Supreme Court allows NRC license approval for highly radioactive waste dump in Texas to stand, but without addressing underlying questions.
By Beyond Nuclear
On June 18, in a 6-to-3 decision regarding NRC v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of a license for the Interim Storage Partners (ISP) consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in Andrews County, Texas. The CISF targets west Texas for up to 40,000 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel and highly radioactive waste from commercial atomic reactors across the country. There is around 95,000 metric tons of highly radioactive waste stored at 94 operating, and 42 closed, nuclear reactors located in dozens of states.
The Supreme Court decision did not reach the underlying concern before the court ⸺ whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) had authority to issue private storage licenses like ISP’s. Instead, it held that the State of Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals were not parties eligible for judicial review. Because of this ineligibility, the court held that the ISP license could not be challenged.
The battle over ISP will continue outside the court. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a prohibition against the waste site in September 2021, just days before the NRC approved ISP’s construction and operating license. The state law would not allow needed state permits to be issued.
“A single rail car would carry as much plutonium as was in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Shipments would continue for 40 years or more. Waste that remains deadly for eons would move from nuclear reactor sites across the country, creating accident and contamination risks along the way. Exposure to radiation is known to cause cancers, genetic damage, birth defects and deaths,” said Diane D’Arrigo of Nuclear Information and Resource Service. 
Late this summer, courts considered the impact of Supreme Court’s ruling on an even larger CISF, planned by Holtec International in southeastern New Mexico, just over 40 miles west of ISP’s site. Holtec’s dump would store up to 173,600 metric tons of radioactive waste.
On August 5, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Beyond Nuclear’s July 16th appeal for a rehearing in Beyond Nuclear v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission submitted by co-counsel, Diane Curran, of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg in Washington, DC, and Mindy Goldstein, Director of the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The appeal was regarding Holtec’s plans for the New Mexico CISF.
Since taking office in 2019, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has also opposed Holtec’s CISF. On March 17, 2023 ⸺ just weeks before NRC approved Holtec’s license ⸺ she signed into law a prohibition against the CISF for lacking the state’s consent. The new state law would also prevent the issuance of state permits needed for the dump’s opening.
“With the NRC as the gatekeeper, it is questionable whether any party will be able to challenge the NRC on important health and safety issues at any level,” said Karen Hadden of Texas Nuclear Watchdogs. “The proposed plans to consolidate the nation’s nuclear reactor waste put the public in danger, both with transportation and at the storage site. Opponents will continue to fight efforts to dump on Texas and New Mexico.”
⸺ Beyond Nuclear, August 7, July 18, and June 17, 2025. beyondnuclear.org
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