The Hanford waste initiative would unlawfully interfere with contracts, including those held by major Tri-City employers Battelle and Framatome, according to a new petition in federal court asking that the law be declared invalid.

The Tri-City Industrial Development Council is arguing the initiative could cause Richland's Framatome plant to close and end important work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is operated by Battelle.

Last month the federal government filed for summary judgment in its suit that seeks to declare Initiative 297 unconstitutional. It argued that the initiative prevents waste from being moved among states in violation of the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution and allows states unwarranted authority over the federal government in violation of the supremacy clause.

This week TRIDEC added its request for summary judgment on expanded grounds. It argues that interfering with contracts violates the contracts clause of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits states from passing laws that impair the obligations of contracts.

The initiative was passed by voters a year ago to prevent the Department of Energy from sending radioactive and chemical waste to Hanford until waste already there is cleaned up. For more than 40 years, Hanford produced plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

But opponents of the initiative believe it has consequences not understood by voters.

Its definition of waste is so broad that it excludes useful products from being brought to Washington, including the uranium materials Framatome uses at its Richland plant to make nuclear fuel assemblies for power reactors, according to TRIDEC.

"Enriched commercial grade uranium, previously considered in all 50 states of the United States a useful and extremely valuable product or commodity, would now become in one single state a 'waste' subject to extensive regulation, including severe import restrictions," TRIDEC argued in court documents.

If the initiative takes effect and prevents Framatome from satisfying its existing long-term contracts to supply fuel, the company could close its Richland plant and lay off a significant number of workers, according to TRIDEC. Framatome employs 625 workers and had a payroll of more than $48 million last year.

Battelle is another company singled out in the summary judgment motion from among many that TRIDEC attorneys believe could be adversely affected in Washington by the initiative.

Battelle's contracts with the federal government require the continued use and receipt of radioactive materials for many research projects important to the nation, according to TRIDEC attorneys.

It is developing small electrical power devices using radioactive constituents to replace the need for batteries in some military equipment. It also does research for DOE's work to dispose of excess plutonium, which has required a sample of the material to be sent to the Richland lab.

The initiative also would interfere with the Tri-Party Agreement, which regulates Hanford cleanup, according to TRIDEC. It's essentially a contract between the state and federal government, it said.

The initiative could delay work required by the Tri-Party Agreement under new restrictions, such as one that requires no underground tanks be closed until all tank waste and possibly surrounding soil has been characterized, according to TRIDEC attorneys. The Tri-Party Agreement schedule relies on tanks being closed progressively as they are emptied.

Arguments for summary judgment made by the U.S. Department of Justice and TRIDEC are scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in May.