Private nuke waste storage in NM seen as "impossible" in near term
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A company seeking to open a temporary storage site for commercial nuclear waste acknowledged that New Mexico's political opposition has at least temporarily clouded its prospects.
Why it matters: Holtec International said a Supreme Court ruling in June over waste storage reaffirmed the company's license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to pursue the site in southeastern New Mexico.
Driving the news: Holtec, however, said in a July 28 letter to the project's local supporters that opposition from the New Mexico Legislature and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was a hindrance.
- "Unfortunately, the passage of state legislation that effectively prohibits the construction of the [site], combined with the continued public opposition expressed by New Mexico's current administration, has made further advancement of the project impossible in the near future," William F. Gill, Holtec's vice president and general counsel, said in the letter.
- Lujan Grisham's predecessor, Republican Susana Martinez, backed the project. But state lawmakers passed a law in 2023 seeking to block it.
Gill said the company would seek to terminate a revenue-sharing agreement with the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, the local group backing the project.
- The agreement would give the alliance a share of the project's revenue once the facility was operational in exchange for land.
Zoom in: Holtec spokesman Patrick O'Brien said in a statement that the project isn't doomed and "remains a viable part of the solution" to spent fuel accumulating at nuclear reactor sites.
- "The two parties, with a nearly decade-long relationship, have discussed options available moving forward on both the revenue sharing and land purchase aspects under the current agreement, and will continue to do so," he said.
- Lujan Grisham — who has expressed repeated fears that a temporary site could become permanent — is term-limited and leaves office in January 2027.
Catch up fast: The Supreme Court ruled in June that Texas and oil interests can't challenge the NRC's permit for a separate privately owned temporary nuclear waste storage site not far from Holtec's.
- New Mexico already hosts the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground repository for castoff nuclear materials generated in weapons production.
