Utah takes nuclear waste issue to court

[struggle4progress]

THE DAILY HERALD


State officials are asking a federal appeals court to overturn the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's recent approval of a license for a highly radioactive waste storage site in Utah.

The NRC approved a license in September for Minnesota-based Private Fuel Storage LLC, a consortium of utilities, to build a storage site on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley for up to 44,000 tons of spent fuel from commercial power reactors across the country. The area is about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

In documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, attorneys outlined the state's legal objections to the NRC's rulings. The state argues that the NRC decision was arbitrary and capricious, in violation of the law, and it asks the court to withdraw the approval of the license.

Gov. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., has vowed to stop at nothing to keep spent nuclear fuel out of Utah. <snip>

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