Feds to review proposed waste site for nuclear fuel rods
The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will begin a lengthy review of an East Coast company’s proposal to store up to 100,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods in underground casks on a nearly 1,000-acre parcel in southeastern New Mexico’s Lea County.
Florida- and New Jersey-based Holtec Inc. submitted an application about a year ago for what was described as interim storage of the highly radioactive rods, now mainly kept on-site at nuclear power plants because no permanent storage facility exists. The plan had strong support from the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance — a consortium that includes the two adjacent counties, as well as the cities of Hobbs and Carlsbad, home of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant where transuranic waste from nuclear weapons development is stored in underground salt caverns.
The Holtec project calls for carbon steel vessels full of the rods to be buried in a waste field on desert land that lies between the two cities.
“The NRC has determined the application is sufficiently complete for the staff to begin its detailed safety, security and environmental reviews,” the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a news release issued Thursday, adding that the decision to move forward with the review “does not indicate approval of the application.”
Read more: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/feds-to-review-proposed-waste-site-for-nuclear-fuel-rods/article_a4c7f877-f500-574b-bd09-ccee09d43c0e.html
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