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March 12, 2008
OAK RIDGE - The state of Tennessee has determined there is no "technical reason" to prohibit EnergySolutions' plans to process Italian nuclear waste at the company's Oak Ridge facilities.
In a March 4 letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the state's Division of Radiological Health indicated the proposed work falls within the Tennessee licenses held by EnergySolutions or its predecessor company, Duratek.
The NRC asked for the state's input on the EnergySolutions application to import as much as 20,000 tons of waste from Italy. The low-level radioactive waste would be shipped to Oak Ridge initially and incinerated, smelted, compacted or otherwise processed there. Any residues would be transported to the company's landfill in Utah for disposal.
Although the company has insisted the work is similar to previous projects and can be done safely and efficiently, the proposal has become highly controversial.
U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, has asked NRC to reject the application, saying the company's plan to import waste from Italy runs counter to national policy interests. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., whose district includes the company's Oak Ridge waste-processing plant, said EnergySolutions committed a "fatal mistake" by not seeking political support before pursuing the project.
"EnergySolutions did an awful job of preparing for this application. They didn't do their homework," Wamp said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
There are not enough jobs involved to have a persuasive economic argument, Wamp said, adding that the company depended on past performance to support its application. "I don't see the Oak Ridge community rallying to their defense," he said.
About 200 people work at the EnergySolutions plant on Bear Creek Road.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently extended the public comment period on the application until June 10. NRC spokesman David McIntyre said the federal agency had received more than 500 comments, which he characterized as a huge number for an application of this type.
In an interview earlier this year, Mike Johnson, president of the company's commercial operations, said the Oak Ridge plant had recycled more than a million tons of radioactive metals from foreign countries during the past 12 years.
The Italian project, however, is potentially the biggest foreign venture to date, and it would involve more than the recycling of contaminated metals.
Although the company's application would allow a maximum of 20,000 tons of waste to be imported from Italy, Johnson said the actual amount of waste would probably be far less than that. The initial allotment would be about 1,859 tons, he said.
Tisha Calabrese-Benton, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said TDEC does not have the authority to approve or deny any proposal for importing waste from outside the United States.
"That is the specific jurisdiction of the NRC," she said.
The state's Division of Radiological Health did review the technical information associated with the import application, Calabrese-Benton said. "It fits within the criteria set forth in the license they currently have," she said.
Mark Walker, a spokesman for EnergySolutions, said the state's letter "is consistent with our position" that the company's Bear Creek facility has the capabilities to safely process the radioactive wastes.
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