Energy company abandons proposal to store nuclear waste at site in New Mexico

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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A private energy company is abandoning a proposal to store nuclear waste at a site in southeastern New Mexico.

Holtec International described an “untenable path forward for used fuel storage in New Mexico” as it walked away from the proposal to temporarily hold spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants across the nation. The New Jersey-based company confirmed its decision Thursday.

Holtec said the move would allow it to work with other states that are more amenable.

The New Mexico project was cast aside despite a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling in August that rebooted plans for temporary storage in Texas and New Mexico.

The U.S. is at an impasse over a permanent solution for storing spend nuclear fuel, as roughly 100,000 tons (90,000 metric tons) of spent fuel, some of it dating from the 1980s, pile up at current and former nuclear plant sites nationwide. The waste was meant to be kept there temporarily before being deposited deep underground.

U.S. nuclear regulators in 2023 licensed the proposed multibillion-dollar storage complex in New Mexico, while opposition persisted.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislature put up stiff resistance with legislation that threatened to withhold state permits at least until a permanent storage solution is in place.

“It's inappropriate to call anything ‘interim’ when you don't have a permanent repository” for spent nuclear fuel, said Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, lead sponsor of the bill.

He called Holtec's decision to withdraw “a huge relief,” adding that “of course it's still a national problem that needs to be solved.”

By contrast, Lujan Grisham's Republican predecessor, Susana Martinez, had been supportive of the project. Holtec had argued the plan was safe and would be an economic boon for the region, without interfering with nearby oil development.

Critics of the project, including the Sierra Club, said Holtec's decision highlights an enduring roadblock.

“Nuclear energy has an intractable problem — no one wants the waste,” said Camilla Feibelman of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter.