Court Weighs Major Questions in Licensing of Nuclear Waste Site

A panel of federal judges was skeptical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval last year of a privately run temporary nuclear waste storage site in West Texas, asking repeatedly whether regulators exceeded their authority granted by Congress to license such a facility.

Texas officials argued Monday during oral argument that the commission’s approval of a storage site opposed by the state violated the major questions doctrine—the authority Congress delegates to federal agencies on certain issues—which was the subject of the US Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. EPA ruling in June.

Legal analysts are watching to see how that blockbuster ...