By John Stang
About three dozen environmental and antinuclear organizations have requested that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission extend the end of its current comment period on a proposed temporary used nuclear reactor fuel storage site in New Mexico from July 30 to Oct. 30.
The nuclear industry regulator through Monday is taking comments on the scope of the environmental portion of its full technical review of the license application filed in March 2017 by Holtec International for a facility covering about 1,000 acres of Lea County in southeastern New Mexico.
The 37 organizations sought the extension because one of them — Don’t Waste Michigan — on July 5 submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the NRC for 144 pages the federal agency redacted from a 543-page environmental report submitted by Holtec on its planned consolidated interim storage facility. The NRC indicated it would respond to that request around Aug. 8, though Don’t Waste Michigan attorney Terry Lodge said that date is not locked in. The activist organizations want time to digest and comment on the 144 pages.
They also want the NRC to stop a 60-day clock for interested parties to request to intervene and a hearing on the Holtec application. The countdown began July 16 with publication of a notice in the Federal Register.
These requests could lead to an adjudicatory hearing before three NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board administrative judges to provide parties the opportunity to argue legal or factual matters regarding the license application.
“The unavailability of 25 percent of (Holtec’s) environmental report at present curtails scrutiny for public comments and investigatory review during the coming three weeks, and possibly beyond (depending on the NRC FOIA office response). It infringes upon the public’s right to know the complete picture and to decide how to best oppose the Holtec license. Potential intervenors and the public are likely to be put at a serious disadvantage in the licensing case, such as being forced to litigate FOIA requests during the same period of time they have to file contentions in the licensing case based upon the missing information,” the groups said in their request to the NRC.
On Friday, Holtec indicated its support for the existing NRC schedule.
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission procedures and processes are well established. The time periods provided for public comment on Holtec’s HI-STORE CISF docket are in accordance with the time periods allowed by the established procedures and processes,” Joy Russell, vice president for corporate business development at the New Jersey-based energy technology company, said in a statement to RadWaste Monitor. “We believe the public should be required to follow the established procedures and processes in the same way Holtec must follow the established NRC procedures and processes.”
The 37 organizations’ request also said Holtec’s environmental report — with the redacted pages— mentions two historic properties that could be affected by its project. However, the public report does not identify the two sites, nor their location or significance or how they might be impacted by the facility, the groups said.
“I can’t wrap my head around why cultural sites would be security-oriented,” Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist for Beyond Nuclear, told RadWaste Monitor.
He speculated that the nearest entity with culturally sensitive sites would be the Mescalero Apache reservation northeast of Carlsbad, although he added those sites could be outside of the reservation and nearer to the Holtec site.
Russell noted that Holtec submitted a “publicly available” environmental report on its project, and that the NRC followed federal regulations in redacting sections including the resource information.
The NRC said it would consider both requests from the advocacy groups but did not say when it would make a decision. The agency previously extended the comment deadline from May 29 to July 30, but otherwise has rejected requests for extensions. It has noted the public will have further opportunities for input as the technical review proceeds toward its anticipated completion in 2020.
The NRC is reviewing Holtec International’s license application for storage of 8,680 metric tons of used nuclear fuel in 500 canisters, the first tranche of what could ultimately be 10,000 canisters holding over 100,000 metric tons of radioactive waste. Interim storage would help the Department of Energy meet its legal mandate to remove used fuel from U.S. nuclear reactors until a permanent repository is ready. Holtec hopes to open the site, a $2.4 billion capital investment, by 2022.
The proposed Yucca Mountain site in Nevada remains politically stalled, more than 30 years after Congress designated it as the final repository for U.S. spent reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. While the House of Representatives has approved appropriations measures and other legislation to push the project forward, the Senate has shown no sign of supporting Yucca Mountain in any fashion.
Kamps noted than Yucca Mountain is supposed to have a statutory capacity of about 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste, while Holtec’s site could hold ultimately hold over 100,000 metric tons and a separate facility planned by an Orano-Waste Control Specialists venture would hold 40,000 metric tons. That could lead to a scenario in which the two consolidated interim sites accumulating more used nuclear fuel than Yucca Mountain can handle, he speculated.
Another City Voices Opposition to CISF
Separately, the City Council of Las Cruces, N.M., on Tuesday narrowly approved a resolution opposing plans for transportation and storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in the state. With the 4-3 vote, the city joined Albuquerque and a number of other New Mexico municipalities in voicing their concerns over Holtec’s proposal.
The resolution cites the potential environmental, economic, and human health risks connected to transport and storage of high-level radioactive, including exposure that “can be fatal or lead to birth defect, genetic damage, and various kinds of cancers.”
The planned location between the cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad is seen as ideal for reasons including the availability of water, room for expansion, and existing nuclear waste infrastructure – specifically the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, Las Cruces Economic Development Deputy Director Griselda Martinez said in a presentation to the council.
The material would be shipped by rail, which Martinez acknowledged suggests it would not pass through Las Cruces, a city of about 100,000 in south-central New Mexico. But any truck transport or new rail lines could change that, she said.
Holtec has an exceptional safety record and financial standing, said John Heaton, vice chairman of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, a group of four cities and counties in the region that is partnering on the storage project. In his presentation to the council, he emphasized the multiple layers of containment that would be used for moving and holding the spent fuel.
Some council members said they did not have enough information to make a ruling on the matter, but an amendment to change “Oppose” to “Question” in the resolution failed on a 2-5 vote.
