Carlsbad Current-Argus
A nuclear technology company looking to store spent nuclear fuel rods in the Permian Basin, along the Texas-New Mexico state line, appealed in U.S. Supreme Court a decision last year to vacate its license to do so, hoping to bring the waste from privately-owned reactors around the country.
Interim Storage Partners (ISP) was issued a license in 2021 to build a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) to hold up to 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel at the Waste Control Specialists site in Andrews, Texas. The project was smaller but almost identical to another facility proposed by Holtec International to hold about 100,000 metric tons of the same waste at a facility near Carlsbad and Hobbs.
Both projects were marred by controversy as state officials in New Mexico and Texas, along with the the oil and gas industry, voiced opposition, passing bills intended to block the facilities from going into operation should they be built. ISP’s license, issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was vacated by a federal court in August 2023, followed by Holtec’s on March 27. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which vacated both licenses, found they were “materially identical” and should be vacated for the same reasons.