The company had asked state regulators for permission to pile this waste higher (up to eight stories high) in one of its cells at its dump in Clive. Had that application been granted, the company would have gained an additional capacity of 4.3 million cubic yards of Class A low-level nuclear waste. Under the agreement, EnergySolutions will withdraw that application.

And what did EnergySolutions gain? It has some 3.6 million cubic yards of unused capacity in another cell that receives a different class of low-level nuclear wastes that are generated by government. The company will ask for regulatory approval to convert this unused capacity to Class A low-level waste that could come either from the government or from commercial sources.

Since the unused capacity had been previously approved, the net total volume of waste that goes to the site would not change.

Gov. Jon Huntsman also announced that Utah will not accept any additional Class A low-level nuclear waste beyond the volume that has already been approved. That's the first time a Utah chief executive has said that.

So, while it will take years for the site to fill, meaning that this waste will continue to come to Utah for disposal, the total capacity of the facility will not increase, at least under this governor. When it's full, that's it. No more. An end is in sight.

As part of the agreement, EnergySolutions also reaffirmed that it will not accept Class B or Class C wastes, which have higher radionuclide concentrations than Class A waste.

We have criticized the governor for failing to veto SB155, which takes him and his successors, the Legislature and local governments out of the regulatory loop for EnergySolutions' applications to renew or amend its license unless the company seeks to expand beyond its current facility boundaries.

We still have concerns about that.

But we give the governor and his administration credit for cutting a deal that appears to cap disposal volume at the site.

It appears that [Huntsman] has capped the amount of low-level nuclear waste that the company can accept.