Utah slaps companies, space agency for illegal radioactive waste

State regulators have accused four companies and NASA of sending to EnergySolutions’ site radioactive waste that’s too hot for Utah. The Radiation Control Board on Wednesday announced violation notices issued last week. Next week, the board is expected to issue another such notice against Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions for accepting the waste in violation of Utah’s ban on class B and C waste. Rusty Lundberg, division director and executive secretary for the board, saidEnergySolutions reported the violations after an internal audit. He said regulators are also talking to the company about doing “an environmental project that will benefit the citizens of Utah” in lieu of fines and penalties. The five organizations already cited face fines and penalties of several thousand dollars each. They have 30 days to respond to the allegations. Some of the suspect waste came to Utah from U.S. Energy Department cleanups and facilities, including the K-25 Building nuclear enrichment building cleanup in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico; and the cleanup at former Manhattan Project facilities in Washington state...more