Part 1 of 2 Parts
The U.S. does not have a permanent underground repository for spent nuclear fuel. Until such a repository is constructed, there is a need for temporary storage of spent fuel. The search is on for temporary sites but can encounter resistance from local citizens and politicians.
Holtec International has proposed a temporary repository for up to one hundred thousand metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods at a site near the Eddy-Lea county line in New Mexico. The repository is scheduled to begin accepting shipments of spent nuclear fuel in 2022. Holtec applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license in 2017. The application was officially accepted in 2018 which began a public feedback process that will include an NRC environmental impact statement. If all requirements are satisfied, a federal license for Holtec will be the result.
Both houses of the New Mexico legislature have collaborated in the creation of the N.M. Radioactive and Hazarrdous Materials Committed. State Senator Jeff Steinborn is the Chair of the Committee. He sent a list of fifty-seven questions to various state departments last months. Most of those departments forwarded the questions to the NRC.
In mid-July, the Attorney General of New Mexico (A.G.) responded to six of the questions posed by Steinborn. In answer to one question, the A.G. said that the federal government alone can regulate such sites before they go into operation. States can only “indirectly” regulate such sites once they are in operation. He said, “While it is abundantly clear that the state cannot license or otherwise directly regulate interim storage facilities, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that state tort law can provide a remedy for injuries suffered as a result of nuclear plant operation.”
Most nuclear activities in the U.S. are regulated by two federal laws: The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) and the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA). The NWPA directed the Department of Energy to create a permanent geological repository for nuclear waste including spent nuclear fuel. The NWPA was amended in 2008 to direct the DoE to construct a repository for spent nuclear fuel under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The project was halted in 2009 because of opposition from Nevada state lawmakers and because of budget cuts by the Obama administration. In 2010, the DoE cancelled its application for the site. Recently, the Trump administration has called for resuming the project at Yucca Mountain.
In the meantime, the NRC does have the authority to license “privately-owned, away-from-reactor” storage facilities to hold spent nuclear fuel temporarily before a permanent repository is constructed. Opposition from states chosen by the NRC for temporary spent fuel storage cannot overrule this NRC authority.
Please read Part 2