The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could grant licenses to a pair of proposed commercial interim storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel in the next six months, the commission’s chairman told Congress Wednesday.
The NRC should make its final call on Interim Storage Partners’ proposed site in west Texas should in September, Christopher Hanson, the NRC chair, told two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees during a joint hearing Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for the commission told RadWaste Monitor July 6 that an environmental impact statement for the proposed ISP site — a prerequisite for licensing — should be published in the next couple of weeks. Hanson, speaking to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing after the hearing Wednesday, raised the possibility that the environmental review could be released alongside NRC’s final licensing decision in the fall.
“There might be a gap, or we might do them together,” Hanson told Morning Briefing. “I’ve been more focused on the licensing decision.”
As for the other proposed interim storage facility, Holtec International’s in southeastern New Mexico, Hanson told Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) that a licensing decision could come down in January of next year. NRC said July 2 that the Holtec site’s environmental and safety reviews would be pushed back to November as they await more information from the company.
NRC also will be responsible for licensing a potential federal interim storage facility. The Department of Energy’s budget request for the 2022 fiscal year sets aside around $20 million in existing funding for an inquiry into such a site using the consent-based siting approach recommended to the Barack Obama administration in the 2012 Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
“We’re open to other applicants [for interim storage sites], whether federal or private,” Hanson said.
