Why do so many of our legislators consider our beautiful state a wasteland? It seems if they can’t destroy our incredible wild lands through extraction, they want to destroy it by bringing unsafe radioactive waste into our state.
The introduction of House Bill 220, Radioactive Waste Amendments, by Rep. Carl Albrecht and Sen. Scott Sandall proves my point.
HB220 would replace a 15-year ban on admitting Class B and Class C radioactive materials into Utah disposal sites and would allow any class to be accepted and stored as long as the director of Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control deems it safe.
HB220 also determines waste classifications based on time of arrival. Waste such as depleted uranium becomes more radioactive over time and can become nearly 14 times more radioactive at its peak than when it is first stored.
Utah should not be a storage facility for other states’ radioactive waste.
HB220 is a gift to EnergySolutions and a betrayal of Utah citizens and its future generations.
As a registered nurse, I stand with the Utah Nurses Association and oppose this bill.
Maurena Grossman, Salt Lake City
