High Court to Weigh Future of Nuclear Waste, Licensing Policy

The US Supreme Court will soon address a decades-long feud about what the nuclear industry should do with its spent fuel while it waits for Congress to establish a permanent repository.

Justices will hear arguments Wednesday surrounding the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s right to license commercialized mass nuclear waste storage and opponents’ standing to challenge those licenses in court.

Interim Storage Partners LLC and Holtec International Corp. attempted to provide a solution by building temporary storage sites in west Texas and southeast New Mexico, but the NRC faced pushback in the Fifth Circuit and Tenth Circuit after it approved 40-year licenses ...