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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Hotter radioactive waste classified as "B" and "C" will no longer be allowed in Utah after a final vote on the bill to ban it passed the Utah House Tuesday.
The Senate passed the bill a week ago, one day after the state's largest waste storage facility, Envirocare of Utah, asked for its B and C waste storage permit to be revoked.
Utah already accepts so-called low-level Class A radioactive waste. The B and C wastes are considered to be hundreds of thousands of times more radioactive than Class A.
Lawmakers in the House voted 57-13, with five absent, to pass the bill, but not before some expressed their dislike.
Reps. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, and Greg Hughes, R-Draper, both said they saw no reason to ban the waste because it could bring revenue to the state and that Utah residents already live amid other substances harmful to their health.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
