Holtec abandons plans for private New Mexico nuclear waste site
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New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks in September. Photo: JP Yim/Getty Images for New York Hilton Midtown
Holtec International is pulling the plug on plans to build a temporary storage site for commercial nuclear waste in southeastern New Mexico, citing state officials' fervent opposition.
Why it matters: Holtec had said in June that a Supreme Court ruling over storage of high-level spent fuel reaffirmed the company's license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue pursuing the site.
Driving the news: Holtec said in a statement Wednesday that the company and the project's local backers agreed to cancel the deal, citing "the untenable path forward for used fuel storage in New Mexico."
- Holtec acknowledged in a July letter to the project's local supporters that opposition from the New Mexico Legislature and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was a hindrance.
- Lujan Grisham's predecessor, Republican Susana Martinez, backed the Holtec project. But state lawmakers passed a law in 2023 seeking to block it.
- "I'm glad that Holtec heard our strenuous objections and decided that fighting to put more nuclear waste in New Mexico was a losing proposition," Lujan Grisham said in a statement.
Zoom in: Lujan Grisham has expressed repeated fears that any temporary site could become permanent.
- She and other critics also have argued that the state is doing its part by hosting the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground repository for castoff nuclear materials generated in weapons production.
- "We stand firm in our resolve to protect our state from becoming a nuclear dumping ground," Lujan Grisham said.
Catch up fast: Most spent fuel from commercial reactors is stored at the sites where it is generated. President Obama mothballed the planned permanent repository, Nevada's Yucca Mountain, and his successors have followed suit.
What's next: Holtec said it remains open to working with other states "who are amenable to used fuel storage."
- In its June ruling, the Supreme Court said Texas and oil interests can't challenge the NRC's permit for a separate, privately owned temporary waste storage site not far from where Holtec had planned its project.
- That site — proposed by Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture of Orano USA and Waste Control Specialists — also has met with fierce opposition from Texas officials.
