The Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday approved a fruit fly irradiator for Honolulu that could help local farmers boost their exports to the Mainland and abroad.

The agency approved a license for Pa'ina Hawaii LLC ending a more than two-year review that was prolonged by safety concerns raised by environmental and neighborhood groups.

Michael Kohn, president and part-owner of Pa'ina, said the planned $3 million irradiation facility could be operational by February. The irradiator would use radioactive cobalt-60 to penetrate food and packaging and sterilize any fruit flies or other unwanted pests inside. Although the facility could handle a variety of produce, its biggest near-term impact would be on papayas by allowing growers to export mature fruit to markets such as the Mainland, Kohn said.

The facility would provide an alternative to thermal treatment procedures, which can change the consistency of a product and shorten shelf life, making it unsuitable for some tree-ripened fruit. Better-tasting fruit will help local growers compete against cheaper, imported fruit, Kohn said.

"We need to compete on quality," said Kohn, who owns papaya exporter Hawaiian Fruit Co. "We need tree-ripened papayas to justify higher shipping costs. Everyone would agree a tree-ripened fruit will be a higher-quality fruit."

Similar irradiators have generally been approved for use throughout the U.S. The only other irradiator used on Hawai'i produce is in Kea'au on the Big Island; however, shipping produce from O'ahu to the Big Island for treatment isn't feasible for many products.

Currently, untreated products such as papaya and lychee can be shipped to only certain colder markets such as Canada and Europe. Other fruits such as mango can be shipped untreated to Japan, but can't be exported untreated to the Mainland without first being peeled and frozen, according to the state Agriculture Department.

An O'ahu irradiator also could make it easier to export a variety of local produce to the Mainland including tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

"This creates an incentive to get into diversified crops — tree crops such as lychee, rambutan," said O'ahu papaya farmer Ken Kamiya, who's also president of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association.

Among those opposed to Pa'ina Hawaii's permit to operate the facility was Concerned Citizens of Honolulu, which petitioned for a hearing and a full environmental review of the project. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission entered into a settlement agreement with Concerned Citizens of Honolulu that included a provision that the agency prepare an environmental assessment and hold a public meeting in Honolulu.

Construction of the irradiator was supported by the Agriculture Department on grounds it could open up many more markets for local produce. The irradiation facility also could be used to treat incoming agricultural products, which can't always be visually inspected for unwanted pests, said Lyle Wong, plant industry administrator for the state Agriculture Department.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.