2008/02/25-Comment
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DOCKET NO. 11005711 February 25, 2008 DOCKETED USNRC March 4, 2008 (8:37am) OFFICE OF SECRETARY RULEMAKINGS AND ADJUDICATIONS STAFF Dear Ms or Mr. Secretary, When I read the enclosed material, I felt outrage and despair. Making it possible for Italy or any other country to send its nuclear waste to Utah or any other state in the Union, is preposterous. It's as preposterous as putting EnergySolutions' name on the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. We might as well let Italy also send along its human waste and sewage leaving that country pristine. Let's volunteer Northern Utah to become a black hole. Those well organized and well funded terrorist groups that threaten us can stay home in the Middle East... we'll take care of our own death and destruction, thank you very much. Please, I beg you, put a stop to this nonsense. Now - while you still have the authority to do so. Yours, very sincerely, A Citizen of the United States and Northern Utah -7e mrI0-re, = 60- OLI 3 _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ f~ b . ( 1 v ' fiL S (4 rre VbU Y U i ~l 4 ~44QO'' The proposal by EiergySo- tail•igs were used as building extent of the toxicity was not tions Inc. to accept nuclear ma'erial, incorporated into fully understood. Obviously ~aste froem Italy has become, thE cement poured in founda- we are paying .now for that pardon the pun, a "hot" topic ti•ns. Eventually, the folly of lack of understanding. for Utah. The notential for this this practice became clear and Because of this extensive . cs" stroke of brilliance to have those buildings had to be history of tragic miscalcula- and economic reper- health closely monitored for high tion, the public has every rea- cussions for many Utah citi- son to be suspicious about requires that every angle levels of radioactivity. Some zens practices at Ener- be thoroughly dissected in the had to be abandoned. whether public arena before permis- X-rays were once thought to gySolutions' repository at sion is granted. Nevada. -The environmental be innocuous, which resulted Clive, the largest commercial . Beginning with Marie Cu- contamination of under- in the public receiving count- nuclear waste dump in the rie, the scientific communitv ground nuclear testing was less X-rays without consider- country, and the federal regu- and then government regula- also underestimated and it ation of the possible* conse- lations it must meet, tory agencies have consis- was allowed to continue until quences of repeated expo- adequately protect our health. tently underestimated the the early 1990s. sures. Remember, taking The burden of proof should be public health consequences of The toxicity that uranium X-rays of the feet used to be on the nuclear industry to un- radioactivity exposure at ev- miners were exposed to was part of buying a new pair of equivocally demonstrate that ery stage of evolution of the underestimated and many shoes. the waste stored at EnergySo- nuclear industry. died from malignancies. The Lik.ewise, when nuclear lutions' disposal facility is Thousands of Utahns be- mill tailings from the process- power plants were first built, harmless. ,ame the victims of underesti- ing of uranium ore were ini- little thought was given to the. According to media reports mating the toxicity _of-above- tially .thought to be. benign, problem of disposing of the ra- in Europe, the disposal indus- ground nuclear te••'tii <!- and'•fo.rP s•V.:ral years these dioactive waste because the try in Italy is so riddled with Utah w-12der mi.croscope corruption that it is routine for dose of skepticism to conclude that coumtry.'s waste to be that dumping Italian waste at much "hotter" than adver- EnergySolutions' disposal, fa- tised. A highly regarded. Brit- cility is a spectacullarly high- ish medical journal, The Lan- risk ventture that offers the cot Oncology, has detailed public virtually no benefit and higher rates of many types of an incalculable risk. cancer among Italians living When' this same risk/ near illegal rubbish dumps benefit analysis was applied in owned and managed by the the early 1980s to the MX mo- and to the Italian Mafia. These dumps bile missile system, "Divine Strake" are stuffed with radioactive Pentagon's test last year, the proposals and toxic waste and have been were buried by courageous op- leaking deadly gases for many position from the public, reli- years. gious organizations, and state . At a hearing last week, we and local governments. fact learned the astonishing Let's hope that same cour- that :EnergySolutions has no age is brought to bear on the way of verifying the concen- proposal to dump Italian nu- tration of radioactivity within clear-waste in Utah. containers of waste f-one any source once they have airived > •R•AN AJOENCHtJtEis president at its facility. of Utah Physiciansfor a Healthy It requires only a modest Enviroinment. 4 ýI.1L'IýEwt ýBy3 The Tribune Ed itorialBoar d Speak now, Or fore-ver hold Italys nuclear waste :pposition is mountin agintnergySolutions Inc. s proposal to impoitjlowjevel radioactive waste.. from Italy'sfdii hn il'e"d nt''u'cl;e-afjipow iniut y"F The Utah Radiationi Control Board and a key U S. House ommittee chairmhan sadded up, ,against the pan last, WeelkJdining a posse of nuclear-watho groups, the Healthy Environment Allian~ce of Utah'and congressional leader~sfrom Texas, Kentucky~andd-Tennessee. - While the state control board, ýc&brdfing'to its lawyer, lacks the legal authority to dertl shpm;t'he to Enryo lutitin's dump in Tooele Conyi will ak tefedea& u, -cea Regulatory Comn issib'iio t6di-flly"-- ass unation's long-term disposal needs bef4' -aJwi~nglageC ffE.o --foreign waste to enter the c61intry.,5The Energy07 t!osf ciýity at Cliv ewol ;on be thedl bitor 'for.watr.m ý:36",states. kn~d if ciompany officiahs'..~ ~ y and te NCset sja dan ge'rbus pi ecedefit-by, ga tinte high-volu e. imprt i~esethe facility ma:y&'Ventually serve miuch of Eu- rope, where public outrage h asp re~vented the develoPm~ent ofi; even low-level disposal sites. While the board is powerless to stop the plan, he North- west Interstate Compact on Ld'w-Level Radioactive WYaste Management, which controls the flow of wiaste to the Ener- gySolutions disposal facility, app~rvi-itly is not. In,:a letter last week,.• .S. Rep.B•;BArt Go, D•)r-,--Tenn., Huse'Science'and' TecnolgyComtechimie-the mide tecomp~act thtis 98deiinto open the, Tooele f~~6iify~~towaste1g &u~dtei~tsatecomnpact-serte -Was made to serve "an iafrPortant natioiAl Purpose.,An tat while acc~epting waste frmErpesre EnergySolutions'. purpos to make iiioneyIiti serves no purp~ose for thenh- tiofi. 'If the license wer~e granted, Gordon wrote, "It would say toý the world that the United States is open forý businiess, and will' take the'world's low-level radi6bactiveWsew ni u f~ii tie•s-I•- • re filled, I -rdlessof the nee-- ds 0fur.$ ,c" .nt ry., I "... Th c, ngressman is cret.Ai snot the nsge, ~the Uhited States and Utah slifd~i sen&d: oNw,` mfshefor our gov~hr orcgesionldelegal ti-on-,a'-nd-o~u'r-s'tate- oueand'*S8enate'laiaders to6pro~ýessti-eth .compa•the an• NRC topuntagstp to EnergySolutins p. `You c :ansdoyour parto, ....... eacpting co.ment before.. ruling. .th.li....ingreqeust. Ifyou,'rea worrieid that Utah could be~bfrna thef6 World's radidactive wa ste dump if the plan is approved, and you should be, send your objections to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Comn- mission,,Washington, D.C.; 20555-0001, Attn: Ruleinaking and' Adjudication Staff,.