Citing a lack of resources, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday delayed its decision to license a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel by up to two months.
NRC delivered the news in a letter to Kimberly Manzione, Holtec International’s director of licensing, from the agency’s Bernard White, who signed the missive for Yoira Diaz-Sanabria, chief of the commission’s Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch in the Division of Fuel Management within the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
“[D]ue to unforeseen resource constraints, the staff will not be able to issue its final licensing decision by its previously estimated date of the end of March 2023,” the letter reads. “The staff now estimates that it will issue its final licensing decision and final safety evaluation report on or before the end of May 2023.”
The delay follows a seismic shift in the legal landscape surrounding the HI-STORE facility that Holtec International, Jupiter, Fla., proposed in Lea County, N.M. On Friday, New Mexico made it illegal to store spent nuclear fuel in its territory without the state’s consent and before the federal government builds a permanent repository for nuclear waste.
Holtec, which clocked the law as a threat during the ban’s four-year odyssey through the state legislature, believes New Mexico’s ban will not stand up to a court challenge.
