Utah was dealt a bit of setback this past week when the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected the state's claim that an earthquake could damage or rupture nuclear waste storage casks proposed to be stored on Goshute tribal lands on Utah's western desert.
There appears to be plenty of fight left in Gov. Mike Leavitt and others as the battle to keep nuclear waste out of Utah portends to continue for some time. Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear power utilities, has invested considerable time, energy and money to locate an above-ground nuclear waste storage facility on the Skull Valley Band's Goshute Indian Reservation, about 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The consortium seems prepared to fight until the bitter end.
While the state's longtime fight with PFS, no doubt, has become very costly, Utah cannot permit itself to be used as a waste storage ground for the nation's spent nuclear fuels rods. Even a scaled-down proposal, which is now on the table, is a chilling prospect. "Temporary" storage could mean placing the waste in Utah for 40 years. Utah cannot open the door to even that possibility.
Again, why not store the materials at the respective power plants until the permanent waste repository inside Yucca Mountain, Nev., can accept them? Utah cannot be considered Plan B.
Many of the issues surrounding the PFS proposal involve environmental and national security concerns. The Goshute band is also concerned about its right to develop its tribal lands. The western desert isn't exactly blooming with possibilities.
As Leavitt and other state officials resume the fight to keep spent nuclear rods out of Utah, there needs to be a like commitment to foster economic development on the Goshute reservation. It's difficult to conceive that the band would resort to storing spent nuclear fuel rods on its land if there were more palatable alternatives within its reach.
While the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, an independent judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was not persuaded by the state's claims that nuclear waste storage casks could be compromised by significant seismic activity, the board has considerable concerns about the likelihood of a fighter jet crash in the vicinity of the Goshute reservation. This alone should trump all other arguments to place the facility in Utah.
Air Force pilots don't need this additional hazard as they train for combat. With our men and women in uniform presently engaged in conflict in the Middle East and the ongoing fight against terrorism, that airspace must be protected to ensure optimal training conditions.