Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Nuclear Waste

On top of the nuclear waste stored in Utah we talk about things that have been discovered by playgrounds and schools. At one time the Western desert used to be designated for things like this. Radioactive things give people creeps and rightly so. At the same time, where would you like them to be? If Utah were to become the place to store these things, there are a lot of people that would be concerned. Are we destined to accept foreign waste?

Dr. Dianne Nielson joined the program from Capitol Hill. Her understanding is that the NRC doesn’t have the federal authority to band the waste being shipped to the state. The Northwest Compact is what holds the authority. It is one of the compacts established by the state to be able to make the decision on how they want to manage the waste within the state. Later on the state agreed that waste could come from outside the compact. The NRC does confirm what the state said in that the Northwest Compact is what will determine what will be done with the waste.

Nothing will happen with regards to this waste until the state has reached a decision. The general sentiment is that they do not have the power or authority to band accepting outside waste. We should not approve the facilities to generate waste, but simply just to store the waste.

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