Beyond Nuclear meets court-ordered deadline in legal case against CISFs

On March 18, 2019, Beyond Nuclear's legal counsel, Diane Curran of Washington, D.C. and Mindy Goldstein of Atlanta, GA, filed a package of documents to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, by the second highest court in the land's deadline.

The court case is entitled Beyond Nuclear, Inc. versus United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The case manifests Beyond Nuclear's opposition to commercial highly radioactive waste (irradiated nuclear fuel) consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) -- namely, Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance in New Mexico, and Interim Storage Partners/Waste Control Specialists in Texas.

Beyond Nuclear's objection is that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing proceedings are illegal. The legal argument is that both the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as Amended (NWPA), as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, are violated by NRC's ongoing licensing proceedings re: both CISF applications.

Specifically, the NWPA forbids the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from taking title (ownership) of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel, except at a licensed and operating permanent repository. The CISFs are not that -- and yet they both implicitly assume that DOE would take title (ownership) at these "temporary storage" facilities.

The documents package includes:

Petitioner's Certificate as to Parties, Rulings, and Related Cases;

Petitioner's Docketing Statement Form and Addendum with Exhibits;

Statement of Intent by the Parties to Utilize Deferred Joint Appendix;

Petitioner's Nonbinding Statement of Issues to Be Raised;

Petitioner's Statement of Underlying Decisions from Which Appeal or Petition Arises; and

Petitioner's Certificate of Service.