Global Courant 2023-05-10 01:23:28
U.S. nuclear power regulators on Tuesday licensed a multibillion-dollar complex in New Mexico for the temporary storage of tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants across the country. southeastern New Mexico. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico expressed concern that the federal government has no permanent solution to the waste accumulating at commercial reactors across the country.
US nuclear regulators have authorized a multibillion-dollar complex to temporarily store tons of spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico from commercial nuclear power plants across the country.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission made its decision Tuesday on the proposed project in southeastern New Mexico.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and the state’s congressional delegation oppose placing the storage complex in the state, saying they fear New Mexico will become the nation’s dumping ground for spent nuclear fuel because the federal government has no permanent solution to the waste that accumulates at commercial reactors. through the land.
New Mexico passed legislation in March to stop the project. The battle is expected to end in court, with state lawmakers saying their new law will require Holtec International, the energy company seeking to build the facility, to obtain construction permits from the state.
New Jersey-based Holtec has argued that the New Mexico measure requiring permission is prevented by federal law and that a lawsuit would only delay the economic blessing that would come from building the complex. The company spent an estimated $80 million to obtain a 40-year license to build and operate the facility in southeastern New Mexico.
TASK FORCE NEW MEXICO PARTNERS WITH INVESTIGATORS TO TREAT MISSING PERSON CASES IN NATIVE AMERICANS
Corporate officials and some elected leaders from southeastern New Mexico have been pushing hard to provide what they call a temporary solution to the national problem of spent fuel. Nuclear reactors across the country produce more than 2,000 tons of radioactive waste per year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Since the federal government has failed to build a permanent storage facility, it reimburses utilities to house the fuel in steel-lined concrete waterholes or in steel and concrete containers known as barrels at locations in nearly three dozen states. The cost of that practice is expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.
US regulators approved the multibillion-dollar nuclear fuel facility in New Mexico on Tuesday.
The New Mexico project would have capacity to temporarily store up to 8,680 tons of spent uranium fuel. Future expansion could make room for as many as 10,000 jerry cans over six decades. The material would be shipped to New Mexico by rail.
Despite critics’ concerns about recent rail accidents, Holtec officials say tests have shown that the barrels used to contain the spent fuel do not emit radiation, even in the event of a derailment.
President Joe Biden has received dueling letters from project supporters and from Lujan Grisham, as well as others opposed to it. The government has recognized the role nuclear power will have to play in meeting its carbon emissions targets, and earlier this year provided $26 million in grants to communities interested in studying the possibilities of hosting temporary storage sites.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Similar battles over what to do with the spent nuclear fuel have been fought in Nevada, Utah and Texas in recent decades as the US struggled to find a home for the material and other radioactive waste. The proposed Yucca Mountain project in Nevada was mothballed and a planned temporary storage site on a Utah Indian reservation was sidelined despite a permit from the NRC in 2006.
Texas elected leaders failed to stop the NRC from licensing a similar project in 2021. tons) of spent fuel and about 230 tons of low-level radioactive waste over 40 years. Future phases could increase that capacity to 40,000 tons of fuel.
