SALT LAKE CITY—
EnergySolutions made a bombshell announcement on Wednesday, abruptly dropping its push to bring foreign radioactive waste to be stored in rural Utah. The company said it would no longer seek to import Italian waste. Instead, EnergySolutions said it would work to build its foreign customer base by working with them to store the waste there."We believe that this new strategy, in the long run, is in the best interests of our shareholders and the company, financially speaking," said Val Christensen, EnergySolutions' new CEO. "Because it establishes longer-term relationships, it's more of a long-term thinking, longer-term view rather than short-term disposal solutions."
EnergySolutions' change of policy surprised environmental activists and drew praise from politicians.
"I'm very appreciative of the fact that they're seeing it my way," Utah Gov. Gary Herbert told Fox 13 on Wednesday. "I appreciate the fact that they're taking into consideration the concerns of the people of Utah."
However, Congressman Jim Matheson said he did not plan to drop legislation to ban the importing of foreign waste into the United States.
"A number of people in Utah, across all the spectrum politically and geographically everywhere, agreed with the notion that no other country in the world takes another country's radioactive waste," he said. "Why should we and why should Utah?"
Legislation and lawsuits over foreign waste issues also would not likely be dropped.
EnergySolutions said it has already signed a contract with China and is working with other countries to work on long-term storage solutions. The company would still import some foreign waste to its facility in Tennessee to be processed, then shipped back to the country of origin. Christensen said they would also still be accepting some foreign metals that are radioactive and storing them at their facility at Clive, in remote Tooele County.
"This has traditionally been packaged and sent to the Clive facility as U.S. waste," he said.
In a news conference, Christensen insists EnergySolutions did not bow to any public pressure. He said that as a newly-appointed CEO, he took another look at the company's strategies for future success and believed the change would be a positive one for the company's long term growth and for investors.
Environmentalists believe the company blinked.
"For years, thousands of Utahns, two governors, the radiation control board and members of congress have said no to foreign nuclear waste," said Vanessa Pierce, the director of the Healthy Environmental Alliance of Utah. "If EnergySolutions can make a buck by helping Italy dispose of Italy's waste in Italy, that's great!"
