September 2021

A private company got federal approval to store nuclear waste in Texas. The state is fighting back.

September 15, 2001

Douglas MacMillan and Aaron Gregg
Washington Post

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of the planned facility opens a new front in a decades-long battle to find a home for the country’s nuclear waste

A private company has won federal approval to build an expansive nuclear waste site in Texas, even as residents, state lawmakers, environmentalists and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) rail against it.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Monday issued a license for Andrews, Tex.-based Interim Storage Partners to store as much as 5,000 metric tons of radioactive waste. It’s one of two proposed storage sites — the other is in southeastern New Mexico — that has been under agency review for several years.

The approval opens a new front in a decades-long battle to find a home for 85,000 tons of nuclear waste accumulating at dozens of nuclear power plants across the country. Fears about the dangers of nuclear material, which scientists say remains hazardous to humans for many years, have stifled plans to build repositories, including a proposed waste dump in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain that was shelved by President Barack Obama.

Such concerns are fueling the opposition in Texas, where environmental activists have forged a rare alliance with oil interests and powerful state Republicans to prevent the site from moving forward. They worry that transporting and storing “high-level” nuclear waste, including contaminated fuel rods, exposes the state to the threat of a radiological incident or potential for groundwater contamination.

“Our concern is that the waste will sit there, the cement around it will crack, leaks will develop, and radioactive contamination will result,” said Karen Hadden, the executive director of the SEED Coalition, an Austin-based advocacy group.

In a direct challenge to federal regulators, Abbott signed legislation last week preventing federally approved waste facilities from obtaining local construction and wastewater permits. The governor has framed the license as an unwelcome incursion by the Biden administration, which he accused of “trying to dump highly radioactive nuclear waste” in Texas oil fields.

Nuclear waste in the oil patch? Feds spark clash with Texas

09/15/2021

By Edward Klump
E&E News/EnergyWire

A site in West Texas now has a federal license to store spent nuclear fuel, setting up a potential showdown with state leaders who oppose the prospect of attracting high-level radioactive waste from across the country.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the license for Interim Storage Partners LLC to build and operate an interim storage facility in Andrews County, Texas, on Monday — just days after Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill seeking to restrict nuclear waste storage in the state.
Yesterday, Abbott tried to use the new license in the Permian Basin oil patch to hammer President Biden, though an application for the site was filed in 2016, and the Trump administration didn’t kill the project.

“The Biden Admin. is trying to dump highly radioactive nuclear waste in west Texas oil fields,” Abbott said on Twitter. “I just signed a law to stop it. Texas will not become America’s nuclear waste dumping ground.”

David McIntyre, an NRC spokesperson, declined to comment on the governor’s criticism but said in a statement this week that the “licensing decision was made according to the applicable federal statutes and regulations after thorough, multi-year technical and environmental reviews.”
The drama is being watched by the electricity sector, as nuclear power plants continue to store spent fuel on-site without a permanent U.S. repository. Yucca Mountain in Nevada has failed to garner enough sustained support to be an option (E&E Daily, July 22). In the meantime, backers of the Interim Storage Partners, or ISP, site in West Texas and a separate project in eastern New Mexico from Holtec International have pursued interim storage proposals that could last for decades.

Protestors to Nuclear Regulator Commission: Keep Nuke Waste out of Texas

Sept. 13, 2021
For Immediate release

Contacts: Karen Hadden, Karendhadden@gmail.com, 512-797-8481,
Hon. Lon Burnam, lonbunram@gmail.com, 817-721-5846
Susybelle Goslee, sgosslee@airmail.net, 214-732-8610

MEDIA ADVISORY

Protestors to Nuclear Regulator Commission: Keep Nuke Waste out of Texas

Arlington, Texas – Protesters gathered outside of the Regional Headquarters of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in Arlington, Texas today to oppose the agency’s expected approval of a license to store dangerous nuclear reactor waste in West Texas.

Overwhelming opposition to the plan has been demonstrated over and over again, most recently with the passage of HB 7 unanimously in the Texas Senate and by a 119-3 vote in the House. Such a strong bipartisan vote is rare these days in Texas. The Governor signed the bill on September 9 and it went into effect immediately.

“The NRC should listen to the voices of our governor, legislators and millions of Texans and halt licensing of a facility that would put our health and safety at risk. Strong bipartisan votes are a clear message from the Texas Legislature to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When it comes to importing deadly radioactive waste to Texas: We Don’t Want It!,” said SEED Coalition Director Karen Hadden. “We will keep fighting even if the license is issued. We have legal challenges in the courts and will continue organizing. We hope the Texas Attorney General fights to protect us as well.”

“The U.S. Nuclear regulatory Commission is likely to issue a license today to store up to 40,000 metric tons of the nation’s most dangerous nuclear reactor waste in Andrews County, Texas. With the passage of HB 7, the state can deny the permits necessary to dump new waste at the site. We hope the feds have heard the message: We don’t want it!” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, former director of Public Citizen’s Texas Office.

“The recent bill at the Texas Legislature will help support our legal case opposing licensing for high-level radioactive waste storage, which is now at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals,” said Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. SEED Coalition, Beyond Nuclear and a coalition of oil and gas industries led by Fasken Oil and Ranch also have cases on appeal.

Opposition to the nation’s high-level waste coming to Texas for storage has been expressed in a recent resolution by Andrews County, which could host the facility if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses a facility.

Five other counties and three cities passed similar resolutions, representing 5.4 million Texans. School districts, the Midland Chamber of Commerce and oil and gas companies have joined environmental and faith-based groups in opposing the dangerous plan. Governor Abbott has written strong letters to the NRC and a bipartisan group of Congressional Representatives spoke out as well. Letters and a recent press release are online at www.NoNuclearWaste.org. The enrolled version of HB 7 is online here.

“Licensing of the proposed high-level radioactive waste storage facility does not mean it will get built. We will continue to fight for protection of the health, safety, environment and economy of Texas,” said former State Representative Lon Burnam.