Italian nuclear waste may be coming to the South

In recent weeks the world has witnessed images of enormous heaps of household trash piled up on the streets of Naples, Italy after the city ran out of places to put it.

Apparently that's not the Italians' only waste disposal problem.

Italy also lacks a place to dispose of its radioactive waste -- and it's looking for answers in the U.S. South. The (Columbia, S.C.) State reports that Energy Solutions of Utah is seeking federal permission to import up to 20,000 tons -- that's a million cubic feet -- of so-called "low-level" radioactive waste from Italy through the ports of Charleston and New Orleans for disposal in the United States. The plan involves recycling most of the waste in Tennessee, with the rest to be buried in Utah.

But some environmentalists in South Carolina worry that the toxic stuff could end up in the state's Barnwell County nuclear waste dump run by Energy Solutions. However, the company says it won't bury the waste at that site, which is scheduled to close this summer. The Barnwell landfill -- the only facility in the nation that takes the most toxic kinds of low-level waste - has leaked and is contaminating local groundwater supplies.

South Carolina State Sen. Joel Lourie (D-Richland) thinks Italy should keep its nuclear waste:

"Do we want to promote that kind of industry in America, where we accept everyone else's nuclear waste, or should we encourage other countries to deal with it on their own soil?" Lourie said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently considering Energy Solutions' request, but critics of the disposal plan say Congress should take up the matter of importing other countries' nuclear waste.