Legislation introduced Wednesday in the New Mexico Senate would update the responsibilities of the state’s Radioactive Waste Consultation Task Force to include oversight of commercial spent nuclear fuel storage.
The task force was established in the 1978 state Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Act, largely to act as the New Mexico government’s negotiator for siting, licensing, and operation of the U.S. Energy Department’s Carlsbad-area Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. It remains active today.
The bill from state Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D) would make a number of amendments to the 1978 law. That includes language directing the task force to evaluate federal license applications for privately run disposal sites in New Mexico, including their potential effects on public safety, environmental, health, infrastructure, and transportation. The task force would provide any determinations to the New Mexico Legislature, governor, and relevant state agencies.
The legislation, if passed into law, would also authorize the task force to recommend legislation regarding state policies on disposal sites. It would also add the head of the New Mexico Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department to the roster of task force members, which under the 1978 law are the state secretaries of energy, minerals and natural resources, health, environment, and public safety.
Steinborn further proposes to update the state definition of high-level radioactive waste to include spent nuclear fuel.
New Jersey energy technology company Holtec International has applied for a 40-year license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a facility in southeastern New Mexico for storage of 8,680 metric tons of used fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. With additional NRC authorizations, the site could hold more than 100,000 metric tons of the radioactive material for up to 120 years. It is not intended to be a permanent disposal facility, but instead to hold used fuel until a federal repository is available.
Steinborn is vice chairman of the Legislature’s bicameral Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee. The panel’s former chairman, he has expressed concerns about the safety of the Holtec project. The Las Cruces lawmaker did not respond to a query this week regarding his new bill. Holtec also did not immediately offer a comment on the legislation.
New Mexico state officials, in the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), have been vocal in their opposition to the spent-fuel storage project. They have warned of its potential impacts on the state’s agriculture and energy industries, as well as potential dangers in transporting highly radioactive material to New Mexico and storing it there for decades.
Holtec is partnering on the facility with the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, a coalition of nearby cities Hobbs and Carlsbad and Eddy and Lea counties. The organization says the facility would bring more than 200 jobs and a $2.4 billion capital investment to the region. It highlights the history of safe transport of nuclear fuel and the multiple layers of protection that would prevent the release of radiation in storage.
Holtec hopes to begin receiving waste shipments by 2023, pending NRC license approval.
The Department of Energy is legally responsible for final disposal of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel, a stockpile now at over 80,000 metric tons. The agency does not yet have a repository for the material, and consolidated interim storage could provide an opportunity to meet its obligation to remove it from nuclear power plants – though the deadline for that to begin was Jan. 31, 1998.
Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists, is also seeking a federal license for a facility in West Texas with a maximum capacity of 40,000 metric tons of used fuel.
In November, then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry said DOE is not legally authorized to issue contracts for commercial storage of spent fuel. Legislation being considered in Congress would provide that authorization. Without it, though, Holtec and Interim Storage Partners still have the option of contracting directly with nuclear utilities to take the fuel assemblies.
