Holtec granted license for spent nuclear fuel storage in NM
Alaina Mencinger and Dan McKay, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
5 min read
May 9—It's been five years since energy and tech company Holtec first sought a permit from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a temporary storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico — the first of its kind in the country.
And now, the proposed facility has overcome a major hurdle to construction, receiving its long-awaited and debated license from the agency on Tuesday.
The facility, between Hobbs and Carlsbad, would store nuclear waste underground on private land provided by economic development group the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance.
But the company now faces a decision over whether to move forward.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham — a vigorous opponent of the storage facility — signed legislation in March designed to block the project.
The new law, Senate Bill 53, prohibits public agencies from granting permits for a nuclear-waste disposal project unless the state consents and other conditions are met.
Pursuing the project, then, might require Holtec to challenge the law.
Patrick O'Brien, Holtec's director of government affairs and communications, said the company is still deciding its path forward — if it moves forward with the project at all.
"We're still working with our partners and the key stakeholders to understand what our paths are ... what our potential options are," O'Brien said in interview. "Then we're going to head forward from that."
There is some precedent for challenging similar state laws, O'Brien said, citing a similar debate in Utah that played out in the early 2000s, although that proposed facility was never built.
O'Brien said Holtec's lawyers are currently determining whether the New Mexico law can or should be challenged.
But Democratic and environmental leaders in New Mexico made clear Tuesday the project would continue to face opposition.
"It's time that our voice be heard and honored, and that this project be shut down," said state Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a Las Cruces Democrat who co-sponsored the state law intended to block the project.
Members of the congressional delegation also slammed the licensing approval.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said it's misleading to call the facility "temporary" while the nation lacks a permanent place to store spent nuclear fuel.
"No matter how many times NRC and Holtec use the word 'interim,'" he said in a written statement, "it doesn't make it so. And the people left to pay the consequences will be New Mexicans."
Camilla Feibelman, director of the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club, said the federal government should "follow its own law and identify and operate a permanent storage facility before making us the country's de facto nuclear-waste dump."
O'Brien said it's the U.S. Department of Energy's responsibility to tackle the "dilemma" of spent nuclear fuel, but he's seen more movement on the issue in the past year in either establishing additional interim repositories or a permanent storage facility.
Whatever's next, supporters of the project celebrated Tuesday's decision as welcome news.
In an interview, Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb described the facility as a safe, effective way to diversify New Mexico's economy and reduce the state's reliance on the oil and gas industry. Hobbs and other local governments — all part of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, of which Cobb is chairman — would share in the revenue of the nuclear storage project through the real estate agreement, he said.
"There are not many economic development projects that a community can get involved in where you know you're going to get a substantial check every year based on the operation of the facility," Cobb said.
The fate of the project, however, could hinge on the legality of the new state law, which prohibits local approvals for nuclear storage.
Supporters of the Holtec project contend the state legislation is preempted by federal law because federal agencies, not the state, are empowered to regulate nuclear safety.
The state law, in turn, is designed to withstand a legal challenge by prohibiting any state or local government approval that would be necessary for construction and operation of the disposal facility — a category of decision-making, supporters say, that goes well beyond nuclear safety.
The measure cleared both chambers of the Legislature over the opposition of Republican lawmakers and a handful of Democrats. Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, signed the bill the same day it won final approval.
The ball is now in Holtec's court. Although the project now has a federal permit, the company will have to decide for itself if it will move forward with the project.
The NRC approved the license application following a technical safety and security review, and environmental impact review.
Cobb, the Hobbs mayor, said he is confident the project is safe. The containers used by Holtec, he said, are so sturdy they can withstand a missile strike.
O'Brien also said the fuel is already transported in a stable form.
"A lot of people, too often, get their education on nuclear power from The Simpsons," O'Brien said. "It's not a green liquid. It is a uranium oxide pellet that is stable."
The license would allow the Florida-headquartered company to receive, possess, transfer and store 500 canisters of spent nuclear fuel — a total of 8,680 metric tons of spent fuel — for 40 years. Holtec plans to eventually store up to 10,000 canisters throughout 19 expansions phases, according to the NRC.
The regulatory agency would have to approve a license amendment for each expansion, pending NRC safety and environment reviews.
