A federal judge last week put an indefinite hold on a coalition of environmental groups’ petition against a proposed interim spent fuel storage site in west Texas, court filings show.
The D.C. circuit court of appeals also agreed to consolidate the complaints filed by Don’t Waste Michigan, Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the filing. NRC asked for the pause, and for the consolidation of the groups’ complaints last week.
The groups’ petition against the proposed Interim Storage Partners (ISP) site in Texas will remain on hold until further notice, the court said. All parties have 30 days after the “completion of agency proceedings” to file a motion to resume the case.
Those ‘proceedings’ refer to the NRC’s final dealings with a separate, agency-level contention against the ISP site lodged by minerals company Fasken Land and Minerals Ltd. The NRC in December rejected the contention, which centered on transportation of spent fuel and emergency response training in the communities around Andrews County, Texas. Fasken has appealed.
If NRC denies the appeal, Fasken may decide to petition the court for a review of the decision, as the other environmental groups have done, the commission has said.
ISP’s proposed interim storage facility is currently undergoing a federal environmental impact review at the NRC. That process, a prerequisite for licensing, won’t be done until the summer, the commission has said.
