Supreme Court to Decide on Nuclear Waste Storage Licensing

By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has the authority to license nuclear waste storage facilities after a ruling that contradicted decades of practice.

The justices are reviewing appeals from President Joe Biden’s administration and a company that received a license from the NRC to construct a waste storage facility in western Texas. The license was contested by the states of Texas and New Mexico, along with interests from the oil industry.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in its new term beginning Monday, with a decision expected by the end of June.

With a 6-3 conservative majority, the Supreme Court has shown skepticism toward the power of federal regulatory agencies in major rulings recently.

The NRC, which oversees nuclear energy regulation in the U.S., granted the license in 2021 to Interim Storage Partners, a collaboration between France’s Orano and Dallas’s Waste Control Specialists.

While two federal appeals courts dismissed legal challenges to the license, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that the NRC lacked authority under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to issue the license.

The administration warned that this ruling could disrupt the nuclear energy sector.

Since 1980, the NRC has issued licenses for the temporary storage of spent fuel from nuclear reactors, recognizing the need for more off-site storage for radioactive waste. This has occurred under its authority to issue licenses for nuclear material. A proposal for permanent storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has stalled due to opposition.

In the 5th Circuit’s ruling, Judge James Ho, appointed by former President Donald Trump, cited the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, amended in 1987 to designate Yucca as the sole permanent storage site for radioactive waste.

Interim Storage Partners aims to operate the facility in Andrews County, Texas. However, it faces opposition from oil and gas organizations as it is located within the Permian Basin, the country’s top oil-producing region.

Texas and New Mexico are joined in the lawsuit against the license by Fasken Land and Minerals, a Texas-based oil and gas extraction organization, along with a nonprofit group known as the Permian Basin Coalition of Land and Royalty Owners and Operators.

The plaintiffs argue that the proposed facility presents environmental risks to watersheds across most of New Mexico and Texas, and that a radiation leak could harm oil and gas operations economically.

Monica Perales, an attorney for Fasken Oil & Ranch, stated, “For years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and two private corporations have attempted to force Texas and New Mexico into accepting stockpiled radioactive waste.” She added that the commission “lacks the authority to issue licenses for consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in a region hundreds and even thousands of miles away from the reactors that generated the waste.”