After several years on the drawing board, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), on Tuesday, May 9, announced its approval of a 40-year license for Holtec International to build and operate a Consolidated Interim Nuclear Storage Facility (HI-STORE CISF) in Lea County.
Holtec’s CIFS, if it becomes a reality, will be located on a 1000-acre former cattle grazing site owned by the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA). The land is located close to the border of Lea and Eddy counties.
Although both Holtec International and the NRC are calling the site “temporary”, a 40-year license, in the opinions of many, is a broad definition of “temporary”. A New Mexico Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) news report shines light as to why the NRC approved the lease for 40 years. The report states that “the U.S does not have a permanent waste site” and that “there is no other place for that waste to go.”
State Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D. – Dist. 36) is deeply concerned about these two factors. He told the NM Political Report, “There’s a great concern that this waste, should it end up in New Mexico, will really never move from here. A facility that’s not designed to be forever, suddenly becomes forever. That’s really bad for New Mexico. That’s not in our interest at all.”
Hurdles for Holtec to Clear
In addition to the 40-year license issue, Holtec faces other hurdles to clear before the facility will actually become a reality in Lea County.
At the top of the list is that “today all of the state’s top elected officials, state and federal, oppose Holtec’s plans,” states Laura Paskus, Land Senior Producer for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) of New Mexico.
Adding weight to the “top elected officials” opposition to the project is a new state law that becomes effective on June 15 of this year. Known as Senate Bill 53 and originally introduced by Sen. Steinborn, the legislation passed with bipartisan support during the 2023 regular session of the New Mexico legislature. Specifically, the law requires that before the Holtec plant can be built “New Mexico must consent to the facility; and second, the federal government must have a permanent nuclear waste repository in place, so that an alternative storage site exists. Neither of those conditions have been met,” states a Searchlight New Mexico article.
Delving deeper into the conditions of the new law and without actually overruling the federal license granted by the NRC, New Mexico is prohibited “… from issuing state permits that the for-profit company will need for things like hazardous waste storage and cultural resources clearance. There will be water permits and sanitary waste permits. And since the company has said that it will bring waste here by rail, Holtec will also need permits from the state department of transportation,” states the PBS news report.
Holtec Lobbyists Attempt to Undermine the New State Law
Lobbyists for Holtec International contend that the new law is “overreaching”, as “federal laws trump any state laws that conflict with federal code – called ‘preemption’ in legal terms, ” states Danielle Prokop in a Missoula Current news story.
Holtec lobbyists also argue that the new law ignores “…efforts by Southeastern local leaders that encouraged the facility.” Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb, Hobbs District 1 City Commissioner Finn Smith, Lea County District 4 Commissioner Jonathan Sena and Lea County Manager Michael Gallaghar are some of the area leaders who are on record as “committed to establishing” the nuclear waste storage facility in Lea County. These local officials argue that the Holtec project will prove a positive economic boost to southeastern New Mexico.
Others contend that the transporting and storing of nuclear, radioactive waste in the area will be detrimental to the economy and environment, not to mention to the safety and health of all.
Eunice resident Rose Gardner has voiced her concerns and campaigned against the Holtec project for more than five years. Ms. Gardner told NM Political Report’s correspondent Hannah Grover, “People are deserving of protection for our way of life and our health and well-being.”
Joint Statement by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Raúl Torrez
On Wednesday, May 10, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who have long voiced their opposition to the Holtec project, issued a joint statement about the NCR’s granting of the license to Holtec. The pair said, “This decision by the NRC – which has been made despite the grave concerns of the state and the legislature over the project’s potential impacts to health, safety and the economy – is incredibly disappointing. It also undermines the NRC’s alleged commitment to meaningful engagement with stakeholders, as it appears our [New Mexicans’] concerns were wholly ignored and went unaddressed by Holtec and the NRC.”
State Sen. Steinborn has echoed the disapproval of both the governor and the attorney general with the NRC’s decision. “It’s time that our [New Mexicans’] voice be heard and honored, and that this project be shut down,” he stated.
Others including environmental groups and other state lawmakers and officials have also spoken negatively about the NRC’s decision “This is a bad idea, full stop. Placing a nuclear storage facility in the heart of oil and gas operations is a recipe for ecological disaster and unnecessarily puts New Mexicans at risk,” New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard told the press.
Holtec’s Safety Record of Concern
Added to the public’s concerns about storing nuclear waste in New Mexico is Holtec’s questionable safety record.
According to an Albuquerque Journal article, in 2018 at the San Onofre nuclear power plant in California “… a loose piece of bolt was discovered in a storage canister Holtec manufactured.” Investigators found that Holtec had tweaked the canister’s design without permission from the NRC. Although Holtec’s CEO Krishna Singh stated that the loose bolt was “much ado about nothing”, the NRC sanctioned Holtec as a result of the “loose bolt”” ncident with two”safety significant” violations.
Holtec was issued two other violations by the NRC in 2018 at the San Onofre plant as a result of personnel failing to “… recognize for almost an hour that a 50-plus-ton canister lowering into an 18-foot concrete silo within the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation – similar to that planned for Lea County – had gotten hung up on a metal flange, states the Albuquerque Journal. The event has been labeled a “near miss”.
Then in 2021, the NRC identified three security-related violations at Holtec’s Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey. A $150,000 civil penalty resulted for Holtec. And in 2022, the NRC issued a $50,000 civil penalty to Holtec for security-related violations, again at Oyster Creek. This time the penalty was the result of the company’s armorer deliberately falsifying records and his failure to perform mandatory firearms maintenance.
Many questions linger about the Holtec project and the potential storage of high-level, radioactive nuclear waste in Lea County. No one knows if New Mexico state law will supersede the NRC’s ruling regarding Holtec’s license to build and operate the facility in Lea Couny. Legal battles are likely, and the last chapter of the story has not as of this writing been written.
