Supreme Court Paves Way for New Mexico Nuclear Waste Storage (1)

The US Supreme Court on Monday remanded to the Fifth Circuit a case that contested the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority to license the storage of spent nuclear fuel in New Mexico away from a reactor.

The court didn’t rule on the merits but vacated the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision to toss a license issued to Holtec International Corp. for its facility in New Mexico, citing the high court’s recent decision in NRC v. Texas.

“Holtec is very pleased that the Supreme Court has put an end to the efforts by Fasken to challenge HI-STORE’s NRC license for its centralized interim spent fuel storage facility,” said Patrick O’Brien, the director of government affairs and communications for Holtec Internatonal.

“It’s now clear that the NRC has the statutory authority to license the facility and that Fasken’s arguments to the contrary are without merit,” he said.

Monday’s order follows the Supreme Court’s ruling on June 18 in NRC v. Texas. The high court in that case decided to uphold a 2021 NRC-issued license that allowed Interim Storage Partners to store highly radioactive waste at a temporary site in west Texas.

The high court found Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals Ltd.—who attempted to challenge the license—couldn’t obtain judicial review because they weren’t parties in the NRC administrative proceedings. For those reasons, the Fifth Circuit must apply the Supreme Court’s decision to the case.

The Supreme Court didn’t rule on the merits in the Texas case but hinted NRC has the authority to grant licenses in the future.

Now that the Texas case has been dealt with, the New Mexico case—which involved nearly identical arguments—must also be sent back to the Fifth Circuit to be dismissed, said Jay Silberg, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

“Having done that in the ISP case, the exact same analysis applies to the Holtec case,” he said.

Fasken Land had also attempted to intervene in the NRC proceedings regarding Holtec’s New Mexico facility, but was denied. Fasken then petitioned for review of the license approval to the Fifth Circuit.

When the Fifth Circuit vacated the license for Interim Storage Partners in the Texas case, it also got rid of Holtec’s New Mexico license.

The Supreme Court’s decision for Interim Storage’s license now affects Holtec’s license, Silberg said.

The court essentially said to the Fifth Circuit “you should get rid of this case the same way you’re going to get rid of the ISP case,” Silberg said.

The two high court decisions come as President Donald Trump has been pushing for increased nuclear energy use—including issuing executive orders—as part of his economic agenda.

The case is NRC v. Fasken Land & Minerals, U.S., No. 23-1341, petition granted 6/30/25.