The New Jersey-based company, in tandem with a group from Eddy and Lea counties in southeast New Mexico, wanted to build a huge facility that could store 500 canisters holding about 8,680 metric tons of commercial nuclear waste. Called Hi-Store<\/a>, the project had plans to expand to 10,000 canisters holding roughly 120,000 metric tons of spent fuel.<\/p>\n For perspective, that\u2019s more than the\u00a0roughly 91,000 metric tons<\/a>\u00a0of waste that\u2019s been accumulated by all the nuclear power plants in\u00a035 states<\/a>\u00a0across the country.<\/p>\n The now-shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station holds 3.55 million pounds of spent fuel \u2014 the equivalent of 1,610 metric tons \u2014 in dozens of canisters at the facility, called SONGS for short.<\/p>\n So at least in theory, the Holtec project in New Mexico would certainly have been large enough to take San Onofre\u2019s waste, if it were to receive federal approval to be shipped there.<\/p>\n A board member of the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance<\/a> of New Mexico told the Union-Tribune in June that \u201cit makes sense that we could do what we could to help you at San Onofre as one of our primary receiving sites.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission two years ago approved a license for Holtec<\/a> to build and operate what\u2019s called a \u201cconsolidated interim storage facility\u201d at the site.<\/p>\n But Holtec has thrown in the towel, saying in a statement<\/a> last week that after discussions with the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance \u201cand due to the untenable path forward for used fuel storage in New Mexico, we mutually agreed upon canceling the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n Holtec officials said the company will now \u201cwork with other states who are amenable\u201d to discuss possibly taking on similar nuclear storage projects.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad that Holtec heard our strenuous objections and decided that fighting to put more nuclear waste in New Mexico was a losing proposition,\u201d New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n New Mexico is already home to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant<\/a>, an underground repository for nuclear material generated from weapons production, and the state\u2019s governor and many of its lawmakers feel the Land of Enchantment has done more than its share in dealing with the long-running problem of where to store nuclear waste.<\/p>\n For decades, Yucca Mountain in Nevada had been slated as a permanent site to take spent fuel that has stacked up over the years at the nation\u2019s commercial nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n But the Obama administration\u00a0cut off funding for Yucca in 2010<\/a>, after years of protests from lawmakers in the Silver State who had long opposed the project. The project\u2019s costs came to at least $15 billion<\/a>\u00a0before getting shelved.<\/p>\n With Yucca off the table, federal officials have gone back to the drawing board, looking at potential sites to accept some or all of the country\u2019s commercial spent fuel, either on an interim (i.e., a still-to-be determined period) or permanent basis.<\/p>\n In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy put up an initial allocation of $26 million<\/a> to identify communities that may be interested \u201cin learning more about hosting\u201d a potential interim facility.<\/p>\n But one likely sticking point is that until a permanent site is announced, it may be difficult to find a community willing to accept an interim facility because of the fear that the waste will remain there indefinitely.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s inappropriate to call anything \u2018interim\u2019 when you don\u2019t have a permanent repository,\u201d New Mexico state senator Jeff Steinborn told Associated Press<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n In a similar vein, a proposed commercial waste project in West Texas has hit roadblocks.<\/p>\n A group called Interim Storage Partners<\/a> proposed storing 40,000 metric tons of waste in canisters in a remote portion of Andrews County, Texas.<\/p>\n Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year<\/a> that ruled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was within its rights to grant the company a 40-year lease, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fought against the project, in part due to fears of an accident disrupting drilling in the state\u2019s oil-and-gas-rich Permian Basin.<\/p>\n
![\"Vertically](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sut-l-radioactive-railroad-006.jpg\")
<\/p>\n