A coalition of nine utilities on 6/25 applied for a license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store nuclear waste on an Indian reservation in northwestern Utah.
Minneapolis-based Private Fuel Storage, led by Northern States Power, signed an agreement in December with the Skull Valley Band of Goshute to lease part of the tribe's 17,700 reservation. The planned facility, which would hold "up to 40,000 metric tons of waste" in 4,000 metal containers, could be operating by 2002, according to Project Manager Scott Northard.
The agreement includes a 25-year lease with a 25-year renewal option.
However, the federal licensing process, which begins with a three-year environmental review, is "strongly opposed" by Utah's Governor Mike Leavitt (R). In 4/97, Leavitt established a new state office of nuclear-waste storage opposition and he endorsed a demonstration by other tribes, landowners and environmentalists.
But Northard said that the utilities need the temporary storage facility. NSP claims that its nuclear power plant in Red Wing, MN, has only enough on-site storage to operate until 2002. And Danny Quintana, an attorney for the tribe, says the project will "provide much-needed income."
MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE, 6/26/97, p. D1, Susan Peterson, which reports that Wednesday at the annual shareholders meeting, NSP Chair Jim Howard announced the utility "will pull out of a controversial partnership" to construct a uranium enrichment plant in Louisiana.
While Howard "vehemently rejected" critics' claims that environmental racism played a part in site selection, he said adverse regulatory rulings would prevent the project from "ever getting finished."
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