The Nuclear Regulatory Commission planned to release this week its findings on the environmental safety of a proposed interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico, the agency said Tuesday.
NRC staff are “aiming for this week” to publish its final environmental impact statement (EIS) for Holtec International’s proposed interim storage project, an agency spokesperson told Exchange Monitor via email Tuesday. NRC had not published the final EIS, required for licensing the site, as of Tuesday afternoon.
NRC’s environmental review is just one part of its licensing process for the proposed Holtec site, which also requires a safety analysis from the agency.
The analysis has been delayed four times already, most recently in May, when the commission pushed it back to early 2023. As with previous attempts to complete the analysis, NRC told Holtec the commission needed more information from the company to wrap things up.
One the safety analysis is done, the commission should be ready to license the site, assuming Holtec’s application and the requisite reviews are up to snuff.
A Holtec spokesperson told Exchange Monitor in May that the company “knew it would be a long journey,” and that it was “pleased that we are near a final licensing decision.”
Holtec’s proposed interim storage site has been the subject of fierce opposition in New Mexico over the last 12 months or so. The U.S. District Court for New Mexico in March dismissed a suit from state Attorney General Hector Balderas challenging NRC’s licensing process. The state legislature in Santa Fe has also tried to slow the process, debating, but failing to pass, two bills aimed at blocking Holtec’s project: one during the 2022 legislative session and one in the 2021 session.
If it gets built, Holtec has said that its interim storage site, planned for Eddy County, N.M., would initially be able to store around 8,700 tons of spent nuclear fuel in 500 canisters. That capacity could be increased by 10,000 canisters in future license amendments.
