Speaking to state lawmakers last week, Holtec International’s interim storage chief sought to allay fears that the company’s proposed spent fuel storage facility in the Land of Enchantment would become a permanent repository for nuclear waste.
“Interim storage — and it is interim — will be measured in decades,” Ed Mayer, the project lead for Holtec’s proposed interim storage site in Eddy County, N.M., said during a Thursday meeting of the New Mexico’s interim joint Science, Technology and Telecommunications Committee.
“By license, this is interim storage, it cannot be a permanent repository,” Mayer said. “It’s not designed to be a permanent repository.”
If built, Camden, N.J-based Holtec’s proposed site — currently under a Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing review — would initially be able to store roughly 8,700 tons of spent nuclear fuel in around 500 canisters, the company has said, with capacity for an additional 10,000 canisters to be added via license amendments. The proposed site would operate for 40 years or so.
Although the proposed site has a short operating lifetime compared with a permanent repository, the project would be well-equipped to store spent fuel for longer than four decades, Mayer said.
“[T]hese canisters are remarkably robust. And they’re going to last well beyond the requirements of this facility,” Mayer said.
State legislators also pressed Mayer Thursday on whether Holtec had financial failsafes in place to protect the citizens of New Mexico from potential liability.
“In New Mexico, we’ve had a long history of legacy problems … where companies declare bankruptcy and walk away and leave all of the mess to the public,” said state Sen. William Soules (D). “So, I’m concerned whether there are surety bonds to protect us if Holtec goes out of business — who is then responsible for maintaining the security of all this stuff?”
Holtec plans to establish a fund that will allow the proposed interim storage site to operate for two years in the event the company ever became insolvent, Mayer said, during which time another company, such as Holtec competitor Orano USA, could take over.
Although he acknowledged the possibility of going bankrupt, Mayer noted that Holtec has over $10 billion in backlogged spent fuel management and nuclear plant decommissioning contracts to keep it afloat.
Meanwhile, NRC in a July environmental impact statement recommended that Holtec receive a license for its proposed interim storage facility. The commission has said that it could wrap up its licensing review by early 2023.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), who has been a vocal opponent of Holtec’s interim storage project, accused NRC in July of “choosing profit over public interest” and said that she would support legislation in Santa Fe to block the proposed site.
State lawmakers have, in the last two legislative sessions, brought forward bills to accomplish just that — neither measure reached the governor’s desk.
In addition to its proposed interim storage site, Holtec currently oversees decommissioning work at five U.S. nuclear power plant sites, including Michigan’s recently-closed Palisades plant and Indian Point Energy Center in New York. The company is also developing advanced nuclear technology as part of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactors Demonstration Program.
