April 25, 2006

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EnergySolutions Predicts Demise of Skull Valley N-Waste Storage  
By Mark Watson
Tooele Transcript-Bulletin, UT
April 20, 2006

Utah's political leaders are cozying up to Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions, which is on the move to becoming a world leader in nuclear waste management.

On Tuesday, EnergySolutions hosted an open house at its new offices in downtown Salt Lake City. U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett (R) and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R) and other political leaders lauded the company's announcement that it plans to introduce the process of recycling high-level nuclear waste closer to the sites where it is produced. That plan would eliminate the need for transporting the waste and storing it in places like Skull Valley or Yucca Mountain, as has been proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE).

EnergySolutions CEO Steve Creamer said his company has acquired the technology from nuclear power scientists in Britain and plans to introduce that technology to the United States.

"There is interest all around the country for a recycling facility," Creamer said. "Because EnergySolutions is the only American-owned company with proven recycling technology, we plan to be a major player in the recycling industry."

"Our system has over a 30-year track record in England of successfully recycling spent nuclear fuel," Creamer added.

Over 95 percent of the spent nuclear fuel can be reprocessed and reused in nuclear power plants, he said. Currently, 20 percent of America's electricity is generated from nuclear power.

After major acquisitions in February, EnergySolutions evolved into a company that now employs 2,000 people in 40 states. Creamer said he anticipates that the recycling of waste from nuclear power plants could develop into a $20 billion industry and employ nearly 5,000 people. EnergySolutions operates a one-acre site in Tooele County's west desert where it disposes of low-level radioactive waste. Creamer said there would be no high-level nuclear recycling plants in Utah.

EnergySolutions is working with parties in several locations outside of Utah who have interest in a nuclear waste recycling facility.

The company used the open house, press conference and support of political leaders to pummel Private Fuel Storage (PFS).

"Recycling is the right thing for America and will make the PFS proposal for Utah obsolete," Creamer said. The PFS utility consortium has proposed using the Goshute Indian Reservation at Skull Valley as an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel.

The company previewed a television commercial it has produced that basically states that PFS's plans are no longer needed.

Bishop said the idea of storing high-level nuclear waste above ground next to a bombing range is a stupid idea anyway. Bennett said he eventually supported the plan to store waste at Yucca Mountain, but with the new technology Yucca won't be needed.

"I didn't know we would get this far as fast as we have," he said referring to the technology being introduced by EnergySolutions.

The process of building recycling plants in the United States, however, may not move fast enough. Creamer said it could take as long as 15 years to have a recycling operational, eight years at the earliest.

PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin told the media that her company's nuclear power plant clients are not against recycling.

"But the fact is, we have the most viable interim solutions for storage at this stage," she said. Martin indicated that PFS and EnergySolutions would could end up working together. "It's odd to oppose us so publicly," she said.

On March 17, the DOE issued a request for interested parties to submit expressions of interest in support of the Global Nuclear Partnership (GNEP) Technical Documentation Program (TDP). The purpose of the GNEP TDP is to propose and evaluate sites which would be suitable for demonstrating advanced nuclear fuel reprocessing.

Earlier this year , Nuclear Waste Program Director Brian O' Connell told the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin that whether or not recycling becomes the norm in the United States, a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel rods is needed.

"DOE needs to proceed with Yucca whether we proceed with a reprocessing scheme in this country or not. There are many technical, economic, political and non-proliferation hurdles to be faced, but in all scenarios we need a permanent repository," O' Connell said.

Jason Groenewold, a spokesman for Health Environment of Utah (HEAL) said EnergySolution's plans is like chasing fool's gold.

"The promises EnergySolutions makes cannot be delivered. Reprocessing has a very troubled history, not least of which is the fact that plutonium is showing up in the teeth of children who live near the reprocessing plant in Britain, which is the technology rights EnergySolutions bought and claims is proven," Groenwold said.

e-mail:mwatson@tooeletranscript.com