Nuclear Waste License Tossed by Court in Blow to Storage Efforts

A federal appeals court has vacated a license for a temporary, privately operated nuclear waste storage facility in Texas, imperiling the federal government’s strategy to make progress on finding a home for spent nuclear fuel amid decades of political gridlock.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission exceeded its authority when it issued a license in September 2022 to Interim Storage Partners, a joint venture planning to develop a nuclear waste site in Andrews County, Texas, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled late Friday.

Congress clearly stated its intent in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 that nuclear regulators ...