Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
5/2/2014
Opponents to the idea of Texas potentially hosting an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste began to voice their displeasure this week during a meeting held by the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, an environmental activist group dedicated to clean energy initiatives in Texas, to discuss the safety and public health case against the idea of hosting the waste. Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus (R) asked state lawmakers to begin considering the logistics and economic impact of potentially hosting a high-level radioactive waste disposal site or interim storage facility in his Interim Charge in January. “The Interim Committee charge is to study the rules, laws, and regulations pertaining to the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Texas and determine the potential economic impact of permitting a facility in Texas,” said Texas state Rep. Lon Burnam (D) of Ft. Worth. “Examining the risks of importing exceedingly dangerous high-level radioactive waste into Texas seems to have been left out, but is very important for protecting our health and safety.”
The question of Texas’ role in HLW storage has been a growing topic of discussion within the state government since the beginning of this year. Along with Straus’ charge, Republican Governor Rick Perry expressed his support in late March for a closer examination at potentially hosting a facility while commissioning a report from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that highlighted the history of spent fuel storage programs as well as important advice to heed if Texas were to move forward. Two groups, Waste Control Specialists and AFCI Texas LLC, have emerged as having interest in developing an interim storage site, but both are in the hypothetical stage of the development project.
For any site to move forward, it would need the consent of the hosting community. WCS has begun to reach out to the local community to gauge the interest, it has most received a favorable response. But not everyone is as willing to back the interim facility. “We don’t need or want this deadly, dangerous waste which every other state has rejected, or the risks it poses to our health and safety,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office. “The Blue Ribbon Commission said that high-level waste storage or disposal isn’t likely to happen without state and local support. Unfortunately, Governor Perry and some Texas Legislators actually think dumping this waste on Texans is a good idea. Our fear is that the Legislature will pass resolutions asking Congress to designate our state for the unnecessary storage or disposal of spent nuclear fuel. We will fight this horrible idea.”
