A federal judge will review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s request to block a Texas minerals company’s bid to get involved with a state lawsuit over a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, recent court documents show.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 21 agreed to consider NRC’s motion to dismiss Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd.’s November petition challenging the proposed Interim Storage Partners (ISP) site in Andrews County, Texas.
The court also said it would take a look at NRC’s request to move Fasken’s complaint into the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the company is already participating in a similar suit against the ISP site alongside anti-nuclear groups.
ISP, a joint venture between Waste Control Specialists (WCS) and Orano USA, is planning to build its interim storage site at WCS’s existing low-level waste disposal facility in Andrews. NRC licensed the project in September.
Fasken is fighting to keep its spot on the Fifth Circuit docket alongside Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who sued NRC in September over its decision to license the proposed ISP site.
NRC argued Dec. 16 that Fasken can’t participate in the Fifth Circuit proceedings because it was denied intervenor status in ISP’s agency-level licensing process. The minerals company, NRC said, can only challenge the commission over its decision to boot Fasken from those proceedings — which the company has done in the D.C. Circuit.
The commission also asked the Fifth Circuit to toss Paxton’s case entirely, arguing that Texas doesn’t have standing to sue because it didn’t adequately participate in the agency’s licensing proceedings.
Paxton has said that comments filed with NRC during the licensing debate by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) should be sufficient to justify a lawsuit.
As of Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit had yet to make a final ruling on either of NRC’s motions to dismiss.
Meanwhile, both Fasken and Texas have until Feb. 7 to file their next briefs in the case.
