Texas nuclear waste storage permit invalidated by US appeals court [View all]
Source: Reuters
August 25, 2023 9:27 PM EDT
Aug 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday canceled a license granted by a federal agency to a company to build a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in western Texas, which the Republican-led state has argued would be dangerous to build in one of the nation's largest oil basins.
A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacked the authority under federal law to issue permits for private, temporary nuclear waste storage sites. The license, which was issued in 2021 to project developer Interim Storage Partners LLC, was challenged by Texas as well as west Texas oil and gas interests that opposed the facility.
U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho, writing for the court, agreed with Texas that the Atomic Energy Act does not give the agency the broad authority "to license a private, away-from-reactor storage facility for spent nuclear fuel."
Ho, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump, said a license for that kind of a facility also conflicts with a U.S. law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which prioritizes permanent storage solutions and otherwise allows temporary storage of nuclear waste only at reactors themselves or at federal sites. Representatives for the NRC, Texas Governor Greg Abbott's office and the developer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/texas-nuclear-waste-storage-permit-invalidated-by-us-appeals-court-2023-08-26/
This story has all kinds of cognizant dissonance in it. Well at least in terms of the sudden "concern" about the environment (nuclear waste storage - albeit "temporary" ) - UNLESS it impinges on the mighty OIL fields.
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