An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pushed back an earlier schedule for ruling on requests to intervene in licensing of a planned spent nuclear fuel storage facility in New Mexico.
The three-person panel last month indicated it would issue its decision in March. But that was before oral arguments on the petitions and another round of filings regarding new or updated contentions that are key to the matter.
At the oral arguments in Albuquerque, ASLB Chairman Paul Ryerson said he anticipated a decision by early April.
The “Board advises the parties that it anticipates issuing its decision on standing and contention admissibility, including its decision on all pending motions, within forty-five days of the completion of briefing all pending motions to file new or amended contentions,” Ryerson wrote in a notice Tuesday.
There was no immediate word on when the 45-day clock would start.
New Jersey energy technology company Holtec International in March 2017 filed its application for a 40-year license to build and operate an interim storage facility that could eventually hold 173,000 metric tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors around the nation.
Organizations that have filed for intervention and hearings on the license application are the Sierra Club; Beyond Nuclear; the Alliance for Environmental Strategies; NAC International; regional energy concerns Fasken Land and Minerals and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners; and a coalition of advocacy groups headed by Don’t Waste Michigan.
Each petitioner must demonstrate they have standing to intervene in the matter and have presented reasonable technical contentions for consideration in licensing.
