The very thought of having nuclear waste stored in one’s backyard is a topic that stimulates serious conversation, and such conversations and concerns are frequently occurring amongst Lea County stakeholders and residents of surrounding counties.
The reason that this topic is rising to occur in our daily thoughts is that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) about Holtec International’s proposed HI-STORE CISF (consolidated interim nuclear storage facility) to be located here in Lea County.
The final statement finds “…no environmental impacts that would preclude the NRC from issuing a construction and operation license for environmental reasons,” states an article posted at World-Nuclear-News.org. What this means is that Holtec International likely will receive the go ahead from the NRC to build the proposed facility in Lea County.
Nearly 4000 individual comments, some submitted by Lea County residents, were “received and addressed” by the NRC before the department wrote the final EIS. The comments received were in response to the commission’s draft EIS published in March of 2020.
History of the Project
With headquarters in Jupiter, Florida, Holtec International is a “diversified energy technology company”. According to the company’s website, “The company is widely recognized as the foremost technology innovator in the field of carbon-free power generation, specifically commercial nuclear and solar energy.”
The company has offices worldwide providing consulting and services in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. However, most of the operations are located within the United States.
For several years Holtec International has been looking at a site in Lea County to locate its HI-STORE facility, and in 2017 the company submitted to the NRC its application for a 40-year lease for the first phase of the project.
In its application Holtec requested a license allowing “… up to 500 canisters holding some 8680 tonnes of used fuels,” states the World Nuclear News article. “The company expects to increase this to a total of 1000 canisters in an additional 19 phases [of the project] over the course of 20 years.”
Holtec and the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance Partnership
Holtec International has partnered with the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) to pursue the HI-STORE CISF project. The proposed facility is to be located between Carlsbad and Hobbs near the borders of Eddy and Lea counties on a remote and dry approximate 1000-acre site. The land is owned by the ELEA and has railway access. No one resides within 35 miles of the site, which is presented to provide relief to those who harbor concerns of having nuclear waste stored close to their homes.
The HI-STORE CISF, if approved, will be used to safely and securely store nuclear fuel from reactors around the US “… in a below-the-ground impregnable facility based on proven technology”. Used nuclear fuel “…would be transported by rail to the [Lea County] CISF,” states the World Nuclear News article.
Governor, Some Legislators, Some Oil Companies Oppose Project
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham opposes the project, stating that storing nuclear waste in New Mexico poses too great of a risk to public health.
In a Wednesday, July 13 press release she stated, “Despite my strong objections and concerns over public health, economic, scientific, natural resource and environmental justice – and those of tribal leaders, local governments, and the people of New Mexico – the NRC is effectively choosing profit over public interest.”
Gov. Lujan Grisham continued, “The NRC has unilaterally decided to house the nation’s spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico, despite the fact that our state has not one nuclear power plant within its borders. And while the NRC and Holtec International say that the proposal is ‘temporary,’ a 40-year license with the opportunity for renewal will threaten the health and safety of generations of New Mexicans.”
Several state legislators have also aired objections. During the 2022 state legislative session, District 36 Senator Jeff Steinborn (Dem.) of Las Cruces introduced Senate Bill 54 aimed at blocking the Holtec project by prohibiting the State of New Mexico from issuing permits “…for wastewater discharge and other ventures needed to operate the site,” states Mike Smith author of an article about the project published at CarlsbadCurrentArgus.com. The bill passed the Senate Conservation Committee and moved on to the Senate Judiciary Committee where it was held up with no further movement.
A similar bill, House Bill 127, was discussed but later tabled by the New Mexico House of Representatives.
United States Senators Martin Heinrich (Dem. NM) and Ted Cruz (Rep. TX) have also expressed opposition to Holtec’s project. The pair “…recently introduced legislation aimed at banning federal funding from supporting such a site,” states an article posted at the Manufacturing Business Technology Magazine website.
Several Permian Basin oil and gas companies have, additionally, expressed opposition to the HI-STORE CIFS project. Specifically, the Permian Basin Coalition with its vast membership that includes Shell Oil Company, the Texas Oil and Gas Association and a long list of Texas cities, counties and chambers of commerce has called on Congress to block storage projects in the “federal omnibus spending package”, reports the Carlsbad Current-Argus.
Environmental groups and nuclear watch dogs are also expressing concerns about the project to the public and to the US Energy Department.
Storage of Nuclear Waste
According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), currently all nuclear waste throughout the US is stored at the power plant where it is produced “in dry casks”.
“A permanent disposal site for used nuclear fuel has been planned for Yucca Mountain, Nevada, since 1987, but political issues keep it from becoming a reality,” states the NEI.
The HI-STORE CISF will serve as an alternative, offering a central gathering interim location for the nation’s nuclear waste until a permanent facility becomes a reality.
“We believe,” said Holtec International’s CEO Kris Singh, “aggregating used fuel from 75 dispersed sites across the country is both a national security imperative and an essential predicate for the rise of renascent nuclear energy to meet our nation’s clean energy goals.”
Scope of Project
In total the project has 20 possible phases from construction through decommissioning. The EIS assesses all of these phases. “It considers the impacts to land use, transportation, geology and soils, surface waters and wetlands, groundwater, ecological resources, historic and cultural resources, environmental justice and several other areas,” states the World Nuclear News article. “The EIS also considers a ‘No-Action’ alternative.”
After comparing Phase 1 with the No-Action alternative, NRC staff is recommending Phase 1 – “the issuance of an NRC license to Holtec to construct and operate a CISF for spent nuclear fuel at the proposed location, subject to the determinations in the staff’s safety review of the application.” The NRC staff’s safety evaluation should be released in January of next year.
Impact to Lea County
Holtec’s CEO Chris Singh has stated that the HI-STORE CISF will not, if approved, impact area oil and gas or potash mining operations. The lives of local farmers and ranchers will not be negatively affected. Alternatively, “well-paying clean energy jobs in the host communities” will be created.
ELEA Secretary Susan Crockett of Eddy County sees the project bringing increased tax revenue to the state and to both Eddy and Lea counties. Crockett estimates that the proposed Holtec project “…could add $12 million a year to New Mexico’s economy,” states Mike Smith in his Carlsbad Current-Argus story, a figure much lower than the amount that is being added to New Mexico’s economy through the legalized sale to adults of recreational cannabis.
About the pending green light that the NRC has given the Holtec project through its positive final EIS, ELEA Vice Chairman John Heaton of Carlsbad said, “This is a great day for ELEA, the Holtec team and Southeastern New Mexico, as it is the beginning of the final steps leading to a license.”
Photo by Dan Meyers // Unsplash
