The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should dismiss a request from a number of New Mexico state lawmakers to slow its technical review of plans for a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel, according to one elected official in the county that would house the site.
In separate letters sent in February, nine state senators and 21 state representatives asked the NRC to extend its 45-day public scoping comment period for Holtec International’s license application for its independent spent fuel storage installation. The comment period would end well before the New Mexico Legislature meets again in 2019, but the lawmakers want time for the legislative body and state agencies to review and comment on the project.
“If these legislators are not sufficiently informed by now of Holtec’s plan, they have not been doing their job and have certainly had many opportunities to become informed,” Ron Black, chairman of the Lea County Board of County Commissioners, wrote in a March 14 letter to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki and Commissioners Jeff Baran and Stephen Burns.
The Camden, N.J., energy technology company in March 2017 filed its license application covering 8,680 metric tons of used fuel – the first segment of what could be up to 120,000 metric tons of waste stored underground between the southeastern cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad. On Feb. 28, the NRC formally docketed a full technical review of the application.
Black noted that Holtec and the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, the organization of local communities partnering on the project, had provided legislative panels with a number of presentations on the facility over the last three years. Both houses of the New Mexico Legislature have approved memorials in support of the plan, which also has the backing of Gov. Susana Martinez, the county official wrote.
“It should be noted that the NRC licensing process is very public and will take approximately two years,” Black wrote. “During this time, people, including legislators will have ample time to ask questions and to assure themselves of the [project’s] safety.”
As of Monday, the NRC had acknowledged the letters from Black and the New Mexico lawmakers, but had not sent full responses.
