Feds Reject Plan to Create Utah Nuclear Waste Stockpile

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http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11215

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday rejected a bitterly contested plan to create a nuclear waste stockpile at an American Indian reservation in Utah's west desert.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said the decision kills a proposal to store 44,000 tons of spent fuel rods on the Goshute Indians' Skull Valley reservation, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Private Fuel Storage, a group of nuclear-power utilities known as PFS, won a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February. Lawsuits, regulatory opposition and other hurdles have delayed the plan for years.

"PFS is dead," Hatch said. "To me, it's a great day for Utah."

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