Marty Durlin

Online Editor

Apparently it’s not enough that we have tons of made-in-the-USA nuclear waste languishing in leaky tanks and unlined landfills, awaiting safe burial even as it contaminates our precious aquifers. In fact, radioactive byproducts from the manufacture of American nuclear weapons could fill the Yucca Mountain repository before it’s even built.

But now the Utah-based EnergySolutions wants to import hazardous waste from a dismantled Italian reactor and bury 1,600 tons of it in the Tooele County landfill 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. That’s not amoré: nearly 1,000 objections to the plan have been filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and there’s still time to weigh in – the comment period ends June 10.

In the meantime, a bill that would prohibit the importation of radioactive waste from foreign countries has been introduced in congress, co-sponsored by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah). ‘Scusami, but you see, we don’t want your scorie radioattive!