Facing hecklers, hostility and distrust -- even from their host -- EnergySolutions came to Provo on Wednesday evening to advocate for nuclear energy.

Representatives for the company, which both owns and dismantles nuclear power plants around the world and owns a low-level radioactive waste storage facility in Tooele County, were invited to speak at the monthly meeting of the Utah Valley Sierra Forum, a new local environmental advocacy group. The meeting was held at the Provo Library.

Greg Hopkins told about 20 people in attendance that nuclear power is necessary to cure global warming and climate change. He also said Utahns don't give EnergySolutions a fair rap. Hopkins noted, perhaps only half jokingly, that both he and co-worker Mark Walker, who also spoke, were both BYU graduates and Walker had played football at BYU and was there in case the crowd got out of control.

Nuclear energy is the energy source available today that contributes least to global warming, Hopkins said.

"I want to make the case for nuclear power," he said. "And then we'll talk about the problems."

There are 103 nuclear reactors in operation in the U.S. today, producing 20 percent of the nation's power supply, and 442 worldwide producing 17 percent of the global power supply, with no serious accidents or deaths since 1986, he said. Some of those gathered immediately took issue with the statement, saying Hopkins was lying to cover up deaths and accidents. During Hopkins's presentation, some audience members heckled him, calling him a liar and someone paid to push nuclear waste.

Always calm, Hopkins said that as a technology, automobiles present a much larger danger than nuclear energy.

"In our modern society we make trade-offs for modern conveniences," he said, noting coal, which powers much of the U.S. energy demand, is responsible for many deaths and injuries every year. "There are risks associated with the generation of power."

Countries in Europe and Asia routinely recycle much of their spent uranium, reducing the storage and risk for those countries, while the U.S. outlawed uranium recycling during the Carter administration, he said. The Bush administration is studying the possibility of a recycling program and EnergySolutions is "heavily involved" in campaigning to win a national contract for the work.

Hopkins repeatedly said that the technology exists to make, through recycling and burning, all the byproducts of nuclear power into forms that can be stored safely and easily but politics stand in the way. Ninety-eight percent of spent nuclear fuel is uranium, which can be recycled, and of the remaining 3 percent, composed of fission byproducts and plutonium, can be rendered safe through burning.

Nuclear energy is a global solution to greenhouse gases because it is a technology that can be safely used by every nation to reduce their need for fossil fuel-based power, he said.

At the company's one-mile-square Tooele storage site, lab supplies, clothing exposed to radiation, syringes used with radioactive medications, and wiping rags are among the items stored, he said. By law the facility is only allowed to store the lowest level radioactive items, those items which the government defines as being rendered safe by radiation deterioration after 100 years of storage.

Hopkins then pointed to the exit sign in the library room where the meeting was held. He said the sign is one of many common items that have radioactive components that are used by the public everyday.

The company also helps clean up radioactive dumps in Salt Lake City and Moab, which he said is a public benefit the company often does not receive credit for. With 500 employees in Utah, the company is also an economic engine.

In polls, many Utahns have said the Tooele site is dangerous, "but when you press someone they are at a loss to say why," he said.

Utahns also believe Utah "is becoming the nation's nuclear waste dumping ground," when many other states store more radioactive waste, and waste with higher levels of danger, he said.

"To say we are the dumping ground does not line up with reality," he said.

While many people say radioactive waste should be stored where it is made, Utah law prohibits Utah's radioactive waste from being stored in the state, he said.

In the end, few in attendance may have been convinced by EnergySolutions's message.

"This is my concern," said Scott Plummer of Spanish Fork. "It has to do with the camel getting its nose in the tent."

While Utah may now store only the lowest level waste, other states and companies may try to change that in the future and residents must be vigilant now, Plummer said.

Jim Westwater, forum host who invited the company, said after the meeting that he also was not convinced.

"I have some doubts about what he said," Westwater said. "I don't take at face value what people have to say in this field."

Caleb Warnock can be reached at 443-3263 or cwarnock@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.