The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving nuclear waste storage plans in rural Texas and New Mexico.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent agency that regulates commercial nuclear plants, granted a license to a private company called Interim Storage Partners LLC for a nuclear waste storage facility in Andrews County in West Texas, near the Texas-New Mexico border, for 40 years. The facility could hold up to over 5,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods and 231 million tons of other radioactive waste.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana, which has jurisdiction over districts in Texas, ruled that the NRC exceeded its authority under federal law when it granted the license to Interim Storage Partners LLC. Two other federal appellate courts, in Denver and Washington, also ruled on the issue and sided with the commission. The Supreme Court will be reviewing the 5th Circuit’s decision.
The outcome of this case will affect plans for a similar temporary storage facility in Lea County, New Mexico, in the southeast corner of the state. The NRC granted a license to Holtec International, which the 5th Circuit also blocked.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, opposes the storage facility, saying his state “will not become America’s nuclear waste dumping ground.” New Mexico’s Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has also opposed Holtec International’s license.
Two issues lie before the Supreme Court in this case, which will be argued early next year. One is that the NRC says the states forfeited their right to object to the licensing decisions when they declined to join the commission’s proceedings. The second issue concerns whether federal law allows the NRC to license temporary storage sites.
A decision is expected by the middle of next year.
For their part, Texas and environmental groups cited a 2022 Supreme Court decision that said Congress must act with specificity when it wants to give an agency the authority to regulate an issue of major national significance.
The 5th Circuit agreed in its ruling for Texas that what to do with America’s nuclear waste is the sort of “major question” that Congress must directly answer.
The Biden administration told the court that the NRC has long-standing authority to manage nuclear waste dating back to the 1954 Atomic Energy Act.
Temporary nuclear waste storage sites have been pushed as the U.S. continues to look for a permanent underground storage facility.
A plan to build a national nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain, northwest of Las Vegas, has been stalled because of heavy opposition from Nevadans.
As the plan has long been in limbo, about 100,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel, some of it dating from the 1980s, is accumulating at current and former power plants across the nation and increasing by over 2,000 tons per year.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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