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Waste management director outlines Utah’s agreement‑state role, uranium licensing and workforce needs
Summary
Utah’s Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control described its agreement‑state responsibilities with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, oversight of uranium mills and plans to build in-state expertise if reactor licensing responsibilities expand.
Doug Hansen, director of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control, told the appropriations subcommittee Utah is an NRC agreement state with authority over radioactive materials licensing, uranium recovery and low‑level radioactive waste and said the state must build expertise to support potential growth in nuclear activity.
Hansen reviewed the 1954 Atomic Energy Act’s cooperative-federalism origins and said Utah’s authority has grown over time: the state became an agreement state in the 1970s, added radioactive-waste oversight for disposal in 1990, and took on uranium-mill licensing authority in 2004. He noted Utah currently hosts the only conventional uranium mill operating in the U.S., with others licensed but not active.
Hansen said the NRC does not delegate reactor licensing (reactors remain a federal licensing function) and that Utah — through legislation such as Representative Albrecht’s HB 249 — is trying to build higher-education and regulatory capacity should licensing responsibilities grow or change.
The division highlighted recent accomplishments: nearly 900 x‑ray inspections with 97% compliance, completion of regulations governing exploration-and-production (oil‑field) waste after a multi‑year outreach process, and long-term remediation and redevelopment work at the former Geneva Steel site in Vineyard. Hansen said Utah’s last integrated materials performance evaluation (IMPE, commonly called an MPEP) in 2023 rated the state “adequate,” the NRC’s highest category in that audit program.
He warned that future work may include additional waste streams if reactor or fusion projects proceed and urged sustained investment in staff and technical training to meet regulatory needs and respond to proposals such as small modular reactors or fusion facilities.
