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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The state's Radiation Control Board wants to know how much hazardous waste has been disposed at a landfill in Tooele County.
The board's request to staff came Friday after the landfill's former manager said the amount exceeds state law.
Charles Judd, president of Envirocare from 1998 to 2002, said Utah law requires a rigorous approval process for a company that is growing by 50 percent or more.
Envirocare got new owners in 2005 and now is known as EnergySolutions. The Clive landfill, 80 miles west of Salt Lake City, is one of only a handful that accepts low-level radioactive waste from nuclear-power plants and the healthcare industry.
"We ought to know, in light of the allegations, what the statute permits," Radiation Control Board member Stephen Nelson said.
Judd said EnergySolutions has never been required to go through a detailed, multistage process, which requires approval from lawmakers and the governor. The state's radiation director has approved 80 amendments during the company's 17 years of operation.
Judd said he might take his complaint to the Utah Court of Appeals.
EnergySolutions attorney Craig Galli said Judd and his company, Cedar Mountain Environmental, were not asking questions at the right time or in the right forum.
He said Judd could have pressed lawmakers or the radiation board in the past.
"They sat on their rights," he said.
Separately, the Utah Supreme Court is reviewing a ruling from the radiation board that allows EnergySolutions to nearly double the size of its boundaries. A watchdog group, the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, claims the expansion is illegal.
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Information from The Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
