DON'T WASTE MI, et al. FILES FEDERAL LAWSUIT CHALLENGING NATIONAL HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMP TARGETING NEW MEXICO  

Petitioners charge Nuclear Regulatory Commission inadequately disclosed irradiated nuclear fuel transport routes through 45 states 

WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 24, 2020  -- On June 22, 2020, the national grassroots environmental coalition Don't Waste Michigan (DWM), et al. filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Case No. 20-1225), requesting review of an April 23, 2020 Order by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). NRC's Order rejected DWM, et al.'s challenges to Holtec International/Eddy Lea Energy Alliance’s application to build a massive “consolidated interim storage facility” (CISF) for nuclear waste in southeastern New Mexico. Holtec proposes to store as much as 173,000 metric tons of highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel – more than twice the amount currently stored at U.S. nuclear power reactors – in shallow pits on the site. 

DWM, et al. is comprised of the following seven organizations, from six states across the country: Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, MI; Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, NY; Don’t Waste Michigan; Nuclear Energy Information Service, IL; Nuclear Issues Study Group, NM; Public Citizen (DC, TX); San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, CA. Toledo, OH-based attorney Terry Lodge serves as the coalition's legal counsel.

As listed in its Petition for Review, Don't Waste MI, et al. appealed the following seven Contentions from its licensing intervention before the NRC to the federal court: Contention (1) Redaction of Historic and Cultural Properties Precludes Public Consultation and Participation; Contention (2) Insufficient Assurance of Financing;  Contention (3) Underestimation of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Volume; Contention (4) Holtec Does Not Qualify For Continued Storage Generic Environmental Impact Statement; Contention (7) Holtec's "Start Clean/Stay Clean" Policy Is Unlawful and Directly Causes a Public Health Threat; Contention (9) Incomplete and Inadequate Disclosure of Transportation Routes; and Contention (11) National Environmental Policy Act Requires Significant Risk Analysis.

Molly Johnson, a member of the board of San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMPF) in California, said: "The proposal to transport high-level radioactive waste to a poor community of color in southeast New Mexico as a 'temporary' storage solution is dangerous and irrational. San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace advocates for storing waste at or as close as possible to the site of generation until a science-based PERMANENT solution can be determined."

The June 22, 2020 filing deadline at the federal court of appeals came just one day before the NRC held its first of two scheduled public comment webinars/call-ins regarding its Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Holtec's proposed CISF. The webinar/call-in took place from 5 to 10pm Eastern, Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Representatives of Don't Waste Michigan, et al. submitted verbal comments at that time. A second webinar/call-in for public comment is scheduled to begin at 5pm Eastern on Thursday, July 9, 2020. NRC's current deadline for public comment is September 22, 2020. During the preceding environmental scoping stage public comment period in 2018, more than 30,000 public comments opposing the Holtec CISF were submitted, a record-breaking number for the subject matter.

A coalition of 50 groups, including all seven from the Don't Waste Michigan, et al., coalition, urged NRC on April 1, 2020 to hold two-dozen, in-person public comment meetings, post-pandemic, in a dozen states outside New Mexico, but the NRC has not even responded to that request. New Mexico's united U.S. congressional delegation has stood strong in its demand for five in-person public comment meetings across the state, once safe to do so.

As revealed by a 2008 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) document cited by NRC in its Holtec CISF DEIS, road and rail routes through 45 states and the District of Columbia would be used to haul Holtec's 10,000 high-risk irradiated nuclear fuel shipments on their roads and rails, from reactors predominantly in the eastern half of the country, to New Mexico. (See 2017 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects' analyses of the 2008 DOE document, including route maps and estimated shipment numbers.) A related 2002 DOE document revealed that numerous waterways on sea coasts, the Great Lakes, and rivers could also be used.