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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's spokeswoman says the governor is not going to take a position on whether the U.S. should ban the importation of foreign nuclear waste.
EnergySolutions Inc. wants to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy's shuttered nuclear power program. After processing in Tennessee, about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in Utah. It's the single largest amount of foreign waste the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ever been asked to allow into the country.
A bill to ban the importation of foreign waste is scheduled to get a hearing in Congress next week.
Herbert spokeswoman Angie Welling says while Herbert doesn't want foreign waste coming to Utah, he won't be writing a letter in support of the bill.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
