Gov. Roy Romer has begun reviewing a proposal for locating a high-level radioactive waste storage center in Moffat County despite having serious doubts about the plan.
Moffat County Commissioner Tom Mathers said he almost expected Romer to throw his northwestern Colorado group out on their ears when they met in Denver earlier this week, but he said Romer "was very open-minded about it."Romer's press secretary, Cindy Parmenter, confirmed Mathers' account of the meeting and said the governor has "taken it under advisement. He still has serious reservations."
The commissioners are seeking Romer's approval to apply for a $100,000 feasibility study of the U.S. Department of Energy's proposed $325 million interim "monitored recoverable storage" facility.
It would store 13,600 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel rods from the nation's 112 nuclear power plants for about 40 years until the rods can be reprocessed or buried in a permanent dump.
The Moffat County campaign comes as Public Service Co. of Colorado is fighting the state of Idaho in federal court for the right to ship high-level radioactive material from its decommissioned Fort St. Vrain reactor to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory for what Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus claims is nothing more than temporary storage.
The county's storage-facility proposal brings the offer of 450 jobs, millions of dollars in payments each year to the state and county, and the promise of other federal projects in western Colorado.