• Federal officials and Holtec International are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a license for storing spent nuclear fuel rods in New Mexico, after a lower court vacated the license.
• The appeal argues the Fifth Circuit erred in its decision, highlighting disagreements between federal interests supporting the project and opposition from New Mexico, Texas, and various anti-nuclear groups.
• The case underscores a broader conflict over state versus federal authority in nuclear waste management, with related legislative bans in Texas and New Mexico and ongoing legal challenges in the D.C. federal appeals

Federal officials and a private technology company sought to take back its right to store spent nuclear fuel rods at a facility in southeast New Mexico after a court vacated the license in March. Holtec International and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) appealed that verdict that effectively blocked the project to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has discretion on whether to hear the case. A favorable ruling would likely return the license to Holtec and see the project move forward after years of legal wrangling and holdups.

The company and Commission filed appeals in June, calling for Supreme Court justices to find the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit erred in vacating the Holtec license. Holtec International is watching the Fifth Circuit proceedings, spokesperson Patrick O’Brien said, and is disappointed by the recent decision to stall another company’s nuclear waste storage facility plans in Texas.

“We were disappointed in the decision, particularly since the panel’s opinion and the concurring decision were inconsistent with many other decisions from other federal appeals courts,” O’Brien said.

The recent court ruling highlighted the disagreements between federal interests that approved licenses to run these storage sites and the spectrum of opposition from New Mexico, Texas and a coalition of national anti-nuclear, environmental groups and private oil, gas and mining interests in those states.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a license in May 2022 for nuclear technology company Holtec International to build and operate the Consolidated Interim Storage Facility  between Hobbs and Carlsbad. That license is also being challenged in a different case before the D.C. federal appeals court.

In recent years, Texas and New Mexico legislatures passed laws banning the storage of high-level nuclear waste, setting up a showdown over state sovereignty and the federal government’s position as the authority over the nuclear industry.

The verdict contended the NRC did have the authority to license and regulate nuclear power plants, and the possession of “special nuclear material,” but not for storage or disposal of “material as radioactive as spent nuclear fuel.” Holtec Senior Vice President Joy Russel said that ruling was based on an “unsound legal opinion,” arguing the NRC did have the right to regulate spent nuclear fuel. She said Holtec’s and ISP’s projects, known as consolidated interim storage facilities (CISF) , were crucial to the advancement of nuclear energy as a solution to the resulting waste.