EnergySolutions says it has a better plan to solve America's problems with high-level nuclear waste — and it's not to store it in Utah.
The company, formerly Envirocare, operates a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County. It recently acquired a variety of other operations elsewhere in the country, including technology to recycle high-level nuclear waste.
On Tuesday, EnergySolutions announced it is supporting the Bush administration's proposals to develop a reprocessing capability for spent high-level nuclear fuel. The company also took a swipe at the Private Fuel Storage (PFS) proposal to house that type of material in Skull Valley, Tooele County.
An EnergySolutions commercial airing for about the next 10 days mentions PFS's attempts to store high-level nuclear waste in Utah. "But there's a better way," says the commercial, which was to have started broadcasting Tuesday.
Steve Creamer, CEO of EnergySolutions, then announces the company has a proven technology to recycle such material. "It makes the PFS plan for Utah obsolete," he says in the commercial.
A spokeswoman for PFS was puzzled by the commercial.
"PFS and its members are potential customers of EnergySolutions, so I think it's odd to oppose us so publicly," spokeswoman Sue Martin said.
EnergySolutions mentions in a press release that on March 17, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a request for parties to submit expressions of interest in a nuclear fuel reprocessing project.
The project, called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Technical Demonstration Program, is to propose and evaluate sites that would be suitable for demonstrating advanced nuclear fuel reprocessing, according to the company.
More than 40 responses came in from interested companies.
"EnergySolutions is working with parties in several locations outside of Utah who have an interest in a recycling facility," adds the release.
Creamer was quoted as saying people throughout the country are interested in a recycling facility.
"Because EnergySolutions is the only American-owned company with proven recycling technology, we plan to be a major player in the recycling industry," he said in the release.
"Our system has over a 30-year track record in England of successfully recycling spent nuclear fuel."
More than 95 percent of spent fuel can be reprocessed and reused, EnergySolutions notes.
"The utilities that comprise PFS are our friends in the nuclear energy industry. They have a legitimate need to close the fuel cycle by finding a permanent solution to dealing with spent fuel," Creamer's statement adds.
"The Bush administration's recycling initiative is the solution."
Martin said recycling could be part of the long-term solution, but it will take years to develop, and PFS's plan to store the waste on Goshute Indian land in Utah is the best short-term solution.
"Clean, safe, temporary storage and recycling," she said, "could work hand in hand for short- and long-term solutions."
Contributing: Wendy Leonard
E-mail: bau@desnews.com