Andrews County’s Board of Commissioners passed a resolution this week voicing the local government’s support of building a high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel interim storage facility at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Tex. The resolution marks a significant step forward for WCS’ ability to begin the process of building and licensing a consent-based interim storage facility, the preferred siting strategy of the Department of Energy. According to the resolution, WCS’ track record of public health and safety as well as the economic benefits from hosting such a facility gave the community a sense of comfort in moving forward. “Be it resolved and further ordered that the Commissioners Court of Andrews County, Texas, meeting in open session, believe that the construction and operation of a consolidated SNF and HLW interim storage facility in Andrews County (the “Facility”), licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and developed by WCS, will enhance the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Andrews County,” the resolution said. T
he resolution also called on the State of Texas, all its agencies, officials and political subdivisions, and all members of the Texas congressional delegation “to work cooperatively with all relevant entities towards the creation of the Facility, including taking actions to evidence approval of the development of the facility” as well as “to assist Andrews County in securing all federal incentives that may be available.”
WCS has been taking the pulse of the local community on potentially moving forward on a facility for the past year, culminating in a public meeting last December where the company received an overwhelmingly positive response to the idea, WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said. According to McDonald, this resolution marks an official response to what the community has been telling the company. “This is a very encouraging development for Waste Control Specialists,” McDonald said. “Obviously, we have been in a lengthy dialogue with the community, and quite handily, the response has been extremely favorably. We are really grateful that the country commissioners adopted this formal resolution that puts on paper what we have heard in the community.” He added, “This will be a long, long process, with the licensing and the rest of it, and we’ve got to finalize a decision to move forward with this because it’s an expensive undertaking. But, this is an encouraging development.”
