Leaders of two southeastern New Mexico communities this week reaffirmed regional support for plans for an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel that could be built in their area in a matter of years.
Eddy County and the city of Carlsbad are two of the four members of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA), which is partnering with Holtec International on the storage facility. Their separate votes Tuesday in favor of a resolution from ELEA comes as New Mexico elected officials at the state and federal level continue to speak up in opposition to the used fuel project.
According to the resolution, ELEA, “having spent significant time and effort inspecting manufacturing facilities, storage systems, having discussions with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding safety and regulations and engaging other regulatory and scientific bodies over a three year period vetting the safety and appropriateness of an Interim Storage Facility (CISF) for our area concluded a CISF is a project that is safe and helps the area become diversified and less dependent on the ups and downs of the extractive industries.”
The other two members – Lea County and the city of Hobbs – are expected to vote on the resolution in July, ELEA Vice Chairman John Heaton said Friday.
New Jersey-based energy technology firm Holtec in 2017 applied for a 40-year Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to build and operate a storage facility for up to 8,680 metric tons of used fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors. That would be the first segment of potentially over 100,000 metric tons that, with license extensions, could be held on-site for up to 120 years.
If licensed and built, the facility could by 2023 provide an option for the Department of Energy to begin meeting its congressional mandate to remove tens of thousands of tons of used fuel from nuclear sites around the nation.
The Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance provided 1,000 acres of land in Lea County on which the Holtec facility would sit. For southeastern New Mexico, the project is an opportunity for further economic development – it would come with a $2.4 billion capital investment and 215 jobs, according to ELEA.
The administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez (R) supported the facility. But Martinez’s successor, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), has reversed that stance. Grisham and State Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard, both elected in November, this month expressed strong opposition to transport and storage of the radioactive material in the state. In a June 7 letter to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Grisham called the plan “unacceptable.”
Among the concerns in Santa Fe is the potential impact of the storage site on the agriculture and energy sectors in the region, including oil and gas extraction in the Permian Basin that stretches under West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), elected in November to fill Grisham’s seat representing the state’s 1st Congressional District, on June 19 added her voice against the storage facility.
“The concept of an interim storage facility is inherently flawed, because it will result in waste being moved twice, first to the interim facility and then to a permanent repository,” she wrote in a letter to Svinicki and Perry. “This increases the chances that the waste will be involved in an incident during transportation, the riskiest portion of the process. DOE has found that a severe accident involving one radioactive waste cask releasing only a small amount of waste could contaminate a 42 square mile rural area with cleanup costs exceeding $620 million, and in an urban area cleanup costs could exceed $2 billion and take years.”
Holtec and ELEA have emphasized the safety and security measures that would be employed in underground storage of the radioactive material. That includes four layers of containment and a safety-conscious approach to rail transport that has already moved thousands of shipments of nuclear waste and weapons around the United States without incident.
The resolution reaffirms the safety and security case, and directs ELEA leadership to respond to Grisham’s letter of objection to the NRC and DOE. The group also hopes for face-to-face talks with the governor to discuss her concerns.
“I see this as another opposition from the governor and Santa Fe to try and stop Southeastern New Mexico’s progress,” Eddy County Commissioner Steve McCutcheon said during Tuesday’s meeting, according to the Carlsbad Current Argus.
The NRC is conducting its technical review of the Holtec license application, including environmental and safety assessments. The review is expected to be complete by mid-2020, after which the agency would rule on the application.
A quasi-judicial Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) in May ruled against all six petitions for adjudicatory hearings and intervention in the licensing proceeding. The petitioners were the Sierra Club; Beyond Nuclear; a coalition of environmental organizations led by Don’t Waste Michigan; the Alliance for Environmental Strategies; regional oil and gas interests Fasken Land and Minerals and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners; and used fuel storage company NAC International, which is supporting a separate license application for a storage facility in West Texas.
All the petitioners but NAC International have appealed the ASLB decision to the full commission.
“Sierra Club respectfully states that the ASLB in this case required more of Sierra Club in supporting its contentions than is required by NRC standards,” an attorney for the environmental organization wrote in a June 3 petition for review. “Sierra Club has presented facts in support of its contentions, has pointed to specific defects in Holtec’s documentation, and has cited to applicable statutes, regulations and other authority to support the contentions.”
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on June 18 that the intervention appeals prohibit Svinicki from responding to the June 7 letter from Grisham.
“Your letter raises some of the same issues currently before the Commission on appeal. Because the appeals are pending before the Commission in its quasi-judicial capacity, the Commission must remain impartial during the pendency of the adjudication and it would be inappropriate for the Chairman to discuss or comment on your letter at this time,” NRC Secretary to the Commission Annette Vietti-Cook wrote to the New Mexico governor.
Most of the organizations that petitioned to intervene in the Holtec license proceeding have filed corresponding requests in the NRC’s review of Interim Storage Partners’ license application for a facility in West Texas that could hold up to 40,000 metric tons of used fuel.
Interim Storage Partners is a joint venture of Orano and Waste Control Specialists. Its facility would be built on Waste Control Specialists disposal facility in Andrews County, not far from the planned Holtex site.
Oral arguments before the same three-member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that considered hearing petitions in the Holtec case are scheduled for July 10 and possibly July 11 at the Midland County, Texas, Courthouse.
