Envirocare of Utah announced Tuesday it wants to accept low-level radioactive wastes that are far hotter than the material it currently handles.
    The company submitted a license application to the Utah Division of Radiation Control seeking permission to accept Class B and C wastes. It already has approval to dispose of Class A wastes -- the least radioactive but most abundant of the low-level wastes.
    The new wastes Envirocare wants to handle are so radioactive they would be shipped to Utah inside concrete blocks or steel-reinforced containers to minimize exposure to workers and people along the transportation route. They would be buried in a new disposal cell the company would build at its site about 60 miles west of Salt Lake City.
    Although some of the material could be thousands of times more radioactive than currently allowed, Envirocare president Charles Judd said the risk of handling and disposing of it would be no greater because of the protective packaging.
    "I guess if you took this out and ate it, it could be lethal," he said. "But there is limited exposure because it is handled differently."
    Most of the nation's low-level radioactive waste is produced at nuclear power plants. It also comes from hospitals, research laboratories, manufacturers and the cleanup of old nuclear weapons production facilities.
    Utah law requires Envirocare to first submit its application to the Division of Radiation Control for a technical evaluation. If regulators decide the proposal meets all appropriate state laws and can be operated safely, it then would be sent to Tooele County, the Utah Legislature and the governor's office for a political review.
    Tooele County commissioners already have submitted a letter supporting the application, said Judd, and legislative leaders and the governor have been briefed on the proposal. "We haven't asked for their support yet. Their decisions will need to be made later on," he said.
    In February, Envirocare quietly lobbied the Utah Legislature to change this law and allow the political decisions to be made prior to the technical analysis. Company officials claimed at the time they had no plans to request Class B and C wastes, and the effort was dropped when information about the proposed wording change became public.
    Judd said Monday the company has no plans to try changing the law again. "But I won't say that will never happen," he added.
    Allowing Envirocare to handle more-radioactive wastes would be a "very bad step," warned Preston Truman, an activist on nuclear issues and a former member of the Utah Board of Radiation Control -- a citizen group that sets policy for the Division of Radiation Control.
    "Utahns have already done our share," he said. "We were downwind during the A-bomb tests in Nevada, there was the uranium boom in southeastern Utah, the nerve gas and chemical weapons testing at Dugway Proving Ground, and Envirocare already is getting the bulk of the low-level wastes. It's time for someone else to share the burden. There's a difference between already having done your share and saying not in my backyard -- a big difference."
    There are only two sites in the nation that currently accept Class B and C wastes. One is at Hanford, Wash., which handles wastes from 11 Western states. The second site is in Barnwell, S.C. It accepts wastes from the rest of the nation, but South Carolina's governor wants to either shut down or severely restrict the amount of waste coming into that facility.
    Judd said the anticipated restrictions at Barnwell create an opportunity for Envirocare to move into this lucrative market.
    Bill Sinclair, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said officials in Washington state "aren't thrilled" with the Hanford site either, and it is conceivable it could close, too.
    "The worst-case scenario is that Envirocare would end up being the one and only disposal site in the nation for low-level radioactive wastes," said Sinclair. Utah political leaders will need to decide if they are willing to shoulder that responsibility, he added.
    Money almost certainly will influence the decision. Envirocare would pay hefty disposal fees to the state and Tooele County if it received the waste. It is too early to know how much that could be, said Judd, but he agreed it would be a "significant number."
    Tooele County Commissioner Teryl Hunsaker said money indeed was a factor in the county's decision to support Envirocare. "It gives them a chance to increase their gross revenues and, therefore, my gross revenue," said the commissioner, noting that about a quarter of the county's budget comes from the company.
    The prospect of additional tax revenues was one of the factors that convinced South Carolina officials to open the Barnwell site to the rest of the nation.
    However, growing environmental concerns and a feeling of unease about being America's dumping ground prompted the state to reconsider the decision.