Likewise, the Skull Valley Goshutes remain divided on the issue. Some members of the small band see nuclear waste storage as key to their economic future. Others say it would poison Mother Earth.

Debate over Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of utilities, temporarily storing 44,000 tons of radioactive waste 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City on the Goshute Reservation was reignited Friday when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the plan.

Some Salt Lakers fear it is asking for calamity to ship the highly radioactive material in steel and concrete casks by rail through the Wasatch Front and other Utah communities.

State Sen. Fred Fife lives near the 900 South Union Pacific line and believes the railroad tracks there would be a likely route for the nuclear waste.

"I'm saddened that extremely dangerous and problematic material would be shipped through our residential neighborhood," he said.

The West Side Sunday Anderson Senior Center sits next to the 900 South railroad line at 900 West.

A regular at the senior center, Harold Jones said the companies that produce the nuclear waste should store it where it's produced.

"You are shipping highly radioactive material through highly populated areas. There's always a very good possibility of an accident. A train wreck, a truck wreck. Let's face it, they happen every day."

The city will need to brush up its plan to deal with radiation, said Michael Stever, emergency program manager.

"It's a low probability of an accident, but the consequences are high," he said. "I don't suppose they are going to give us any more money for planning or response. It comes out of our hide."

But Brock Johnson who lives in Grantsville, not far from where a spur would switch rail cars into Skull Valley, says there is not much to worry about.

"If people knew how safe it was in those casks, I don't think there would be a problem," he said. "I think it will be safe enough out there."

Tooele County residents are used to having such things in their backyard, said Frank Liddiard, owner of Al & Lid's Furniture and Appliance in Tooele.

"I don't know much about it, but I could care less," he said. "We have been destroying chemical weapons out here for years."

The Tooele City Council has taken no position on the PFS proposal, according to Mayor Charlie Roberts.

"Personally, I don't like it," he said. "My concern is the constant negative headlines it brings to the community."

Tooele County Commissioner Dennis Rockwell, who signed a mitigation contract with PFS more than six years ago, said the depot could bring up to $300 million to county coffers.

"We would have been happy if it had gone on through to Yucca Mountain," he said, speaking of the proposed, but stalled, permanent underground nuclear-fuel depository in Nevada. "But if there is going to be a temporary site in Tooele, we have to be prepared to make the best of it."

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, though, called the decision horrendous, putting "the safety and security of people throughout this region at tremendous risk potentially for tens of thousands of years."

Despite the NRC's approval, some Goshutes continue to fight the agreement between PFS and tribal Chairman Leon Bear, who is under federal indictment on tax and fraud charges.

"It's far from over," said Margene Bullcreek. "Since Mr. Bear's indictment, a lot of people don't think he should be in that position to sign contracts."

She and other members of the Skull Valley band are pressing their case in court and are calling for new tribal elections.

"Mr. Bear is thinking only of his own greed," she said noting that most American Indians are opposed to storing such poisons on their land.

"We only have one air, one water and one Mother Earth," she said.

But Mary Allen, who along with Bear signed the contract with PFS, said that although new tribal elections should be held, the spent fuel rods eventually would be stored at the Skull Valley reservation.

"A majority [of Goshutes] still want it," she said. "We've had so much poverty. The people deserve to get this."

csmart@sltrib.com

hmay@sltrib.com