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High Court Weighs Whether NRC May License Private Off-Site Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel
Summary
In oral argument over NRC v. Texas, justices questioned whether the Atomic Energy Act and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act permit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license private, off-site interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and probed safety, permanence and statutory text.
The Supreme Court considered whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has statutory authority to license private, off-site interim storage of spent nuclear fuel and whether the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) limits that authority.
Counsel for the NRC told the justices the Atomic Energy Act authorizes the agency to license possession and storage of the three constituent materials that make up spent nuclear fuel—source material, special nuclear material and byproduct material—and that the commission historically has used those provisions, together with implementing rules (notably 10 CFR part 72), to license both on-site and off-site storage since 1980. Petitioners urging reversal argued that the NWPA, enacted in 1982, shows Congress intended to encourage on-site storage and to exclude private off-site facilities from the federal program.
Why it matters: the court's decision will determine whether private companies can obtain NRC permission to centralize and store reactor…
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