Date: Saturday, November 12

Congress may have hampered a federal agency's ability to ensure the safe shipment of highly radioactive waste if it were to be sent to Utah.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, convinced a congressional committee to cut the funding for two federal Department of Transportation lawyers who would oversee legal challenges of safety requirements for shipping spent reactor fuel to Utah.

"I am pleased that the House conferees receded to the Senate language in the final bill and agree that this is not a proper role for the federal government," said Bennett, a member of the conference committee. "I remain committed to fight against any effort to bring spent nuclear fuel to Utah, and firmly believe that this waste should be stored where it currently is until we work out the economics and technology to reprocess it."

A House subcommittee earlier this year had approved funding for two lawyers for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

But the agency was not mounting a legal battle to force the waste on Utah, or paying the legal expenses for a private company, James Wiggens said in July. Wiggens is director of policy and government affairs at the agency, which oversees transportation safety for all kinds of hazardous material.

"We don't care where it's going, how it's going or when it's going," he said. "Our focus here is just making sure it gets there safely."

The two lawyers would deal with safety issues and legal challenges over whether hazardous material shipments are following safety regulations - including any shipments to Skull Valley in Utah.

It was the specific naming of Skull Valley that bothered Bennett, spokeswoman Mary Jane Collipriest said.

Minnesota-based Private Fuel Storage LLC has proposed a private storage facility on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Skull Valley for highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial power reactors across the country.

The 820-acre site would hold 44,000 tons of spent fuel in steel and concrete casks set on concrete pads.

Bennett also added a provision to the bill that "denies funding for new positions to administer activities related to shipment of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to a private interim storage facility."

The bill is expected to be completed this week, and after final votes in the House and Senate, it will be sent to the president for his signature.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.

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