A new report from the federal Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) is providing grist for environmental groups to refresh their cases against U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of temporary spent fuel storage sites in Texas and New Mexico.
The Sierra Club used the report as the backbone of its Oct. 23 petition to file a late contention against Holtec International’s planned facility in Lea County, N.M. A similar petition is expected from the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition for Interim Storage Partners’ project in nearby Andrews County, Texas.
Two NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards (ASLB), technically separate even though they had the same three members, earlier this year rejected nearly all petitions from a number of organizations for adjudicatory hearings in the two licensing proceedings. The hearings would allow the groups to argue various legal, environmental, safety, and security contentions challenging licensing.
The Sierra Club was the only group to make the cut in either proceeding – and then for only for part of one of its 17 contentions against the Interim Storage Partners application.
The Sierra Club was also found to have standing to intervene in the Holtec licensing, but the ASLB ruled in May that all of its contentions there were inadmissible. That also proved true for SEED, which had joined a coalition of environmental groups to petition for a hearing on the Texas project.
The organizations hope to reopen that door for intervention with a new contention derived from the report from the NWTRB, an independent body of experts that provides advice on the Department of Energy’s nuclear waste management operations.
“On September 23, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) issued a report titled Preparing for Nuclear Waste Transportation,” according to the Sierra Club motion. “That report raises new issues that were not addressed in Holtec’s Environmental Report [in its application]. The new information in the report is materially different from information previously available.”
The core issue, according to the Sierra Club petition, is that the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board found that even in the best case transport of used fuel to storage would be completed well after the 40-year licenses for each site expire.
Larger containers used increasingly for on-site storage at power plants hold more fuel assemblies than earlier vessels, meaning they are hotter and require additional cooling time ahead of transportation, the report says. The Department of Energy has found that by repacking the used fuel into smaller containers, all the material could be removed from power plants by 2070. However, failing that, the largest vessels holding the hottest waste — high-burnup spent fuel — might not be ready for shipping until 2100.
Holtec’s environmental report also does not address other issues raised in the NWTRB regarding transport of used fuel, including infrastructure, potential damage to canisters as they are shipped, and new container designs that will be needed for the process, the Sierra Club said.
The SEED Coalition as of Friday had not filed its petition with the NRC. However, a declaration in support of the petition had been submitted by Robert Alvarez, an expert on nuclear waste issues and former Department of Energy senior policy adviser.
Holtec on Tuesday said “we respect the petitioner’s rights to file legal motions,” but would otherwise not comment on the Sierra Club’s petition.
“The NRC licensing process for consolidated interim storage of used nuclear fuel is a very thorough and comprehensive process allowing for several opportunities for public input,” Interim Storage Partners CEO Jeffery Isakson said in a statement Friday.”The licensing process in whole ensures that, once the license is issued, the facility will be constructed and operated safely. ISP’s primary focus is on the safety of the public and our future workers. Presenting the facts is a responsibility we take very seriously, and we hold great respect for the NRC processes and procedures that allow us to present those facts and clarify any misunderstandings.”
The late-filing petitions would go directly to the full commission, as the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boards have closed their proceedings, an NRC spokesman said Tuesday. Late petitions of this sort must meet three standards under federal regulations: being based on new information that had not previously been available, being based on information that is significantly different from data that had been available at the time, and filing within a reasonable time frame after the new information comes to light.
The petitions will have to meet the similar NRC standards for reopening a closed record, including timeliness, addressing a “significant safety or environmental issue,” and that the new information would have changed the result of the completed proceeding.
The Sierra Club said it would meet the federal regulatory standards for approval of the contention.
Under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Department of Energy is responsible for permanent disposal of used fuel from the nation’s commercial nuclear power plants. It still does not have a repository for what is now more than 80,000 metric tons of radioactive waste stored on-site at retired and operational facilities around the nation. Consolidated interim storage of the type planned by Holtec and Interim Storage Partners could serve as a stopgap measure until a means of final disposal is available.
Holtec in March 2017 filed its application for a 40-year license to build and operate a facility to store 8,680 metric tons of used fuel. With additional NRC approvals, its maximum capacity could exceed 100,000 metric tons.
Interim Storage Partners is a joint venture of the U.S. operation of French nuclear firm Orano and Waste Control Specialists. In June 2018, it filed an updated version of the license application submitted and later suspended by Waste Control Specialists for storage of 5,000 metric tons of spent fuel at a new facility at its West Texas waste disposal complex. That operation would eventually have a maximum capacity of 40,000 metric tons of material.
Hearing requests for the Holtec licensing were filed by the Sierra Club; Beyond Nuclear; a coalition of environmental organizations led by Don’t Waste Michigan; the Alliance for Environmental Strategies; local oil and gas interests Fasken Land and Minerals and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners; and used fuel storage company NAC International, which is participating in the Texas project. The list of would-be intervenors in the Interim Storage Partners was similar: the Sierra Club; Beyond Nuclear; a slightly different version of the Don’t Waste Michigan coalition (this one featuring SEED); and Fasken/Permian.
The only admitted contention was the Sierra Club’s case that Interim Storage Partners failed to file reference documents supporting its position that its storage facility would not impact two species of lizard in the region. It could be more than two years before the hearing on that matter.
Most of the petitioners have appealed the ASLB rulings against intervention to the full commission. Interim Storage Partners also appealed approval of the Sierra Club’s sole approved contention.
