65-group environmental coalition urges congressional leadership to oppose CISFs
Beyond Nuclear has joined forces with 64 other environmental groups, in a coalition letter to U.S. congressional leadership, urging opposition to the dangerously unwise authorization and funding of Consolidated Interim Storage Facilities for commercial irradiated nuclear fuel. The high-risk legislative language is contained in Energy & Water Appropriations bills in both Houses of Congress (H.R. 7613 and S. 0000, Sec. 306). See the full text of the letter, spearheaded by NRDC, with the entire list of signatory organizations from across the country, linked here.
One of the numerous major risks is that so-called "interim storage" would become de facto permanent, a surface storage "parking lot dump." This flies in the face of the wisdom embedded in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as Amended, which prohibits the U.S. Department of Energy from taking title to irradiated nuclear fuel at an "interim storage" site, unless and until a permanent repository is licensed and operating.
Nearly a decade ago, former U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (Democrat from New Mexico) emphasized the importance of this prohibition, just as his own state was beginning to be targeted for a massive CISF by Holtec International, a fight that still goes on.
The Nov. 23rd letter followed a very similar Nov. 13th letter, from 19 New Mexican and Texan environmental and environmental justice groups, to congressional leadership, opposing CISF authorization/funding in both Chambers' Energy & Water Appropriations Acts (linked here). NM and TX are targeted with two CISFs, just 40 miles from each other across the state line: Holtec International in NM, and Interim Storage Partners at Waste Control Specialists in TX.
November 23, 2020