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7h ago

Supreme Court Bars Texas From Challenging NRC Nuclear Waste Storage License

The court found challengers forfeited their right to challenge the 2021 licensing by missing intervention deadlines, clearing the way for a four-decade, 40,000-ton waste storage facility

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A heavy duty excavator loads a container truck with hazardous uranium tailings at the UMTRA remediation project in Moab, Utah, on Feb. 9, 2023.
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A view of the U.S. Supreme Court building on the first day of the court's new term in Washington, U.S. October 3, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File photo

Overview

  • In a 6-3 decision, justices ruled that Texas and private landowners lacked party status in the NRC’s 2021 licensing proceedings and cannot seek judicial review
  • The ruling reinstates the NRC’s license for Interim Storage Partners to store up to 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel above ground in Andrews County for 40 years
  • Opponents warned that locating dry-cask storage in the Permian Basin could pose risks to water supplies and local ecosystems
  • With the Yucca Mountain repository stalled by political opposition, temporary off-site sites have become the only approved option for the nation’s growing stockpile of spent fuel
  • Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, dissented that challengers were “aggrieved” by environmental dangers and deserved their day in court