State lawmakers peppered representatives of a company and a local government consortium with sharp questions Friday afternoon over a proposal to bury spent nuclear fuel rods in southeastern New Mexico, expressing skepticism about the legality and safety of
an “interim” underground storage facility that would sit halfway between Carlsbad and Hobbs.
Most notably, legislators on the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee made clear during Friday’s hearing at the Capitol that they were uneasy about the lack of a permanent U.S. repository for fuel rods from nuclear power plants across the country. This could make New Mexico the de facto home of the nuclear
materials for several decades — or possibly forever — they said.
The establishment of a permanent storage facility, such as the contentious and long-stalled Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, is a remote prospect.
