A U.S. congressman representing the Texas county slated to host an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to walk back its approval of the site in a press release Tuesday.
“The decision handed down by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license a new nuclear waste storage site in Andrews is a massive blunder,” said Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) in the press release. Pfluger represents Andrews County, Texas — the planned location of Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) consolidated interim storage facility, which NRC licensed Monday.
Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture between Waste Control Specialists (WCS) and Orano USA, plans to construct the site at WCS’s existing low-level waste disposal facility in Andrews.
In his Tuesday release, Pfluger skewered NRC for what he said was a “lack of community support for the project.”
“The majority of folks who live and work in this community are vehemently opposed to this waste being stored in Andrews, and not a single elected official supports this decision,” Pfluger said.
Community support is a “vitally important aspect” of siting a nuclear waste repository, Pfluger said, citing recommendations made by the Obama-era Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
Indeed, interim storage has not been well-received in the Lone Star State. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week signed a law banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste, including spent fuel, in Texas. In a Tweet Tuesday, Abbott backed up the legislation, saying that “Texas will not become America’s nuclear waste dumping ground.”
The Biden Admin. is trying to dump highly radioactive nuclear waste in west Texas oil fields.
I just signed a law to stop it.
Texas will not become America’s nuclear waste dumping ground.https://t.co/tdZ2ALOaYT via @business
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 14, 2021
The Andrews County Commissioner’s Court also voiced its opposition to the proposed ISP site. In a July public meeting, the five-member commission voted unanimously to stand against interim storage.
ISP’s site isn’t the only commercial interim storage project under NRC consideration. Holtec International, the Camden, N.J. nuclear services company, is seeking the agency’s approval for its own site to be built just around ten miles from Andrews in Lea County, N.M.
