A U.S. nuclear industry group on Monday highlighted the sector’s safety record in pushing back against New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s (D) recent criticism of plans for temporary storage facilities for radioactive spent nuclear fuel in her state and neighboring Texas.
The U.S. Nuclear Industry Council responded to Lujan Grisham’s July 28 letter to President Donald Trump with its own letter to the White House.
The “U.S. nuclear industry operates over seventy-three separate interim storage facilities, and has transported nuclear materials, including spent nuclear fuel, safely across the U.S. and internationally for decades,” wrote Bud Albright, a former undersecretary of energy and current president and CEO at the Nuclear Industry Council. “For example, the U.S. Navy has completed some 850 spent nuclear fuel shipments totaling over 1.6 million miles of transport. Since the early 1960’s, there have been over 1,300 safe shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel in the United States.”
Albright also noted that close to 12,000 shipments of Department of Energy-owned transuranic waste have been emplaced since 1999 at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Globally, there were over 25,000 safe shipments of spent nuclear fuel from 1962 to 2016, Albright stated, citing a study prepared for the Energy Department.
“These transport shipments have been made without any injuries or deaths resulting from a release of radiation,” the letter says. “Any objective evaluation of the history of handling and transportation of nuclear material demonstrates a sterling record of safety.”
Holtec International has applied for a 40-year license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for storage of up to 8,680 metric tons of used fuel in Lea County, N.M. Interim Storage Partners, meanwhile, wants a 40-year license covering 5,000 metric tons for Andrews County, Texas. With further NRC approvals, both facilities could operate for up to 120 years and hold tens of thousands of tons of the radioactive waste generated by nuclear power plants.
In her letter to Trump, Lujan Grisham emphasized potential dangers to New Mexico’s agricultural and oil and gas industries if the storage facilities are built. The governor also noted the continued absence of a federal geologic repository for the spent fuel, which she said creates the danger that the interim storage sites might become permanent.
Based in Washington, D.C., the Nuclear Industry Council represents more than 80 companies and organizations with stakes in the sector.
