The U.S. Supreme Court Monday denied a petition by the advocacy group Beyond Nuclear seeking to challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license approval for a Holtec International Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF).
Beyond Nuclear hoped the high court would invalidate an NRC license that would allow Holtec to construct an interim waste storage in southeastern New Mexico. But the Supreme Court denied what is known as a petition for certiorari, basically asking it to review a lower court decision.
“The justices receive over 8,000 cert petitions and grant between 60 and 80 of these” annually, according to the Scotusblog website.
The Beyond Nuclear petition was among many others that were denied on a long list of orders sent out Monday. As is typical, the justices did not supply a reason to why the Oct. 31 writ of certiorari was denied.
Holtec’s license was reinstated after a landmark Supreme Court case last June where the justices ruled against a challenge to NRC’s authority to license a similar private spent fuel facility in West Texas.
While Holtec dropped its plans to use the New Mexico site, Beyond Nuclear radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps said Holtec’s license for an interim waste storage site still poses a threat to public safety and the environment.
Beyond Nuclear wants to prevent a similar facility being developed later down the line.
While disappointed by the decision, Kamps and Beyond Nuclear co-counsel Mindy Goldstein said in its Monday press release they were determined to fight revival of such projects.
“While we are disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision to let the D.C. Circuit’s erroneous decision stand, we are pleased that the D.C. Circuit, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Holtec have all recognized that the law expressly prohibits storage of federally owned nuclear waste at Holtec’s facility,” Goldstein said.