Citing safety and security, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission again delayed its review of a safety report required for licensing Holtec’s proposed interim storage site in New Mexico, the agency said Friday.
Although NRC planned to have the safety and security report for Holtec International’s proposed interim storage site ready in time for a final licensing decision in January, the company’s answers to the agency’s second round of information requests on the review require “additional supplementation or revisions,” before commission staff can wrap up their review, the commission said in a letter dated Friday.
This is the second time the agency has delayed Holtec’s safety review — the same issues held up the process back in March.
NRC will also “adjust the publication date” for a separate environmental impact statement (EIS) of the proposed Holtec site, the letter said. The agency had said that it was planning to publish the EIS this month.
The commission will provide Holtec with a third request for information “within the next month,” the letter said. A revised schedule for the final safety review and EIS will come after the Camden, N.J., nuclear services company provides the agency with answers.
If it gets a federal license, Holtec plans to build its interim storage facility in Eddy County, N.M. — not far west of Andrews County, Texas, the home of a similar site proposed by Interim Storage Partners (ISP) and licensed by NRC in September.
Although neither have broken ground, both proposed sites have been the subject of legal and political opposition in recent months. With the federal government rebooting its approach to siting a consolidated spent fuel site, the commercially operated facilities would, if built, be the only place utilities could send their used nuclear fuel.
