NRC Issues Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Holtec’s HI-STORE CISF
Nuclear Regulatory Commission | 3/12/2020
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on its draft environmental impact statement for Holtec International’s application for a license to construct and operate a consolidated spent nuclear fuel storage facility in Lea County, N.M. The draft report concludes that the environmental
impacts of the project would not preclude granting Holtec a license.
Holtec proposes initially to store 500 canisters holding approximately 8,680 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. The canisters would be transported by rail from operating decommissioning, and decommissioned commercial nuclear power plants around the country. This licensing period would last 40 years. Holtec plans to then request amendments to the license to store an additional 500 canisters for each of 19 expansion
phases of the proposed CISF, to be completed over the course of 20 years, and to expand the proposed facility to eventually store up to 10,000 canisters of SNF.
The HI-STORE CISF, located 12 miles from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), will provide a step forward for disposition of used nuclear fuel by providing a safe, secure, temporary, retrievable, and centralized facility for storage of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste until such time that a permanent solution is available.
“The NRC’s draft EIS validates our technical position that our proposed subterranean fuel storage facility entails no adverse consequences to the environment or to other enterprises such as oil and gas, ranching and farming operating in the area. Our stakeholders should know that our HI-STORE underground storage system in New Mexico has the three coveted characteristics, namely readily retrievable canisters to
enable at-will relocation, extreme resistance to terror and hurricanes, and a geologically stable terrain that precludes the incidence of earthquakes. We believe, among other economic benefits to the host community, that our program to utilize the waste heat from the stored canisters to purify waste water from fracking demonstrates our commitment to the community and the environment,” said Holtec’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kris Singh.
Details on how to submit comments in writing will be published soon on the Federal Register. Public comment period will run for 60 days.
Timeline of the process:
- 2015: Holtec and Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) launched the initiative of establishing the autonomous consolidated interim storage facility in southeastern New Mexico on land owned by ELEA
- March 31, 2017: Holtec submitted its license application to the NRC
- February 28, 2018: NRC concluded their acceptance review of the application
- March 2021: NRC will review public comments and prepare the final EIS
- March 2021: parallel technical safety review of the application is scheduled to be completed with a Safety Evaluation Report
