The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it still needs more information from Holtec International to complete a required safety evaluation of the company’s proposed interim storage facility in New Mexico — a precursor for licensing the facility to accept spent nuclear fuel.
The agency’s Request for Additional Information (RAI) regarding the safety evaluation report for the proposed site in eastern New Mexico went to the company May 20, according to a press release dated Monday.
This is NRC’s second request for safety information regarding the proposed Holtec site. In a march letter to the company the agency said it wouldn’t be able to complete its required safety evaluation in May as originally planned since Holtec didn’t provide enough information in the first round of RAIs it sent to the company last year.
A spokesperson for Holtec said via email Tuesday that the company “will provide complete responses of the highest quality to the NRC containing the requested additional information that demonstrates the large margins of safety that are inherent in the design of the … CISF facility.”
An NRC spokesman told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing via email Tuesday that the “extensive” review and approval process for the request “took longer than expected.” In its March letter, the commission said it would provide its second round of information requests to Holtec “within the next month.”
The RAI includes commission staff questions about the proposed site’s resilience to natural disasters and other environmental phenomena like settling earth. Staff also asked Holtec for more detail on the structural and technical soundness of the proposed facility.
The safety evaluation report, alongside an environmental impact statement due this summer, are two hurdles the proposed interim storage site in southeastern New Mexico needs to clear before it gets a federal license.
