The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has requested cooperating agency status in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s review of the license application for a spent nuclear fuel storage facility planned for the state.
Then-NMED Secretary-designate James Kenney made the request in a Feb. 14 letter to the NRC, which was posted Tuesday to the federal agency’s website. The New Mexico Senate confirmed Kenney to the job later in February.
New Jersey-based energy technology company Holtec International has applied for a 40-year license to store up to 173,000 metric tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors. The regulator anticipates completing its review in mid-2020
There is now roughly 80,000 metric tons of the radioactive waste held on-site at power plants around the nation. The Department of Energy is more than two decades beyond its congressional mandated deadline of Jan. 31, 1998, to begin removing that material for disposal.
In his letter, Kenney said NMED meets the definition of a cooperating agency as laid out in federal regulations for the NRC – an agency with “jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved in a proposal (or a reasonable alternative) for legislation or other major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.” That regulation applies directly to federal agencies, but with NRC concurrence can be expanded to state, local, or tribal entities.
The New Mexico Environment Department can contribute to preparation and issuing the NRC environmental impact statement on the license application, given its expertise on the state, Kenney said.
The NRC is reviewing the request, an agency spokesman said by email Thursday. “The type and extent of the assistance [in preparing the EIS] would depend on the State’s jurisdiction and special expertise,” he said.
