“After discussions with our longtime partner in the HI-STORE project, the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, and due to the untenable path forward for used fuel storage in New Mexico, we mutually agreed upon canceling the agreement. This allows for ELEA to work to redevelop the property in a manner that fits their needs and allows Holtec to work with other states who are amenable to used fuel storage based on the recent DOE work on public education and outreach,” Holtec said in a statement.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in NRC v. Texas, which found that petitioners did not have standing to challenge the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of Interim Storage Partners’ CISF in Texas, Holtec said it expected to have its HI-STORE CISF license reinstated, allowing the company to move forward with the project. Holtec and ISP’s NRC licenses were vacated by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2023 ruling.
Despite the court’s decision, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she remained committed to preventing the HI-STORE CISF from being built. In 2023, New Mexico passed a bill barring the storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste in New Mexico without the state’s explicit consent.
Eddy-Lea MOU: In 2015, Holtec announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with ELEA to apply for an NRC license to build the HI-STORE CISF on 1,000 acres of land set aside by the alliance. The NRC approved the license in 2023 for the facility, which would store SNF using Holtec’s below-grade cask system.
The MOU with ELEA, however, prevented Holtec from pursuing similar interim storage projects outside of the counties of Eddy and Lea.
According to the minutes of an August meeting of the ELEA board of directors, ELEA considered amending the agreement to allow Holtec to pursue sites elsewhere, including Colorado and Utah, provided that Holtec would agree to cover 50 percent of legal costs should ELEA decide to sue New Mexico over the 2023 ban on interim SNF storage.
ELEA also stipulated that Holtec respond to requests by the Department of Energy “related to federal facility siting and surrender the site to DOE if required, subject to Eddy Lea’s approval.” The DOE issued a request for information opportunity for the design and construction of a federal CISF in July 2024.
