The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a license for a company to store high-level nuclear waste in west Texas.
Interim Storage Partners LLC plans to build a new facility next to an existing storage site for low-level nuclear waste in Andrews County.
Local officials and the Texas State Legislature have both registered their opposition to the new site for high-level waste, which can include spent fuel.
Andrews County Commissioners passed a resolution opposing the site. State lawmakers passed a bill, signed by Governor Abbott, designed to prevent high-level nuclear waste from being transported from other states to the location.
The NRC says its review of the license application included a technical safety and security review, an environmental impact review and adjudication before an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
The Commission is also reviewing a license for a separate high-level disposal site in Lee County, New Mexico. That's just across the border from Andrews County. The NRC could make a decision on that license in early 2022.
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