EnergySolutions could rake in $1.5 billion over a decade — with Utah getting half — if it is allowed to accept low-level radioactive waste from foreign countries at its Clive storage facility.
Speaking to the Deseret News editorial board, Steve Creamer, chief executive officer of the Salt Lake-based company, said that his company would share equally all net revenues made through its contracts with foreign nations to manage and store low-level waste in Utah.
He said the proposed plan would use 5 percent of the site's overall capacity, or about 7.5 million cubic feet, for storage of foreign waste. The activities could potentially generate from $750 million to $1.5 billion — money that the company and state would split "that could come into the state to do some pretty special things," Creamer said.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has promised to veto any legislation allowing foreign waste into Utah.
The EnergySolutions facility in Clive, 70 miles west of Salt Lake City, handles more than 95 percent of all commercial low-level radioactive waste in the United States, according to the Government Accountability Office. The company also has processing sites in Tennessee, South Carolina and the United Kingdom.
Creamer said that the proposal would act as a tool to build the company's reputation as a low-level waste manager to other nations around the globe, not to make Utah the world's "nuclear dumping ground."
"We do not, on a long-term basis, want to bring it into Utah," Creamer said. "What we want to do is use 4.3 acres to position ourselves" as a credible resource around the world, he said.
The proposal calls for the company to take in foreign waste over a 10-year period, with the state sharing in 50 percent of the net revenue. And after 10 years, "we'd quit taking international waste," he said.
Creamer said that the company envisions Clive as the prototype for about a half-dozen storage facilities around the world to handle low-level radioactive waste.
It's not clear yet where the proposal is going this legislative session, although there seems to be interest among at least some GOP leaders.
"I'm having a hard time seeing what the problem is," said Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville. "The only difference is it comes from another country."
Waddoups said if the state could get $150 million a year from allowing the disposal of "the same product that's out there now," the money would go a long way to solving the state's financial problems.
Huntsman's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, said Wednesday that the governor will veto any effort to allow foreign waste into the state. "Governor Huntsman doesn't want Utah to be the world's dumping ground," she said. "He will veto any legislation that would create that situation."
Waddoups said he's not sure the votes are there in the Senate GOP caucus to override a veto by the governor. "I don't know if I could get it passed, let alone veto-proof," Waddoups said. "If the caucus doesn't want it, we're not going to do it."
Waddoups and other GOP leaders from both the House and Senate discussed the topic briefly with the governor during their weekly lunch Wednesday. Waddoups said Huntsman is standing firm against foreign waste being stored in Utah. "I wish he'd budge," the Senate president said.
Senate Budget Chairman Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said he wants to know the facts behind the proposal. "If it makes sense, it makes sense," he said. "They've got to convince me."
Legislative leaders say Huntsman recently told them — in answer to a direct question — that he would veto any bill that expanded EnergySolutions' ability to take low-level, or Class A, nuclear waste.
If Huntsman keeps that pledge, it would take 50 votes in the House and 21 votes in the Senate to override that veto.
One House GOP leader said Wednesday that while there is no official House GOP caucus position on the waste firm's proposal, there is also no great opposition among the 53 House Republicans.
"After all, it is the same kind of waste they are taking now out there" in the West Desert dump. "And they have taken this kind of waste from Canada, we're told, and maybe even from Mexico — although that is not as clear. So what difference does it make if they take some of the same kind of waste from another foreign country? They are taking international waste now," said one House GOP leader.
EnergySolutions in recent years has donated more to political causes than any other corporation or political action committee in the state, making it politically potent.
For example, in 2008, the company reported giving $189,200 to state-level politicians and political parties. Among the groups receiving the most from EnergySolutions last year were the Utah Republican Party, $44,700; the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $12,500; Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, $10,000; and the Utah Democratic Party, $10,000.
EnergySolutions gave to 73 of the 90 current legislators who faced election last year, spreading $39,850 among them. Among legislators who received the most last year were former Senate President John Valentine, R-Provo, $5,450 (who ran unopposed); Rep. Todd Kiser and former House Speaker Greg Curtis, both R-Sandy, $5,350 each; and Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, who received $5,200.
Contributing: Bob Bernick Jr., Lee Davidson
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