility under the guise of the sweet-sounding SempraSafe. If only we were talking about something that smelled so sweet.
This repackaging of hotter radioactive waste appears to have fooled state regulators, even though just last year they said that they didn't like down-blending hotter radioactive waste with less potent waste in order to downgrade the waste's classification.
That state regulators may allow SempraSafe is convenient timing for EnergySolutions, given that another competing facility is about to expand in Texas that could take this waste from nuclear power plants. This facility could avoid costly and potentially dangerous down-blending altogether.
I hope Gov. Gary Herbert sticks to his pledge to keep innocuous-sounding products like SempraSafe from creating scenarios in Utah that are ForeverDangerous.
Andrew Gillman
Salt Lake City