Nuclear Waste

WASHINGTON — A divided Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday allowed the Obama administration to continue plans to close the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah regulators expect to have a decision within a month on whether to allow the storage of a mix of high- and low-level nuclear waste at a disposal site 30 miles west of Salt Lake City.

Although studies have not been completed, Division of Radiation Control director Rusty Lundberg said it appears likely the blended waste will not exceed permitted levels of radioactivity. But the waste would have higher levels than what is currently stored at the EnergySolutions facility in Clive, Utah.

LAS VEGAS -- Yucca Mountain is a wild expanse of desert brush and red mountains 100 miles outside of Las Vegas where deer, coyote and antelope roam isolated fields and human visitors must pass background checks before they are allowed past heavily guarded fences.

Republicans claim this stark landscape is the nation's best hope for a national nuclear waste dump.

But with Democrats running the White House and Senate, the Yucca Mountain nuclear site has been shuttered with no chance of reopening.

SALT LAKE CITY  -- A Utah company is promising to tighten nuclear materials handling rules after discovering it took in waste with radioactivity levels higher than allowed.

Healthy Environment Alliance Utah chief Christopher Thomas says the state shouldn't let Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. off the hook.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Utah firm is seeking permission to burn radioactive waste from Germany at its incinerator in Oak Ridge.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is accepting comments on the request by EnergySolutions to burn 1,000 tons of German radioactive waste at Oak Ridge and return the ash and leftovers to Germany for disposal.

NRC spokesman David McIntyre said Tuesday the request was posted Nov. 30. He said the NRC allows 30 days for comments and any request for a hearing.

McIntyre said the company has incinerated foreign waste, including shipments from Canada, Mexico and Brazil.

A federal court ruling has blocked disposal of the foreign waste in Utah.

EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker told The Tennessean in Nashville that whatever remains after processing must be returned to the originating country.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal appeals court has ruled that an interstate compact can block EnergySolutions Inc. from disposing of low-level radioactive waste from foreign countries in Utah's west desert.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled Tuesday that a compact on low-level radioactive waste that Utah belongs to has the authority to regulate the private facility.