Court rules against temporary nuclear waste storage site near Carlsbad, New Mexico

 

The efforts of envrionmentalists and others opposed to a proposed temporary storage site in southeast New Mexico for spent nuclear reactor fuel resulted in a victory for them in federal court.

The Fifth Circuit Court has vacated the license held by Holtec International, ruling that federal regulators didn’t have the authority to issue the permit. The permit had been granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for construction and operation of a facility to store nearly 100,000 metric tons of spent fuel brought to the site near the Eddy-Lea county line near Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Holtec International intended to temporarily hold the waste at the site and leaders now say they will likely appeal the ruling with the U.S. Supreme Court.

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