A proposed consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico would violate the law and place an unfair burden on the state, its attorney general argued in a federal suit this week.
If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site, it will run afoul of the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, attorney general Hector Balderas argued in the complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for New Mexico. The suit asked a judge to make NRC halt the licensing process.
The act bars the Department of Energy from taking ownership of spent fuel for storage until a permanent federal repository exists and, because there isn’t one, Balderas argued the NRC would be breaking the law by allowing Holtec to store waste in southeastern New Mexico.
Beyond the legal complaints, the suit also raised concerns about community engagement and Holtec’s ability to fund an interim storage site. NRC’s rejection of several hearing requests from stakeholder groups “preclude[s] meaningful public participation and obscure[s] the fiscal and technical decision-making process,” Balderas said. The commission as recently as Feb. 18 tossed objections from stakeholders to the proposed Holtec site.
The case was assigned Monday to federal judge Jerry H. Ritter, according to the court docket. The court hadn’t filed any further responses by deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor.
For its part, the commission told Holtec Monday that it won’t move forward with licensing until it gets the information it needs to complete a safety evaluation report for the proposed site. The report was supposed to be done in May, but the agency didn’t get all the information it needed from Holtec, according to a March 25 letter to the company.
The commission will submit a formal request for information to Holtec in a month, it said. Until they get a response, the agency won’t provide a timeline for when the report — a prerequisite for licensing — will be finished.
Meanwhile, a bill is making its way through New Mexico’s state house that would expand a statewide task force’s oversight on radioactive waste storage sites in the Land of Enchantment. The measure didn’t make it to a floor vote by the end of the state legislature’s first session Wednesday, although it was scheduled on the House calendar.
New Mexico’s suit isn’t the only state-level legal action taken against the commission so far this year. A suit filed Jan. 22 by New York attorney general Letitia James to halt the sale of Indian Point Nuclear Generating to Holtec after the commission denied the state’s request for a public hearing on the matter.
New Mexico’s eastern neighbor is also fighting its own battle over another proposed interim storage site. A bill making its way through the Texas legislature would ban storage of high-level radioactive waste in the state. Waste Control Specialists is awaiting federal approval to do just that at their existing low-level waste disposal facility in Andrews County, Texas.
Both proposed interim storage sites are under federal environmental review, another gateway for licensing. The commission has said these won’t be done until the summer.
