DU: Depleted uranium, a unique waste that will become more and more radioactive until, roughly, the year 1002009. The acronym also gives sound guidance for where depleted uranium should be buried: deep underground.

But a lack of deep, underground storage space and a growing need to find permanent storage for 1.4 million tons of DU is "clearly driving" federal regulators to erroneously steer the materials to shallow burial sites like EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah.

That's the contention of Kansas State University Geologist Charles G. Oviatt and a pair of Brigham Young University scientists, geologist Steve Nelson and climatologist Summer Rupper. In a letter to the NRC, which is gathering input in the early stages of a three-year review of DU disposal issues, they cite a "programmatic failure" by the agency to properly plan for deep disposal of depleted uranium.

The trio are experts on Utah's Great Salt Lake, which, every couple of millenniums, rises high enough to submerge EnergySolutions' landfill in Tooele County. When that occurs, the DU could wash away and eventually be deposited throughout the Great Salt Lake Basin, causing a "massive environmental catastrophe," according to Johnson, a past chairman of the Utah Radiation Control Board.

But that hasn't kept the NRC from allowing 49,000 tons of DU, leftovers from the uranium enrichment process, to be buried in the Beehive State beside other Class A low-level wastes, which are only dangerous for 100 years.

And that's just the tip of a mountain of DU looking for a home. The federal government has stockpiled 700,000 tons of DU, and a like amount could be generated by two new commercial enrichment facilities recently approved by the NRC.

The state Radiation Control Board, despite threats of a lawsuit by EnergySolutions, has shown due diligence. It's requiring the company to prove it can safely store DU for the long run before opening the gates to more of the material.

But the NRC has dropped the ball by classifying depleted uranium as low-level Class A waste suitable for near-surface disposal. In fact, the scientists, speaking for themselves and not necessarily their universities, say the NRC owes Utah an apology.

That would be nice. But "sorry" doesn't cut it. The NRC needs to put a moratorium on depleted uranium shipments until its study is complete.

DU simply doesn't belong in a landfill designed for wastes that are safe in a century, and especially not in one that is likely to be at the bottom of a lake.