Expert witness declaration by Robert Alvarez in the WCS/ISP CISF proceeding

Robert Alvarez, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, and former senior policy adviser to the Secretary of Energy and deputy assistant secretary for national security and the environment at the U.S. Department of Energy from 1993 to 1999, prepared an expert witness declaration on behalf of a seven-group grassroots environmental coalition opposing the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners centralized interim storage facility for 40,000 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel targeted at Andrews County, Texas. The expert witness declaration is entitled "Comments on the Application for a License for a Consolidated Interim Spent Fuel Storage Facility by Waste Control Specialists LLC (Docket No. 72-1050)," which includes the following subject matter: Failure to Accurately Address Life-Cycle Costs; High Burnup Spent Nuclear Fuel; and Repackaging for Disposal.

Terry Lodge, Toledo-based counsel for the environmental coalition, filed this expert witness declaration on Nov. 13, 2018, as part of the overall legal intervention.

Expert witness declarations by James David Ballard, Ph.D., re: CISF transport and away from reactor storage risks

Expert witness declaration by James David Ballard, Ph.D., Professor, Criminology and Justice Studies, California State University, Northridge, "Holtec HI-STORM UMAX Interim Storage Facility (a.k.a. CISF): Human-Initiated Events (HIE), Transportation of the Inventory, and Storage of Highly Radioactive Waste Materials."

The declaration was filed on September 14, 2018, as part of a legal intervention against the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance CISF in New Mexico by legal counsel Terry Lodge on behalf of a seven-group grassroots environmental coalition.

Expert witness declaration by Dr. James David Ballard, entitled "Interim Storage Partners: Transportation of the Inventory and the Storage of Highly Radioactive Waste Materials."

This declaration was filed on November 13, 2018, as part of a legal intervention against the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners CISF in Texas, by legal counsel Terry Lodge on behalf of a seven-group grassroots environmental coalition.

FASKEN AND PBLRO’S REPLY TO ISP’s OPPOSITION TO HEARING REQUEST AND PETITION TO INTERVENE

Fasken Lands and Minerals, Ltd., and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners, filed a REPLY, in their ongoing opposition to Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners in Andrews County, TX. Robert Eye of Lawrence, Kansas serves as legal counsel for Fasken and PBLRO.

Fasken, an oil and natural gas extraction company, and PBLRO, oppose the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance in southeastern NM as well.

The centralized interim storage facility (CISF) in TX would hold 40,000 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel; the CISF in NM would hold 173,600 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel.

Holtec/ELEA CISF oral argument pre-hearings to be held in Albuquerque, Jan. 23-24

The three-administrative law judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) appointed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage facility (CISF) license application proceeding has ordered that oral argument pre-hearings will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, beginning on Wed., Jan. 23, and continuing on Thurs., Jan. 24 if needed. The pre-hearings are open to the public, so please spread the word to anyone you know in northern New Mexico -- attendance by concerned citizens in support of our opposition to this CISF would be very valuable!

The pre-hearings will address "standing and contention admissibility." A broad coalition has filed legal interventions: Beyond Nuclear (represented by legal counsel Diane Curran and Mindy Goldstein); Sierra Club (represented by legal counsel Wally Taylor); Aliance for Environmental Strategies (represented by legal counsel Nancy Simmons); and a seven-group environmental coalition, spanning coast to coast (represented by legal counsel Terry Lodge).

Update on January 10, 2019 by admin

See the ASLB order (link immediately below), announcing the start time of 9am MST on Wed., Jan. 23, as well as the location. The oral argument pre-hearings will continue on Thurs., Jan. 24 (again, starting at 9am MST), as needed.

The NRC ASLB has issued its order. The venue for the Holtec/ELEA CISF licensing oral argument pre-hearings has been changed. Here is the new venue:

State Bar of New Mexico, 5121 Masthead Street NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The order in which the various legal teams representing opponents to the CISF will be heard has also been changed.

The ASLB has also listed its areas of particular questioning to be focused upon during the course of the Jan. 23-24 hearings.

Here is that particular excerpt from the Jan. 10, 2019 ASLB Order:

1. Does Holtec agree that, absent new legislation, the Department of Energy could not lawfully assume ownership of the nuclear waste in the proposed interim storage facility?

2. If Holtec does not agree, have Beyond Nuclear and the Sierra Club raised an admissible legal issue contention concerning this issue?

3. Treating Fasken’s motion to dismiss as a hearing petition, has Fasken effectively adopted Beyond Nuclear’s sole contention?

4. If so, and Fasken having proffered no other contention of its own, must its hearing petition be dismissed?

5. To what extent must subsurface conditions be characterized in the Environmental Report if the proposed storage facility would not affect them?

6. To what extent must subsurface characteristics be characterized by the safety analysis if these subsurface characteristics would not affect the safety of the storage facility?

7. Because Holtec asserts high burnup fuel will always be enclosed within the HISTORE canister, and the HI-STORE system has been certified by the NRC for storage and transportation of high burnup fuel, to what extent must high burnup fuel be specifically addressed in the application?

8. Standing premised on proximity to potential transportation routes.

9. Standing premised on proximity to the proposed facility.

10. Adequacy of the application with respect to design alternatives analysis and the need for disclosure of proprietary design information in such an analysis.

11. Adequacy of the application with respect to geologic risks and geologic
characterization of the proposed site.

12. Why would a hearing opportunity associated with license amendments be less
satisfactory to NAC than a hearing in the present proceeding?

13. Safe storage and transportation implications of the UMAX storage system’s
operating beyond its current design and service life, including the effects of high burnup fuel.

14. Risks associated with onsite storage compared with offsite storage, including
transportation risks and the potential effects of high burnup fuel.

[Please note that this Jan. 10, 2019 ASLB Order supercedes and replaces the one issued on Dec. 14, 2018.]

Environmental coalition files motion to disquality ASLB panel in WCS/ISP CISF proceeding

Sierra Club (represented by legal counsel Wally Taylor), and a seven-group environmental coalition (represented by legal counsel Terry Lodge), have filed a "Motion...for Disqualification of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board" in the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners license application proceeding.

If approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, WCS/ISP would transport to, and store at, the western Texas centralized interim storage facility (CISF) on the New Mexico border, 40,000 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel. That is just under half what exists in the U.S. today.

Beyond Nuclear has also legally intervened against the WCS/ISP, TX CISF.