The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was scheduled to meet this week to affirm its decisions to again deny a minerals company’s request to reopen the record about an objection to the licensing of a commercial interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, according to the commission’s schedule.
During a meeting set for Tuesday, the commission will again look at Fasken Land and Minerals’ February petition for the agency to take a second look at its objections to the proposed Interim Storage Partners (ISP) site in west Texas. NRC rejected an earlier request to walk back its decision on the company’s contentions back in April.
The proposed ISP site is just one of two potential locations for an interim spent fuel storage facility. The Andrews, Texas site and Holtec International’s proposed facility in southeastern New Mexico are undergoing environmental reviews which the commission has said should wrap up in early July.
Also on the docket for Tuesday is a March motion from environmental group Three Mile Island Alert aiming to halt the sale of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania to an EnergySolutions subsidiary from Exelon and the FirstEnergy companies. NRC’s schedule isn’t clear whether it will reject the motion, but commission staff have previously recommended that they do.
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection are looking into Three Mile Island Alert’s February allegations that the nuclear plant’s sale would violate a certification clause within the Clean Water Act.
