Some said it will harden Utah's image as a dumping ground for other states' radioactive and hazardous waste. One questioned the company's treatment of labor. Others took issue with granting a license that appears to sanction millions more tons of contaminated waste without specific blueprints.

"To me, it is totally absurd to allow an office building without understanding the future objectives of the company" to add capacity, said Naomi Franklin, an expansion opponent.

The state Division of Radiation Control hosted the meeting strictly for comments on the legal and safety issues now pending.

The company has asked the agency to apply the regulations for its current 543 acres to another 536 acres immediately north of its Tooele County site. For the time being, Envirocare is only requesting new capital projects to serve the existing facility. But a license amendment would allow disposal someday, after a study of proposed disposal cells.

Dane Finerfrock, director of the state Radiation Control Division, noted at the outset of the hourlong public hearing that regulators must judge the expansion application purely on technical grounds, not philosophical ones.

The hearing was a requirement for the second of a four-part approval the company needs to get for what is considered a major license change.

Envirocare already has completed the first step by securing the approval of the Tooele County Commission. Assuming the DRC grants says OK on technical grounds, the Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. must give approval on political grounds.

Marilyn Zipser, secretary of the League of Women Voters, said specific plans are necessary now.

She said: "Voters want to be sure that approval by their elections representatives is based on complete information about whether the added land will be suitable and safe for the public's health and environment."

The comment period for the expansion ends next week.