Environmental coalition letter to Congress, opposing Yucca dump and CISFs

Beyond Nuclear joined eight other national groups, and more than 50 state and local grassroots groups, on an environmental coalition letter to both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, expressing opposition to the permanent repository (dump-site) for irradiated nuclear fuel, long targeted at Western Shoshone Indian land at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as well as opposition to so-called "consolidated interim" storage facilities (CISFs, more accurately "de facto permanent surface dumps") currently targeted at southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. See the group letter, here.

Specifically, the letter expresses opposition to: H.R. 2699, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act (NWPAA) of 2019; H.R. 2699's U.S. Senate equivalent, also entitled the NWPAA, which is a discussion draft and does not have a bill number yet; S. 1234, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2019; and any appropriations for the Yucca dump and CISFs.

Environmentalist groups appeal federal licensing of nuclear waste facility near Carlsbad

As reported by the Carlsbad Current Argus:

The opposition filed its appeals to that decision on Monday.

Diane Curran, lawyer for Beyond Nuclear — a Maryland-based environmentalist group leading the opposition — questioned the legality of the denial and of Holtec’s application.

“The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board’s decision is legally erroneous, because there are no exceptions to the clear mandates of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and Administrative Procedure Act. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must make its decisions in accordance with the law,” Curran said.

“Beyond Nuclear therefore seeks reversal of the licensing board, and also respectfully requests the Commission to order immediate denial of Holtec’s license application to the extent that it violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.”

Holtec, SCE Still Weeks From Finishing Assessment of Canister Scare at SONGS, NRC Says

As reported by the ExchangeMonitor.

While the troubled, highly controversial Holtec dry cask storage facility at San Onofre, CA holds a fraction of the waste from two reactors, its proposed consolidated interim storage facility targeted at southeastern New Mexico would hold 173,000 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel, generated at well over 100 reactors across the U.S. However, Holtec's troubled UMAX dry cask storage system design at San Onofre would be the same design used at its CISF in NM, showing clearly that the troubles at San Onofre are cautionary tales for the kinds of incidents and accident that could well happen in NM.

The Tax Break Application Had a False Answer. Now the State Has Put the Break on Hold.

After WNYC and ProPublica identified a false answer on nuclear company Holtec International’s New Jersey tax break application, state officials have frozen the break pending further investigation.

As further reported by WNYC and ProPublica.

Sources: Subpoena issued to New Jersey Economic Development Authority seeks documents on Holtec

As reported by Politico.

The news follows an earlier exposé by Politico and WNYC, dated May 23, 2019, re: Holtec's false testimony to the State of New Jersey on an application which won the company a $260 million tax break. Holtec testified that it had never been barred from doing business with the federal government or any state government. This was false. It had been barred from doing business with the Tennessee Valley Authority, due to a bribery conviction at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Alabama.