Two groups have called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to dismiss separate license applications for storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in Texas and New Mexico, arguing the proceedings constitute a violation of federal law.
The two motions were filed Friday by the nongovernmental group Beyond Nuclear and jointly by Fasken Land and Minerals Ltd. and the Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners. While the filings are separate, their primary argument is the same: Establishing temporary facilities for storage of spent fuel will make the Department of Energy responsible for transport and storage of that material, but that is expressly forbidden in this scenario by the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
“Under the NWPA, the DOE is precluded from taking title to spent fuel unless and until a permanent repository has opened,” the Beyond Nuclear motion states.
The 1982 legislation directed DOE to begin accepting commercial nuclear plants’ spent fuel for disposal by Jan. 31, 1998, and was amended five years later to designate Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the repository site. The agency has not yet moved any spent fuel and Yucca Mountain remains unbuilt. Interim storage has been seen as a means for the Energy Department to meet its legal mandate until it can build the repository.
Holtec International has applied to build and operate a facility in southeastern New Mexico that ultimately could hold more than 170,000 metric tons of spent fuel. Just across the state border, an Orano-Waste Control Specialists partnership wants to store up to 40,000 metric tons of the radioactive waste in West Texas.
“Movants contend the CISF applicants should be required to show cause why their applications do not constitute a violation of the NWPA since no permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel exists in the United States,” according to the Fasken-Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners filing.
The NRC has 10 days to prepare a response to the motions, with the commission itself issuing final rulings on the motions.
