Sierra Club, and Don't Waste MI et al., adopt each other's contentions in Holtec/ELEA CISF licensing proceeding

Motion of DWM et al. to Adopt and Litigate Sierra Club Contentions;

Sierra Club's Motion to Adopt Contentions of Don't Waste Michigan, et al.

Don't Waste Michigan, et al. is a coaltion of seven environmental groups. Its legal counsel is Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio.

Sierra Club is represented by attorney Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance centralized interim storage facility is targeting New Mexico with 173,600 metric tons of highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel.

NRC press release: NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to Hold Oral Arguments in Albuquerque on Holtec Spent Fuel Storage Application

NRC press release:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Press Release

No: 19-003 January 11, 2019

CONTACT: David McIntyre, 301-415-8200

NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to Hold Oral Arguments in Albuquerque

on Holtec Spent Fuel Storage Application

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments in Albuquerque, N.M., in late January on petitions to hold an adjudicatory hearing concerning an application by Holtec International to construct and operate a consolidated interim spent fuel storage facility in the state.

The arguments will be heard Jan. 23 beginning at 9 a.m., and, if necessary, Jan. 24, at the State Bar of New Mexico, 5121 Masthead St. NE, in Albuquerque. The arguments will address the standing of petitioners and the admissibility of their proposed contentions. The three administrative judges on the Board will hear arguments from counsel for the following eight groups: Beyond Nuclear; Sierra Club; Alliance for Environmental Strategies; a coalition of Don’t Waste Michigan, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Nuclear Energy Information Service, Public Citizen, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, and Nuclear Issues Study Group; NAC International; Fasken Land and Minerals and Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners; Holtec International; and the NRC staff.

                    The Board will also reserve time for comments from a single representative from each of five   interested local government petitioners: the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, the city of Carlsbad, Lea County, Eddy County, and the city of Hobbs.

The hearings will be open to the public. Signs, banners, posters, demonstrations and displays will not be permitted by NRC policy.

The Board is composed of three administrative judges from the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel. Boards may conduct adjudicative hearings on major licensing actions by the NRC, and are independent of the NRC staff. A Board’s rulings may be appealed to the Commission, the five-member body that sets NRC policy.

[Link to press release]

NRC ASLB announces change of venue for Holtec/ELEA CISF licensing proceedings in Albuquerque, NM

ORDER

(Regarding Status of Oral Argument)

Because of the partial shutdown of the federal government, it appears the United States
District Court in Albuquerque, New Mexico may be unable to accommodate the oral argument in
this proceeding that has been scheduled for January 23-24, 2019.

The Board expects to secure an alternative location in Albuquerque. A further order,
confirming the location and providing additional information concerning the argument, will be
issued within the next 1-2 days.

It is so ORDERED.

FOR THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD

/RA/
________________________
Paul S. Ryerson, Chairman
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE

Update on January 10, 2019 by admin

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 reprsenting 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 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.

Joint motion to establish hearing procedures re: Holtec/ELEA CISF

JOINT MOTION TO ESTABLISH HEARING PROCEDURES BY SIERRA CLUB,DON’T WASTE MICHIGAN, CITIZENS ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION, CITIZENS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION, NUCLEAR ENERGY INFORMATION SERVICE, NUCLEAR ISSUES STUDY GROUP, SAN LUIS OBISPO MOTHERS FOR PEACE, AND PUBLIC CITIZEN.

Filed by Wally Taylor, legal counsel for Sierra Club, and Terry Lodge, legal counsel for Don't Waste Michigan, et al., in the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage facility U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board licensing proceedings.

Environmental opponents press their case, as waste licensing hearings loom in Southwest

Infrared photo of a high-level radioactive waste train shipment, which appeared in National GeographicOn Dec. 27, 2018, Beyond Nuclear's legal counsel (Diane Curran of Washington, DC, and Mindy Goldstein and Caroline Reiser of Emory University Turner Environmental Law Clinic in Atlanta, GA) filed our first federal court papers in opposition to both the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA), New Mexico, as well as the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners (WCS/ISP), Texas centralized interim storage facilities (CISFs) for high-level radioactive waste (HLRW). Beyond Nuclear's contention is that both U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing proceedings violate the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as Amended. Beyond Nuclear's legal counsel, as well as our allies (Alliance for Environmental Strategies, Don't Waste Michigan et al., and Sierra Club, represented by legal counsel Nancy Simmons of Albuquerque, NM, Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH, and Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, IA, respectively), are preparing for Jan. 23, 2019 NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board hearings, to be held in Albuquerque, regarding the Holtec/ELEA CISF proceeding. Meanwhile, Lodge and Taylor, on behalf of Don't Waste MI et al. and Sierra Club, have responded to WCS/ISP motions to strike portions of their interventions against the CISF targeted at TX. All this is but the latest resistance to the environmental injustice of dumping 213,600 metric tons of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel in the Hispanic borderlands of TX and NM (the two CISFs are but 40 miles apart). If opened, one and/or the other of the CISFs would unleash large-scale, high-risk, HLRW trucks, trains, and barges (see infrared photo of a HLRW rail shipment, above right) through a large number of American cities, through most states, and the vast majority of U.S. congressional districts. For more information, see Beyond Nuclear's Centralized Storage and Waste Transportation website sections.