Waste Control Specialists is encouraged that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with a formal review of the company’s application to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility for nuclear waste in West Texas, President and CEO Rod Baltzer said Friday.
WCS is seeking a 40-year NRC license for a facility designed to hold 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel now stored at commercial reactor sites around the country. The facility would be built in eight phases at WCS’ waste storage complex near Andrews, Texas. After a slow start to the application process, in which NRC requested various missing details from the Waste Control Specialists application, the regulator has deemed the filing complete, meaning it’s ready for review that could take about three years. Waste Control Specialists hopes to open the facility in 2021.
“The WCS license application is now docketed and moving forward at the NRC, and we are grateful to the agency for its efforts and we look forward to continuing to work with them,” Baltzer said in a statement. “We hope that many people will take this opportunity to learn more about our proposed project. We are encouraged that the NRC is moving forward with the environmental review process as it must be completed before the NRC can make a determination on our application.”
The NRC has scheduled two public meetings on the application:
– 7-10 p.m. Mountain time, Feb. 13, at the Lea County Event Center, 5101 N. Lovington Highway, in Hobbs, N.M.
– 7-10 p.m. Central time, Feb. 15, at the James Roberts Center, 855 TX-176, in Andrews, Texas.
