The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic could further extend its timeline to rule on two applications for facilities in Texas and New Mexico for storage of spent nuclear fuel.
The agency’s reviews are now expected to wrap by next summer, but that is subject to change. They are already off their original schedules.
The update was provided July 1 to the California Coastal Commission, ahead of its hearing on July 16 regarding the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in San Diego County. In advance of the meeting, the state commission asked a number of questions of the federal agency, including regarding its oversight of spent-fuel storage at the retired nuclear power plant and more generally on the status of long-term storage initiatives for the radioactive waste at the national level.
The federal regulator is considering two applications for 40-year licenses for consolidated interim storage facilities to hold used fuel from nuclear power plants: Holtec International’s March 2017 filing for a facility with initial capacity for 8,680 metric tons in Lea County, N.M.; and Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) June 2018 application for initial storage of up to 5,000 metric tons just across the state border in Andrews County, Texas.
Both reviews were expected to cost $7.5 million, billed to the applicants. There has been no update to the price tag, representatives for Holtec and ISP said this week.
With subsequent NRC approvals, the two facilities could operate for up to 120 years and hold significantly higher amounts of used fuel: more than 100,000 metric tons for Holtec and up to 40,000 metric tons for ISP.
This spring, staff at the NRC issued separate draft environmental impact statements (EIS) with preliminary recommendations in support of licensing both projects.
The NRC has twice extended the comment period on its March draft EIS for the Holtec facility due to the federal public health emergency. Input is now being accepted through Sept. 22.
“The NRC staff anticipates completing its safety and environmental reviews by the spring of 2021, but this may change after we evaluate the impact of the recent extended comment period and the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 PHE,” according to the filing with the California Coastal Commission.
In February 2018, at the start of the technical review, the NRC thought it would this month conclude its evaulations of the project’s environmental, safety, and security aspects. In a July 2019 schedule update, the agency said the final documents would be issued in March 2021. The extra time accounts for multiple rounds of requests for additional information from Holtec.
A decision on the application would be expected shortly after completion of the technical review. Holtec said last month is anticipates a licensing decision next March, with completion of construction and the start of operations as early as 2023. Building the just-underground storage operation is projected to cost about $180 million, with $10 million in annual operations costs.
At the time of the application filing, the New Jersey energy technology company aimed to open the facility around 2022.
“We continue to follow the regulatory process and published NRC schedule,” Holtec spokesman Joe Delmar said by email Tuesday.
The 120-day comment period for the May draft EIS on the Interim Storage Partners application remains intact, for now.
“The NRC staff anticipates completing our safety and environmental reviews in summer 2021; however, currently we are evaluating a request for an extension of the comment period, based on events associated with the COVD-19 PHE and our ability to accommodate holding in person public meetings in Texas and New Mexico,” the agency said in its memo to the California Coastal Commission.
Interim Storage Partners is a partnership of Waste Control Specialists and Orano. Its license application is an updated version of the April 2016 filing from Waste Control Specialists for the facility on its West Texas property, which the company suspended the following year amid a Department of Justice challenge to its acquisition by rival EnergySolutions. A federal judge ultimately blocked that deal.
In August 2018, the NRC said it expected to complete its safety and environmental reviews by August of this year. Last July, it pushed that back to give ISP time to provide additional information about its application. At that point, the NRC expected to complete its safety and environmental reports by May 2021.
When it first filed its paperwork in 2016, Waste Control Specialists estimated it would receive its federal license in June 2019 for the above-ground facility, with construction beginning that September and the first waste shipments arriving in December of this year. In the updated application, Interim Storage Partners forecast receiving the license in September 2020, followed by construction a year later and the first waste shipment by July 2023.
“We are focused on successfully completing the licensing review process, and then will initiate the next phase,” spokeswoman Karen Johnson said by email Wednesday. “Once the licensing process is concluded, we will evaluate any changes in future costs and timelines.”
The two facilities could provide a temporary home for used nuclear fuel now mostly stored at nuclear power plants around the country – more than 80,000 metric tons, with the stockpile growing by about 2,000 metric tons per year. Congress in 1982 directed the Department of Energy to begin disposal of the radioactive material by Jan. 31, 1998, but the agency still does not have anywhere to put it. The Energy Department is also looking at interim storage – asking for $27.5 million for research and development and other preliminary work for the upcoming 2021 federal fiscal year – but has suggested that federal law would prohibit it from working directly with commercial storage providers.
The Holtec and Interim Storage Partners projects have garnered support from local leaders and economic development groups, along with opposition from environmental, anti-nuclear, and business organizations – with both sides speaking out again Thursday at a public hearing on the draft EIS for the New Mexico facility. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has almost entirely dismissed requests for adjudicatory hearings on the applications, which led to separate federal-court appeals on the Holtec proceeding by Beyond Nuclear and a coalition led by the environmental group Don’t Waste Michigan.
