Summary:

 Senate Bill 316 (SB 316) requires uranium waste disposal in federally managed underground facilities and limits the issuance of permits for uranium waste disposal to federally
managed underground hazardous waste depositories. 

 

Legislation Overview:

 Senate Bill 316 (SB 316) creates a new section of law that requires uranium waste disposal in federally managed underground facilities. It prohibits any state agency from issuing any permits for uranium waste disposal in a facility other than a federally managed underground depository designed for the storage of hazardous waste. 
 
 

Current Law:

 New Mexico has been the location of the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), which is the nation's only deep geologic long-lived radioactive waste repository. Located twenty-six miles southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, WIPP permanently isolates defense-generated low level transuranic (TRU) waste 2,150 feet underground in an ancient salt formation.  
In 1979, Congress authorized WIPP, and the facility was constructed during the 1980s. Congress limited WIPP to the disposal of defense-generated TRU wastes in the 1992 Land Withdrawal Act. In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certified WIPP for safe, long-term disposal of TRU wastes.
In 2023, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license for Holtec International to construct a Centralized Interim Storage Facility for temporary, high-level nuclear waste in southeastern New Mexico. It is a 40-year license for the initial phase of the project which would accept up to 500 canisters holding some 8680 tons of used fuel. The Fifth Circuit vacated the license upon appeal from Texas and New Mexico.
One issue is whether federal law allows the NRC to license a temporary high level nuclear waste facility when there is not a permanent one to take the waste eventually. A correlated issue is whether a temporary facility will become permanent because there is no permanent facility to receive the waste. Another issue is whether the NRC can license a privately owned storage facility that is not based at the nuclear reactor site. 
The US Supreme Court accepted this case in October 2024, and SCOTUS will hear the case in February 2025.