Two proposed commercial interim storage sites run afoul of federal law governing radioactive waste disposal, a cadre of Texas state legislators told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a letter last week.
If NRC were to license either Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP) or Holtec International’s proposed interim storage facilities they would violate the Nuclear Waste Policy Act because there is currently no federal spent fuel repository, said the letter dated Friday and signed by dozens of Texas state lawmakers.
The letter asked that NRC deny a license to ISP’s proposed site. “We do not consent to having our state become a nuclear waste dumping ground,” the letter said. “Please prevent nuclear disasters that risk the health and safety of Texans and imperil our businesses and economy.”
Friday’s letter adds to a growing laundry list of opponents to the proposed Andrews County, Texas interim storage site. The Andrews County Commissioners’ Court voted earlier this month to publicly oppose the project after a community meeting. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last year penned a letter to then-President Donald Trump voicing his concerns about the ISP site.
The letter follows a failed attempt to halt the proposed interim storage site in Austin. A proposed bill from Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R) died in the state House in May after a parliamentary spat caused the measure to be kicked back into committee.
Meanwhile, NRC is working on an environmental impact statement for the proposed site. Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture between Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) and French nuclear services company Orano, is looking for federal permission to build its interim storage facility at WCS’s existing low-level nuclear waste storage site in Andrews County. The commission has said that the environmental review, a prerequisite for licensing, should be done this month.
NRC chair Christopher Hanson told members of Congress during a hearing July 14 that a final licensing decision would be made in November.