Las Vegas • Blended radioactive waste won't be coming to Utah anytime soon if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission adopts its leader's position.

NRC Chairman Greg Jaczko said in a newly released memo that blended waste should be dealt with as part of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's low-level radioactive waste, with careful attention paid to public-safety issues.

"Given that the staff has indicated there may be a safety concern with large quantities of this [blended] waste," said Jaczko, "large-scale blending should not be performed by licensees or processors until this rule-making is completed."

Handling blended waste the way Jaczko suggests would likely add years to a decision on whether EnergySolutions Inc. can bury blended waste in Utah.

And, while state regulators and a local advocacy group welcome delay, the Utah nuclear services company will suffer if a majority of the five-member commission ultimately agrees with Jaczko. EnergySolutions has spent time and money developing a new process for blending low-level radioactive waste from reactors that currently has nowhere else to go for permanent disposal.

Jaczko's "vote letter" has come up repeatedly this week at the RadWaste Summit in Las Vegas, the fourth annual conference for industry regulators and advocates with an interest in low-level radioactive waste. It is part of a broader question about whether the current law, stitched together one piece at a time, should be revamped or only fine-tuned after 30 years of use.

The memo, made public in the past few days, basically outlines the chairman's view of how to handle blended waste, which is a mixture of mildly concentrated "Class A" radioactive waste and more-contaminated "Class B" and "Class C" wastes.

Under Utah law, Energy- Solutions is banned from taking waste hotter than Class A. The company has developed a process for mixing B and C wastes with larger volumes of Class A waste. The goal is lowering the hotter waste's concentration to the point it meets the hazard limits for waste allowed at the company's mile-square disposal site in Tooele County.

EnergySolutions' blending process is a prayer answered for reactor owners, who have had no available B and C disposal for two years. But it's a headache for Utah regulators and others who worry that it is a loophole being exploited to bypass the 5-year-old state ban.

Rusty Lundberg, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, applauded Jaczko's reasoning as set out in the memo, especially the emphasis on addressing health and safety questions.

"His uncertainty on large-scale blending in order to allow for more in-depth, technical analyses," said Lundberg, "is very positive from our perspective."

The Utah Radiation Control Board issued a policy paper this summer that said the state objects to blending as a way to circumvent the B and C ban. The board also has begun to write a new regulation that would require the Energy- Solutions site to undergo a performance assessment for "unique waste streams" like blended waste.

Vanessa Pierce, executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said Jaczko's memo shows that the NRC is listening to the concerns raised this year by her group, the state radiation board and others.

"It's refreshing to see a more measured and cautious approach to the waste that might come here," she said.

EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker noted that the full commission has not made its decision yet on blended waste, which the company insists is safe.

"We respect the chairman's view, but won't know which direction the commission is taking until all five commissioners have voted," he said in a comment sent via e-mail. "In the meantime, we will ensure that any activities we undertake regarding blending are in full compliance with current NRC regulations and guidance."

Current NRC policy on blending is sketchy and industry has asked for clarification.

NRC staff has been working for much of the year on suggestions for commissioners about how to deal with blended waste. In April, the staff proposed looking at blended waste, depleted uranium and other so-called "unique waste streams" together as they set standards for when sites must be specifically assessed to determine if they are suitable for large quantities of these wastes. A rule-making effort like this is expected to take a couple of years, but a comprehensive policy overhaul — addressing all types of low-level radioactive waste — could be a 10-year effort.

Jaczko's memo was his answer to the staff's original suggestion. He has made a policy of making documents like these public, although other commission members have not disclosed their views on the subject.

There's no way of saying when the commission's decision will be final, said NRC spokesman David McIntyre, who conceded that the commission's process might appear complicated.

"What you are seeing," he said, "is the sausage being made."

fahys@sltrib.com —

Disposal complications

An option for U.S. nuclear reactors to rely on a South Carolina site to dispose of Class B and C waste closed to all but three states in 2008. The industry wants to try a new process that would allow the waste to be buried at EnergySolutions' disposal site in Tooele County.