Rep. Gordon’s Foreign Nuclear Waste Bill Continues to Advance

November 3, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment unanimously approved Congressman Bart Gordon’s bipartisan legislation to ban the importation of foreign-generated radioactive waste for disposal in the United States.

The full Energy and Commerce Committee will consider Gordon’s legislation on Thursday, November 5, at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

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“We’re the only nation in the world that buries the nuclear waste of other countries in our soil,” said Gordon. “I am pleased that my colleagues on the Subcommittee recognized the importance of stopping this practice and I am glad the full Energy and Commerce Committee will move forward with my bill on Thursday.”

Currently, a permit is pending with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level radioactive waste for disposal in the United States, which would be the largest importation ever of foreign-generated radioactive waste. If approved, the 20,000 tons of nuclear waste would be transported to Tennessee for processing and later disposed in Utah.

Gordon has been leading the effort in Congress to ban the practice of allowing other countries to dispose their radioactive waste in the U.S. His bipartisan Radioactive Import Deterrence (RID) Act, HR. 515, would prohibit the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from authorizing the importation of foreign-generated low-level radioactive waste for disposal in the U.S. unless the President deems the importation would meet critical national or international goals.

“We already have limited space in our country for the radioactive waste generated by American entities and it should be preserved for them – the medical facilities, university research labs and utility companies,” added Gordon.

Approval by the full committee on Thursday would clear the bill for consideration by the entire U.S. House of Representatives. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Lamar Alexander. Today, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment unanimously approved Congressman Bart Gordon’s bipartisan legislation to ban the importation of foreign-generated radioactive waste for disposal in the United States.

Source: Congressman Bart Gordon