Resistance continues, as ISP, TX CISF poised for final approval by NRC in the next several weeks

On June 22, 2021, the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners rejected Fasken's motion to re-open the licensing proceeding, as well as its submission of a contention based on new information, in the case of Interim Storage Partners -- an irradiatiated nuclear fuel (highly radioactive waste) consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) application targeting Waste Control Specialists' site in Andrews County, TX.

Fasken's -- a century-old oil and gas company, as well as ranching, company -- new contention and motion to re-open the proceeding was the last oppositional subject matter remaining before the NRC in the ISP licensing case.

The NRC Staff announced some months ago that it would publish the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Final Safety Evaluation Report re: ISP's CISF sometime in July 2021.

The NRC Chairman, Christopher Hanson, has made clear -- in a face to face meeting with Beyond Nuclear and environmental justice allies from the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, some weeks ago, as well as in media statements -- that the NRC Commission will vote sooner, rather than later, on the ISP application, once the FSER and FEIS are published.

All four currently sitting Commissioners have voted in favor of the ISP CISF at every twist and turn for the past several years -- joining the NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) in rapid-fire rejection of every single one of scores of contentions brought forward by the likes of Fasken, Beyond Nuclear, Sierra Club, and a national grassroots environmental coalition (Don't Waste Michigan, et al., including Public Citizen's Texas Office, as well as Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition of Austin).

As soon as the NRC issues its final Record of Decision on the ISP CISF license to construct and operate, opponents are hopeful they will get their day in court. Each of the opposing parties has already appealed to the second highest court in the land -- the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit -- in the ISP CISF case.

The Holtec International/Eddy Lea Energy Alliance CISF application is not far behind ISP's in the NRC process. Fasken, again, has the last remaining matter in the licensing proceeding before the NRC Commissioners -- an appeal of the ASLB's wholesale rejection of its contentions. Holtec's application is poised for final approval by NRC in the October to November 2021 timeframe, at which point the same coalition of opponents will seek their day in court on the matter, per above. (In addition, the State of New Mexico Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the NRC, opposing the Holtec CISF application, in federal district court in Albuquerque.)

In addition to the NRC licensing proceedings and federal court appeals, opposition continues on the ground to both CISFs. In response to a groundswell of public opposition, the governors of both TX (Greg Abbott, a rightwing Republican) and NM (Michele Lujan Grisham, a liberal Democrat) oppose both the ISP and Holtec CISFs, which straddle either side of their joint border in the Permian Basin.