A duct-tape hose repair on a tanker of radiation-tainted toxic waste led to a potentially dangerous leak last month in Carbon County.

The incident occurred March 31, when an employee at Price Canyon weigh station noticed a wet stain on the back of a tanker transporting material from the EnergySolutions Inc. site in Tooele County. A Carbon County hazmat team was called in and found up to a half-gallon of material had come from the broken and taped-over hose.

The tanker contained 3,000 gallons of waste solvent destined for a U.S. Energy Department toxic waste incinerator in Tennessee.

"Crews inspected the area and found no contamination to the environment," said Mark Walker, a spokesman for EnergySolutions, the nation's largest radioactive waste company.

"It wasn't our container," he said when asked about the duct-taped hose.

He noted that the hose was repaired and the tanker returned to Tooele County before the shipment was sent back to Tennessee, without incident, for incineration. "No health or safety was compromised to residents of Carbon County or the environment," Walker said.

Carbon County has cited the truck's driver, who works for a contractor for the Energy Department, said U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, and the county has billed EnergySolutions for the emergency response.

The Utah Democrat, whose district includes Carbon County, applauded the hazmat response Thursday and said the accident bolsters arguments for his bill to outlaw importation of radioactive waste from foreign nations. The more waste being shipped in and out of Utah, the more risk, he said.

"It just highlights that we are talking about materials that are dangerous, and they are on our roads," he said.

The congressman noted, too, that the spill included benzene, thorium, tritium, technetium and four uranium isotopes -- "all of which pose a risk to public health and safety in instances of exposure." His office said that a Hazardous Materials Incident Report filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation noted the solvents in the tanker were "flammable, hazardous waste and toxic upon inhalation for up to 300 feet'' from the exposure site.

Matheson vowed to dig into the "unanswered questions" that remain.

Dane Finerfrock, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said his agency continues to investigate to determine who is responsible and whether there were violations under his agency's jurisdiction.

"We're trying to get the facts," he said.

Finerfrock added the amount of radioactive material in the shipment was "very minimal."

Jeff Gardner, who oversees operations at the EnergySolutions landfill, said the Energy Department contracts with the company to have some waste heat-treated. The treatment system separates out radioactive waste, which is disposed as a dry residue at the Tooele County landfill, from the solvent waste, which is shipped to a toxic incinerator operated by the Energy Department in Tennessee.

He added that the incident sparked an internal investigation and resulted in added procedures to prevent the problem from happening again.

fahys@sltrib.com