New Mexico debates nuclear fuel storage

Proponents fighting against state becoming ‘dumping ground’

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and members of New Mexico's congressional delegation already have voiced strong opposition to building a multibillion-dollar facility along the state's border with Texas that would store tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants around the U.S.

Now, the New Mexico Legislature is considering a bill that supporters say would keep the state from becoming the nation's de facto permanent dumping ground for nuclear waste.

Top New Mexico officials contend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn't done enough to vet plans by Holtec International to build a facility to store thousands of tons of spent uranium in the state. They argue that without a plan by the federal government to deal with spent fuel, the material would remain in New Mexico indefinitely.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has also expressed his opposition to a similar storage facility in his state. Both states have sued the federal government over the issue.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, who is sponsoring the New Mexico legislation, said the federal government needs to address the problem and establish a policy for dealing with the spent fuel piling up at the nation's nuclear power plants.

“New Mexico, with less than one half of 1% of the nation's population, should not continue to be the sacrifice zone because we can be exploited,” he told fellow lawmakers, noting that many communities have passed resolutions opposed to bringing high-level nuclear waste to the state.

Some southeastern New Mexico residents testified during a legislative committee meeting Tuesday that Holtec International's proposal would be safe and create jobs.

In New Mexico, the planned facility initially would store up to 8,680 metric

tons of used uranium fuel. Future expansion could make room for as many as 10,000 canisters of spent fuel over six decades.

Federal regulators in September granted a license for an interim storage facility across the border in Andrews County, Texas. That facility is licensed to take up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and more than 231 tons of other radioactive waste. Possible expansion could increase the total capacity to 40,000 metric tons of fuel, but additional regulatory approval would be needed.

After regulators approved that site, Abbott, the Republican Texas governor, tweeted: “Texas will not become America's nuclear waste dumping ground.”

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nuclear reactors across the country produce more than 2,000 metric tons of radioactive waste a year, with most of it remaining onsite because there's nowhere else to put it.