POINT/COUNTERPOINT.

• Author: NORTHARD, SCOTT
• Position: Utah and nuclear waste dumping - Brief Article - Column

Would Utah Businesses Benefit from High-level Nuclear Waste Dumping

Executive Director, Utah Department of Environmental Quality

NO Dumping high-level nuclear waste in Utah will damage Utah business and Utah's economy.

In measuring the benefits of nuclear waste dumping to business and the economy, the debits far outweigh the credits. No matter how you add it up, Utah ends up in the red.

According to Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a consortium of electric companies, storage facility expenditures could cost more than $3 billion over 40 years. But what PFS will not be paying for includes:

1) Adequate earthquake design. PFS has asked for a variance from seismic regulations. If the variance comes through, the PFS nuclear storage facility would be built to a seismic standard less stringent than that used for bridges and overpasses on 1-15.

2) Emergency response training. Communities along the nuclear waste transportation route, not PFS, will pay for emergency response training, equipment and impacts to infrastructure.

3) Adequate insurance. PFS and nuclear waste owners could be liable for less than $9.43 billion in accident losses, despite the fact that an accident in transporting nuclear waste in Salt Lake City could cost between $14 and $313 billion.

Other areas critical to Utah's economy that will be impacted by nuclear waste storage include the Utah Test and Training Range and Hill Air Force Base. The storage of high-level nuclear waste at the PFS facility, in the flight path of F-16s entering the Training Range, will not only pose safety concerns about potential aircraft crashes, but will restrict use of the Training Range and impact the military value of Hill Air Force Base.

In addition, a truck or train crash involving high-level nuclear waste on the Interstate 80 and adjacent rail transportation corridor along the south end of the Great Salt Lake would close the corridor, resulting in significant cost and time delays for commerce along this vital east-west transportation route.

Don't be fooled. Nuclear power may be billed as cheap but disposal of the waste is very costly.

SCOTT NORTHARD

Project Manager, Private Fuel Storage

YES Utah businesses can benefit from the high-level nuclear waste industry.

The state of Utah, however, sent a discouraging message to Utah's business community when it passed Senate Bill 81 (SB81), purporting to make it illegal for government or business entities to provide goods or services to companies storing...