The Texas state Senate did not vote as scheduled this week on a proposed bill that would ban the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Lone Star State.
The state Senate counterpart of H.B. 2692, introduced in March by state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R), was supposed to be debated in a full session of the legislature Tuesday, but the panel adjourned without a vote. The next full session is Wednesday.
The state Senate version of Landgraf’s bill passed in the Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development committee March 24. On the state House side, the measure passed in the chamber’s own environmental regulation panel the same day.
H.B. 2692 had not yet been scheduled for debate in a full session of the state House at press time Friday afternoon
If it became law, Landgraf’s bill would ban the import and storage of high level nuclear waste (HLW) in Texas, except for spent fuel generated from in-state civilian nuclear power plants and university test reactors. The measure still accommodates for low-level nuclear waste disposal — Texas would still accept low-level waste through its interstate compact with Vermont.
This move to block HLW disposal comes as Waste Control Specialists seeks to build an interim storage site at its existing low-level disposal site in Andrews County, Texas which would accommodate spent nuclear fuel. The waste services company’s president told state lawmakers March 8 that no such site would be built without approval from Gov. Greg Abbott.
Meanwhile, the proposed interim storage site — a joint venture between Waste Control Specialists and Paris-based nuclear services company Orano — is currently awaiting a federal license. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is working on an environmental impact statement for the site, which the agency has said won’t be done until the summer.
