The Utah Radiation Control Board and a key U.S. House committee chairman saddled up against the plan last week, joining a posse of nuclear-watchdog groups, the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and congressional leaders from Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee.

While the state control board, according to its lawyer, lacks the legal authority to derail the shipments to EnergySolution's dump in Tooele County, it will ask the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to carefully assess our nation's long-term disposal needs before allowing large volumes of foreign waste to enter the country. The EnergySolutions facility at Clive will soon be the sole repository for waste from 36 states. And if company officials have their way, and the NRC sets a dangerous precedent by granting the high-volume import license, the facility may eventually serve much of Europe, where public outrage has prevented the development of even low-level disposal sites.

While the board is powerless to stop the plan, the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management, which controls the flow of waste to the EnergySolutions disposal facility, apparently is not.

In a letter last week, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., the House Science and Technology Committee chairman, reminded the compact that its 1998 decision to open the Tooele facility to waste generated outside the eight-state compact was made to serve "an important national purpose." And that while accepting waste from Europe serves EnergySolutions' purpose - to make money - it serves no purpose for the nation.

If the license were granted, Gordon wrote, "It would say to the world that the United States is open for business and will take the world's low-level radioactive waste until our facilities are filled, regardless of the needs of our country."

The congressman is correct. And that's not the message the United States and Utah should send.

Now it's time for our governor, our congressional delegation and our state House and Senate leaders to pressure the compact and the NRC to put a stop to EnergySolutions' plan.

You can do your part, too. The NRC is accepting public comment before ruling on the licensing request. If you're worried that Utah could become the world's radioactive waste dump if the plan is approved, and you should be, send your objections to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001, Attn: Rulemaking and Adjudication Staff.