Tooele County may soon receive a 'hot' new export product from Italy -- and it's not luxury cars or gourmet foods.

EnergySolutions is considering disposing of 1,600 tons of radioactive waste from Europe at its Clive facility in the west desert.

Company representatives have said they want to bring 20,000 tons of waste from Italy to the United States through ports located in New Orleans and Charleston, S.C., and then process a percentage of it in Bear Creek, Tenn. Afterward, about 8 percent of the total imported material would finally be stored in the remote area of Clive, which is approximately 60 miles west of Tooele.

"Some of the waste will be disposed at Clive, while the rest will be processed and recycled at the EnergySolutions Bear Creek facility in Tennessee," said Greg Hopkins, EnergySolutions Vice President of Communications. "At Bear Creek they will take the metal from the waste and convert it into shielding blocks, which will be sold back into the nuclear industry."

EnergySolutions said the waste will be carefully inspected before it leaves the Italian ports to ensure it falls within the permitted limits, and the company also applied for an export license, along with its import license, in case any irradiated material slips through the screening. The export license would allow the unacceptable waste to easily be returned to Italy without delay.

However, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., both of whom are senior members on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, had raised questions and concerns about the importing of foreign waste in a recent letter sent to Dale Klein, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

"EnergySolutions asserts that the radioactive wastes will come from various locations within Italy, but the exact origin of the wastes is unknown, and the generators of these materials are not fully known," the letter said. "The radioactive composition of imported wastes 'will include source material, byproduct material and special nuclear material,' however, according to the license application, the exact type and composition of the radioactive waste cannot be evaluated before it embarks from Italy. Consequently, the radioactive composition of some of the waste arriving at the ports of Charleston and New Orleans will likely exceed NRC's threshold limits for low-level waste disposal, and will not be suitable for storage in the company's Clive, Utah, disposal facility."

The NRC is currently reviewing the license application from EnergySolutions, which could take six months. The company also must publish a notice and accept public comment before reaching any decision on issuing EnergySolutions an import license, which would allow the transporting of European waste.

"We expect the issuing of the import license from the NRC to happen sometime during the first quarter of next year," Hopkins said. "Once the import license is granted, the shipping can begin."

Doug Radunich: dougrad@tooeletranscript.com