Texas should consider ‘recycling,’ state-chartered group says in advanced reactor report

In the only mention of high-level waste in a 72-page report a year in the marking, a state-chartered group on Monday said Texas should consider building a “nuclear recycling facility.”

“Texas should contemplate and discuss a state position on the development of a nuclear recycling facility to reduce high level radioactive waste in the U.S.,” reads the final version of the  report, titled “Deploying a World-Renowned Advanced Nuclear Industry in Texas: Considerations and Recommendations for Action.”

Gov. Greg Annott (R) established the group, which is led by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, in 2023. The working group called the report a “comprehensive analysis of how Texas can develop a world-leading advanced nuclear power industry.”

Texas currently has two operating nuclear power plants: Comanche Peak in Somervell County and the South Texas Project in Matagorda County, each of which has two reactors.

Like all U.S. states where government or industry has contemplated such sites, Texas has refused to host a centralized storage facility for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants.

In 2021, Texas banned storage of high-level waste in its territory, anticipating the licensing of an interim storage facility operated by an Orano-Waste Control Specialists joint venture in Andrews County by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Texas’ successful federal lawsuit over that license got interim storage outlawed, at least temporarily. The decision was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the latest briefing schedule pointed to oral arguments no sooner than early 2025.

Meanwhile, the Texas-chartered advanced reactor report also speculates that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be “overwhelmed” with applications for advanced nuclear reactors between 2026 and 2028. As a remedy, the working group said, federal law could be changed to allow states, rather than NRC, to vet sites for these reactors.

Under the proposed state-led regime, the working group said, “state data should be accepted and required by the NRC” when deciding where to put new reactors.