SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Depleted uranium shipped to Utah from a U.S. nuclear weapons site in South Carolina is to be tested for its level of radioactivity, Utah regulators say.
The nuclear waste arrived at the EnergySolutions disposal site in Clive, Utah, last month. Amanda Smith, head of the state department of environmental quality, said Tuesday the testing by an outside company should take two months, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Gov. Gary Herbert ordered the testing, she said.
The Utah Division of Radiation Control is still trying to work out safety regulations for dealing with depleted uranium. In the meantime, two more trainloads of depleted uranium are expected at the EnergySolutions site in the next few weeks.
An anti-nuclear group, HEAL, says its review of shipping manifests has found some of the barrels of waste are more radioactive than allowed by Utah law.
While most radioactive materials become less so with time, depleted uranium becomes more radioactive. The material is expected to be hottest a million years from now.
The material has come from a cleanup at a site in Savannah River, S.C., to a disposal site 80 miles from Salt Lake City.
