The Nuclear Regulatory Commission violated federal law when it licensed a proposed commercial facility in Texas to store nearly half of the country’s spent nuclear fuel, a coalition of anti-nuclear groups argued last week as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the agency.
NRC, which in September gave its blessing to Waste Control Specialists-Orano USA joint venture Interim Storage Partners (ISP) to build its planned site in Andrews, Texas, ran afoul of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) in doing so, the coalition led by Beyond Nuclear told the D.C. circuit court of appeals in a March 18 brief. The anti-nukers filed their challenge in February 2021 and the court has since consolidated the case with several similar ones.
The coalition’s argument treads what is now a well-worn path among opponents of private interim storage — that NWPA forbids the federal government from building an interim storage facility in the absence of a permanent repository. Since Nevada’s Yucca Mountain repository has been essentially mothballed for 2022 and no alternative site exists, the proposed ISP site would violate the law, Beyond Nuclear and company argued.
“NRC may not disregard the unambiguous mandates of Congress, and therefore its ISP licensing decisions must be reversed and vacated,” the brief said.
The anti-nukers also argued that NRC violated the Administrative Procedure Act by denying a hearing request on the proposed ISP site back in 2020. As of Friday afternoon NRC had yet to respond to the briefing and the court had not yet ruled on the suit.
If it gets built, ISP has said that its proposed site in Texas could store around 40,000 tons of spent fuel. There are currently roughly 80,000 tons of spent fuel stranded at reactor sites across the country.
NRC and some nuclear waste policy experts have pushed back on the NWPA argument. The commission has said that the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) — not NWPA — governs its actions, and that AEA gives it authority to license private interim storage.
Whether the anti-nukers’ argument holds up before a judge had yet to be seen on Friday.
The U.S. District Court for New Mexico March 10 dismissed a similar case filed by state attorney general Hector Balderas challenging Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site, saying that only the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over NRC licensing decisions in Texas. Balderas said he planned to move his campaign against the proposed site to the circuit court.
