In issuing its final environmental impact statement on a proposed temporary spent fuel facility in West Texas this summer, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended a license be granted for the construction and operation of the site.
Irradiated fuel from all commercial power plants, including the decommissioning Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, would be shipped to the facility if the license is approved. Until a final determination is made on licensing, an interim consolidated spent fuel site, the only option for U.S. nuclear power plants, according to federal officials, is to store spent fuel from the reactor vessels onsite.
If granted, the West Texas license would authorize Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Waste Control Specialists LLC and Orano CIS LLC, a subsidiary of Orano USA LLC, to build a facility that would house up to 5,000 metric tons of spent commercial nuclear, according to the NRC.
The West Texas site, if built, would also be licensed to accept greater-than-class C waste for a period of 40 years, NRC officials said. The company plans to expand its facility to store a total capacity of 40,000 metric tons of spent fuel. It would be built adjacent to the Waste Control Specialists low-level radioactive waste disposal site.
The NRC held four public meetings, via an online webinar format, to present draft findings and solicit public comment on the project.
“To complete the final document, the staff received and evaluated approximately 2,500 unique comments submitted by nearly 10,600 members of the public,” according to the NRC, which will provide a final EIS to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for filing.
The NRC must wait at least 30 days after the EPA publishes the filing in a federal register before it can issue a licensing decision.
“When it announces its licensing decision, the NRC will also publish its final safety evaluation report detailing its technical review of the ISP application,” according to the federal commission.
In the meantime, the NRC is still considering a similar application submitted by Holtec International, whose subsidiary Holtec Decommissioning International owns the Oyster Creek site in Forked River. Last year, in issuing its draft EIS of the site, the regulatory authority preliminarily determined the plan would have no environmental impact on the southeast New Mexico area where it’s proposed that would prevent issuing a license for the facility
The Camden-based energy technology company is seeking to build and operate a consolidated spent fuel site on approximately 1,040 acres of land in Lea County, N.M. The land is owned by Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, a public body created through a joint-powers agreement between Eddy and Lea counties as well as the cities of Carlsbad and Hobbs, located in southeast New Mexico.
In its license application for the facility, Holtec is seeking authorization to store 5,000 metric tons of uranium (MTUs) in roughly 500 spent nuclear fuel canisters under a 40-year license. The canisters proposed by Holtec have the potential to hold up to 8,680 MTUs from commercial nuclear reactors as well as a small quantity of spent mixed-oxide fuel.
On March 29, Hector Balderas, New Mexico’s attorney general, announced his state had filed suit against the NRC and the federal government “seeking to stop them from indefinitely storing the nation’s radioactive waste” in the southeastern part of the state, according to a press release issued by Balderas’ office.
The state of New Mexico challenges the NRC’s proceedings regarding Holtec International’s application for a license to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility in Lea and Eddy counties on substantive, procedural and jurisdictional grounds. Following the same objections, New Mexico is also challenging the NRC on its proceedings for a similar site in Texas. That site is not being proposed by Holtec.
“New Mexico, like other states, has an obligation to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens,” the lawsuit reads. “It also plays a special role in monitoring and improving federal agencies’ implementation (action or inaction) of federal law, as well as ensuring such actions remain within constitutional boundaries, including but not limited to, the Tenth Amendment.”
The 10th Amendment states that the powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people.
In August, the NRC asked the U.S. District Court for New Mexico to dismiss the state’s lawsuit because it does not have the jurisdiction to hear it, according to published reports out of New Mexico.
— Gina G. Scala
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September 08, 2021 at 11:22PM
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Federal Interim Irradiated Fuel Repository Plan Gains Ground - The SandPaper
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