Plans to Build Nuclear Waste Dump in Texas May Resume After Supreme Court Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday removed a major hurdle for federal officials looking to build a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in Texas, despite opposition from state officials.
The 6-3 ruling reversed a federal appeals court decision that invalidated the license granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to Interim Storage Partners LLC for a facility in southwest Texas, the Associated Press reports. The ruling may also restart plans for a similar facility in Lea County in New Mexico, per the AP.
The ruling says neither Texas nor a land developer were part of the commission's decision-making process, so they don't have the right to ask courts to review the case, according to court documents.
The court reversed a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and ordered the lower court to deny or dismiss the petitions for review filed by Texas and the landowners.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a license to Interim Storage Partners, a private company based in Andrews County, for a facility that could hold up to 5,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and 231 million tons of radioactive waste, according to the AP. The site is about 250 miles west of Dallas near the Texas-New Mexico border.
For years, state Republicans have fought plans to allow the temporary storage site in Texas. In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law banning the disposal of high-level nuclear waste in Texas.
"I will not let Texas become America’s dumping ground for deadly radioactive waste," Abbott said in a statement in 2022. "I will continue pursuing every legal avenue to protect the Permian Basin, which is crucial to America’s energy security, and to keep all Texans safe from nuclear waste."
In March, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office appeared before the justices to argue the Nuclear Regulatory Commission erred in issuing the license.
Congress has long attempted to create a permanent nuclear waste storage facility. In 1982, Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Police Act requiring the federal government to establish a permanent facility to store spent nuclear fuel.
Plans existed initially for a permanent underground storage facility at Yucca Mountain, northwest of Las Vegas, but were stalled because of opposition from Nevada residents and officials. The decision was halted during the Obama administration, and it is unclear if the Trump administration will seek to restart the project.
In an attempt to find a temporary solution, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license in 2021 to Waste Control Specialists, the company founded by the late Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, and French nuclear giant Orana, to store up to 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County. The decision prompted outcry from environmentalists and landowners across West Texas, resulting in a petition to state legislatures to intervene.
Spent fuel from a nuclear reactor can remain radioactive and pose major health risks for thousands of years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Reporting by James Osborne and the Associated Press contributed to this story.