A nuclear watchdog organization and two private oil and gas entities are contesting the position from staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they cannot request dismissal of license applications for facilities to store spent nuclear reactor fuel in Texas and New Mexico.
Beyond Nuclear and the teaming of Fasken Land & Minerals and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners (PBLRO) hope the commission will look more kindly on their arguments than did its staff.
The groups on Sept. 14 filed the dismissal motions against Holtec International’s planned facility in New Mexico and a venture by Orano and Waste Control Specialists for waste storage in Texas. Along with highlighting the potential risk posed by the radioactive material, they argued the license applications breached the requirement of the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act that a permanent disposal site be established prior to the Department of Energy assuming responsibility for shipping or storing spent reactor fuel.
In a series of rapid counter-filings, NRC staff and the two companies argued the dismissal motions faltered on several fronts, including being filed past a 10-day deadline and failing to prove the groups could prove standing to file in the first place. Agency staff also said that separately requesting to intervene in the NRC review of the applications was the proper means to address the alleged legal violation.
In documents filed Friday, and posted to the NRC website Monday, Beyond Nuclear and the Fasken/PBLRO group pushed back against the pushback. The three have legal standing to file the dismissal requests and the NRC is required by federal law to bring the motions into the agency’s deliberations, the attorneys argued in their briefs.
“A substantial number of arguments raised in the (NRC’s) Responses are incorrect and misleading on significant issues such as judicial and NRC standing requirements and the relevance of previous NRC decisions on the application of the NWPA to NRC proceedings. Without the opportunity to reply, Beyond Nuclear cannot address these mischaracterizations,” Takoma Park, Md.-based group said in its reply.
Fasken and the PBLRO, both representing oil and gas interests in the region where the storage facilities would be built made similar arguments in their joint reply.
The commission has final say on whether to accept the license application dismissal motions, though it could kick the matter to the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
