The Department of Energy has yet to write New Mexico back after the state sent a letter opposing a proposed commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel within its borders, the state’s senior senator said this week.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told RadWaste Monitor after a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee meeting Thursday he and a coalition of New Mexico lawmakers haven’t “gotten anything official” from energy secretary Jennifer Granholm in response to their July 2 letter opposing the proposed Holtec International interim storage facility.
“I talked to [Granholm] right after we sent the letter,” Heinrich said, but the energy secretary didn’t give any indication of when DOE might respond.
New Mexico “has not and will not consent” to spent fuel storage in the state, said the July 2 letter which was co-signed by a cadre of Democratic lawmakers from the Land of Enchantment, including Heinrich and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D). Santa Fe “cannot accept” the proposed Holtec site, the letter said.
At deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor, DOE hadn’t responded to New Mexico’s letter.
Meanwhile, the federal licensing review for Holtec’s proposed interim storage site has hit a speedbump. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that its environmental review for the site won’t be ready until November. The review, a major milestone for licensing, was supposed to finish up this month.
NRC chair Christopher Hanson told members of Congress July 14 that a final licensing decision on the Holtec site would come down in January of next year.
