Utah Senate OKs resolution letting Energy Solutions seek permit for nonradioactive landfill after questioning on oversight

The Utah Senate on the afternoon calendar passed a joint resolution authorizing Energy Solutions to begin the licensing and permitting process for a class 6 landfill to receive nonradioactive, nonhazardous solid waste from reactor decommissioning and cleanup operations.

Sponsor Senator Sarah Thatcher told the chamber the measure would allow Energy Solutions to apply for a facility that would “receive non radioactive, non hazardous, solid waste from the decommissioning of nuclear power plants” and argued it would reduce inefficiencies and costs associated with currently mixing nonhazardous waste with radioactive or hazardous streams. “Giving them the opportunity and the authority to separately dispose of those things which are not hazardous and not in any way radioactive, it just makes sense,” Thatcher said.

Senators pressed the sponsor on several operational points. Senator Davis asked whether “there will be monitoring of that waste to make sure it doesn't get mixed in with the radioactive stuff” and whether oversight would be put in place. Thatcher responded that the industry is highly regulated and that scrutiny “would be extreme,” and said the Clive facility could accommodate a self-contained nonhazardous, nonradioactive landfill for Energy Solutions.

Senator Iwa Motto (phonetic rendering in the transcript) questioned whether the resolution would include “blended waste,” and Thatcher replied that blended waste would by definition be radioactive or hazardous and therefore excluded from a landfill limited to nonhazardous, nonradioactive material.

A separate question raised whether a currently charged fee — described in the chamber as about $1,700,000 for regulatory costs — would be shifted to general funds. Thatcher said that question was not germane to the narrow procedural request before the Senate and characterized the funding/fee accounting issue as relating to compliance with the Utah Budgetary Procedure Act rather than to authorization to begin the permit application.

After discussion, Thatcher moved that SJR 11 pass. Senators verbally registered their support and the resolution was recorded as passed and transmitted to the House for consideration; the transcript records multiple “aye” responses but does not show a consolidated numerical tally for this resolution in the excerpt.

Why it matters: The resolution does not itself grant a permit or construction authority but clears the legislative procedural hurdle so Energy Solutions can pursue permits and licensing processes. Senators’ questions about monitoring, blended waste, facility siting and cost-shifting indicate oversight and fiscal responsibility were central concerns during debate.

Next steps: Passage of the resolution allows Energy Solutions to proceed with state licensing and the formal regulatory permitting process; any eventual facility would face separate state and federal permitting, conditions and oversight before operations could begin.