Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
2/7/2014
Texas state lawmakers are set to consider the logistics and economic impact of potentially hosting a high-level radioactive waste disposal site or interim storage facility, according to the Interim Committee Charges issued by Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus (R) late last week. The Charge asked the Committee on Environmental Regulation to consider what actions need to be taken on a state and federal level for a facility to be built. “Study the rules, laws, and regulations pertaining to the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Texas and determine the potential economic impact of permitting a facility in Texas,” Straus wrote. “Make specific recommendations on the state and federal actions necessary to permit a high-level radioactive waste disposal or interim storage facility in Texas.”
The Interim Committee Charges is a document outlining the issues that should be studied during the upcoming year to prepare for legislation for the following year, so any tangible legislation action on a potential site would wait until 2015. Speaker spokesman Erin Daly said the motivation for the Charge stemmed from the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, as well as Texas’ previous engagements with radioactive waste. “After reviewing the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future’s report on the management of high level radioactive waste, Speaker Straus issued an interim charge to the Committee on Environmental Regulation to study potential impacts for Texas,” Daly said. “The Committee is currently examining the implementation of legislation pertaining to the storage of low level nuclear waste, so the Speaker expanded their interim work to explore the benefits and costs of high-level storage as well. The Speaker looks forward to the Committee’s review of the issue and their detailed report.”
Consent-Based Siting Would Require Legislation
While Texas will consider potentially hosting a site, the Department of Energy would not be able to move forward without federal legislation. Currently, there is legislation in the Senate, the “Nuclear Waste Administration Act,” that would enable consent-based siting for an interim storage facility, among other BRC recommendations, but delays in the markup of the bill make its potential for floor action unclear. “As recommended by the Blue Ribbon Commission, the principles of an open and consent-based siting process include consulting with stakeholders to establish a framework in which potential host sites can be technically evaluated and sustainable agreements can be reached,” DOE spokeswoman Niketa Kumar said. “Ultimately, this path forward will require legislation from Congress and the Department looks forward to continuing to work with members of Congress as well as state, local and tribal partners to develop a long-term, sustainable solution.”
WCS Presence Could Build Support
Stakeholders in Texas are praising the Speaker’s Charge as a step in the right direction. According to Monty Humble, co-owner of AFCI Texas, a company looking to host an interim storage facility, the Charge was unexpected, but justified. “The Speaker has very appropriately made a decision to take a hard look at where Texas stands in terms of spent nuclear fuel within the state—we’ve got about 2000 tons—and to at least start the question of: if we’ve got 2000 tons of waste in state, where should it be? What’s happened to the $800 million or so that Texas rate payers have paid over to the federal treasury that was supposed to be used to do something with all this material?” Humble said. “I don’t know if the answer to that is a foregone conclusion by any means, but on the other hand, I think he’s entirely right to start asking questions about it.”
Humble said that the Waste Control Specialists facility in Andrews, Texas helps alleviate any discomfort within Texas for receiving radioactive waste. “We’ve got a very successful low level facility—a well received and well-executed low level facility,” he said. “Our Commission on Environmental Quality made sure it was done to standards even beyond state-of-the-art so I would think that people would see the wisdom of moving the high level waste that is already in the state away from Houston and Dallas and siting it in a remote area.”
WCS maintains an on-going dialogue with many Texas lawmakers about nuclear waste issues, according to WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald. This dialogue helps to create a well-informed legislative body, willing to look at these issues because it has had success in the past with them and it has community support, McDonald said. “I do believe that WCS has had a very large role in the fact that elected officials in Texas are talking about the safe and secure storage and disposal of radioactive waste – because the Texas legislature has been dealing with this issue on an ongoing basis since 2003,” McDonald said. “In 2011 and 2013 the Texas legislature – by overwhelming bipartisan margins – passed significant radioactive waste disposal legislation that enabled the Texas Radioactive Waste Compact Commission to open and become operational. State leadership has seen what is happing at the Texas Compact Disposal facility, and they understand that we can protect human health and safety by locating this waste in a secure isolated environment far removed from our major urban centers,” he said.
Some Oppose Study Plans
Not everyone is as excited for the planned study, though. Tom Smith of the watchdog group Public Citizen fears that disposal of the waste could lead to leaks into the groundwater, as well as the potential concerns caused by waste shipments. “We need to bury that idea to explore high level nuclear waste in Texas. Given that almost every other state in the nation that has looked at this and rejected it, it makes no sense to waste state resources exploring that question because it’s all risk and too little reward for Texas,” Smith said.