SCOTUS TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON NRC PLAN TO STORE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL IN ANDREWS COUNTY, TEXAS TOMORROW

Tomorrow, March 5, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on a ruling by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that blocked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from licensing Interim Storage Partners LLC (ISP) to temporarily store spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at a site in Andrews County, Texas. 

Although two other federal appeals courts rejected challenges to the license, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NRC lacked authority to license temporary storage sites under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. The ruling asserts that the NRC lacks clear congressional authorization to issue such licenses. Furthermore, the ruling also blocked the license by asserting that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act does not allow for the federal government to site a temporary storage site; the only alternatives are a permanent storage site or to have plants privately store waste on-site. 

In its appeal, the NRC stated that the Fifth Circuit incorrectly stripped the NRC of “an authority that the commission has exercised for over 40 years”. 

This case also impacts the potential development of the Eddy-Lea Alliance private spent nuclear fuel project in New Mexico and any other new proposed private spent nuclear fuel storage site in the country.

The case is Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, U.S., No. 23-1300. A decision could be expected by as early as June.  

ECA will continue to provide updates as the situation develops.