"The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders."

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in a case that could pave the way for Texas to host the nation’s first independent disposal ground for spent nuclear fuel.

Currently, thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste are stored on site at nuclear power plants across the country, awaiting a permanent national disposal site, which federal authorities have tried to develop for decades without success.

But even as Texas touts plans to become the nation’s next-generation nuclear capital, its leaders remain unwilling to take in its most potent nuclear refuse. The state, along with a local oil company, sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2021 over its licensing of a temporary storage site for up to 11 million pounds of spent uranium fuel in West Texas, at a facility owned by Waste Control Specialists, which already accepts low-level nuclear waste."

Dylan Baddour reports for Inside Climate News March 5, 2025. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Supreme Court Wrestles With Nation’s Frustrating Search For Nuclear Waste Storage" (AP) [3]