Environmental opponents to WCS/ISP CISF defend legal interventions in NRC licensing proceeding

Environmental opponents to the proposed Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners (WCS/ISP) centralized interim storage facility (CISF) for 40,000 metric tons of highly radioactive waste targeted at Andrews County, Texas, have replied to attacks on their legal interventions by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff, and by WCS/ISP:

COMBINED REPLY OF DON’T WASTE MICHIGAN, CITIZENS’ ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION, CITIZENS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION, NUCLEAR ENERGY INFORMATION SERVICE, PUBLIC CITIZEN, INC., SAN LUIS OBISPO MOTHERS FOR PEACE, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COALITION AND LEONA MORGAN TO ISP/WCS AND NRC ANSWERS;

Sierra Club Combined Reply to the Answers filed by Interim Storage Partners (ISP) and the NRC Staff.

Toledo-based attorney Terry Lodge represents a seven-group environmental coalition opposed to WCS/ISP's CISF. Iowa-based attorney Wally Taylor represents the Sierra Club in opposition to WCS/ISP's CISF.

(Beyond Nuclear intervened in this proceeding in early October 2018. WCS/ISP, and NRC staff, objected to Beyond Nuclear's intervention, in various ways, in late October 2018. Beyond Nuclear replied in early November 2018. Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., and Mindy Goldstein of Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, serve as legal counsel for Beyond Nuclear in opposition to the WCS/ISP CISF.)

NRC Answer to Sierra Club and Don't Waste MI, et al. Petitions in WCS/ISP CISF license proceeding

NRC STAFF’S CONSOLIDATED RESPONSE TO PETITIONS TO INTERVENE AND REQUESTS FOR HEARING FILED BY: SIERRA CLUB; DON’T WASTE MICHIGAN, CITIZENS’ ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION, CITIZENS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION, NUCLEAR ENERGY INFORMATION SERVICE, PUBLIC CITIZEN, INC., SAN LUIS OBISPO MOTHERS FOR PEACE, SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COALITION AND LEONA MORGAN.

This is re: the INTERIM STORAGE PARTNERS/WASTE CONTROL SPECIALISTS (ISP/WCS) Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF), targeted at Andrews County, West Texas.

Sierra Club and Don't Waste MI, et al., have till Dec. 17th to respond.

Wally Taylor serves as legal counsel for Sierra Club. Terry Lodge serves as legal counsel for Don't Waste MI, et al.

Sierra Club and Don't Waste MI, et al., intervened against the WCS/ISP CISF on Nov. 13th. Beyond Nuclear had intervened in early October.

Update on December 10, 2018 by admin

In separate filings, WCS/ISP also answered Sierra Club, as well as Don't Waste MI, et al.

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.