A
three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals found that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission lacked the authority under federal law to issue
permits for private, temporary nuclear waste storage sites.
The license, which was issued in 2021 to project developer
Interim Storage Partners LLC, was challenged by Texas as well as
west Texas oil and gas interests that opposed the facility.
U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho, writing for the court, agreed with
Texas that the Atomic Energy Act does not give the agency the
broad authority "to license a private, away-from-reactor storage
facility for spent nuclear fuel."
Ho, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump, said a
license for that kind of a facility also conflicts with a U.S.
law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which prioritizes
permanent storage solutions and otherwise allows temporary
storage of nuclear waste only at reactors themselves or at
federal sites.
Representatives for the NRC, Texas Governor Greg Abbott's office
and the developer did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Abbott and other state officials had petitioned the court in
2021 to review the order by the agency authorizing Interim
Storage Partners to receive and store up to 5,000 metric tons of
spent fuel and about 230 metric tons of low-level radioactive
waste for 40 years at a planned repository in Andrews County,
Texas.
Abbott opposed the plan, saying he would not let Texas become
"America's nuclear waste dumping ground."
The plan for a temporary facility was devised in order to
address a growing nuclear waste problem in the United States.
The Andrews County site was chosen after efforts to build a
permanent storage facility in Nevada fell apart amid fierce
local opposition.
(Reporting by Clark Mindock in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
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