Tue., April 6, 2010 12:04pm (EDT)

Utah Could Get More SRS Waste
By Noel Brown
Updated: 3 years ago

AUGUSTA, Ga.   —  
Shipments of nuclear waste from Savannah River Site to Utah could start again soon. That comes after regulators in Utah determined that the waste meets their state's environmental standards. (Image courtesy DOE)
Shipments of nuclear waste from Savannah River Site to Utah could start again soon. That comes after regulators in Utah determined that the waste meets their state's environmental standards. (Image courtesy DOE)
A protest from Utah Governor Gary Herbert caused the Department of Energy to suspend shipments in January of depleted uranium from SRS to a disposal facility near Salt Lake City. Now regulators have determined that more than 3,000 tons of the waste meet Utah’s health and safety standards. That could mean shipments will start up again soon.

Jim Giusti is a spokesperson for the Department of Energy.

"We’re going to wait to hear from the state of Utah and continue our dialogue with the Governor’s office but at this point we have no new plans to start shipments immediately," said Giusti. "We’re still going to evaluate the information and work with the state to see if and when we can resume the shipments."

DOE officials say they have been sending depleted uranium from the Savannah River Site to the Utah facility for disposal since 2003. Utah’s governor got involved in January after an environmental group raised questions about radiation levels in the shipments exceeding state standards.