Why West Texas Might Get Even More Nuclear Waste Soon

Spent nuclear fuel, radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, is in the process of being stored in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico. Waste Control Specialists, with a dump site already in Andrews County, are seeking a license from the federal government to store high-level nuclear waste at their facility. 

Even though scientific experts say that this type of waste should be stored deep underground, the interim storage plan outlined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and WCS has the spent nuclear fuel sitting on a concrete pad, only 20 foot below grade. 

Local residents, activists, environmental groups, oil and gas companies, and even Texas Governor Greg Abbott have spoken out against this plan. The federal government claims that accidents that might occur along the railway are not a risk, and that everything is safe to continue this project. 

This year WCS accepted 8 gallons of radioactive waste from a facility in South Carolina, as a quasi-test, explains Tom Clements. He says it’s a foot in the door for Waste Control Specialists to receive even more high-level nuclear waste from around the nation. 

Elaine Magruder, a local rancher in Andrews, is concerned about the risks associated with storing such radioactive waste in the vicinity of her land. She says that groundwater could easily be contaminated in a single accident that could occur at the facility. Groundwater that is her only access to fresh water for her agricultural business. 

Meanwhile, County Judge Charlie Falcon claims that no one in Andrews, Texas has a problem with Waste Control Specialists. Environmental scientists disagree, citing the contamination of the area’s largest aquifer, the Ogallala, as a huge concern. 

Waste Control Specialists has been disposing of the nation’s low-level nuclear waste — including tools, building materials and protective clothing exposed to radioactivity — for a decade at a hazardous waste facility in Andrews County, on the New Mexico border. Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune