JACKSON, Tenn. — If a friend asked to dump his garbage in your yard because he knew you would know what to do with it, what would you say? Probably, no thanks.
That’s what the U.S. should say to countries that want to send their nuclear waste here for processing and storage. Thankfully, Sen. Lamar Alexander and U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro are sponsoring legislation in Congress to keep other countries’ nuclear waste out of the U.S.
No other nation allows the importation and storage of another country’s nuclear waste. We shouldn’t, either.
The controversy arose when a private Utah company, EnergySolutions, asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to bring in 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. The company would process the waste in Tennessee and store the resulting 1,600 tons at a private facility 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The NRC also said it has applications from Mexico and Brazil to do the same thing.The U.S. handles its own nuclear waste based on a regional system established by Congress in the 1980s. Current laws don’t address importing nuclear waste from other countries. But that issue is addressed in the proposed legislation.
U.S. companies have developed sophisticated technology to deal with radioactive waste. EnergySolutions wants to handle the Italian waste to give it a leg-up in the world marketplace for such work.
We’re happy that an American company is at the forefront of this important technology. But this is one instance that we would urge the work and the technology to be outsourced to the countries that need it.
The problem with allowing the waste to come to the U.S. is that America will become the world’s dumping ground for nuclear waste. That’s because no other country will accept the stuff. This is not a “world leader” designation America needs.
The future of dealing with nuclear waste is important as the U.S. and other nations look to nuclear power to help wean themselves off fossil fuels such as oil and coal. But dealing with nuclear waste, even low-level waste, must be addressed at the international level. Countries must take responsibility for their own nuclear waste. Smaller countries will have to form consortiums to deal with the issue.
One thing is fairly certain, we don’t want their nuclear garbage dumped in America’s backyard.
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