Supreme Court urged to uphold ruling against Texas SNF storage site

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in October 2024 following petitions by ISP and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which granted ISP a license for the facility in September 2021. The two cases have been consolidated into one, NRC v. Texas, which is scheduled for oral arguments on March 5.

The briefs: A total of nine amici curiae briefs were filed with the Supreme Court on January 22. Often referred to as “friends of the court” briefs, amici curiae are submitted by individuals or organizations that have an interest in a case, even though they are not directly part of the legal proceedings.

The briefs ask that the Supreme Court uphold the 5th Circuit Court’s finding that the NRC does not have the authority to license an away-from-reactor storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, and that the state of Texas can claim to be a “party aggrieved” by the NRC’s licensing action.

Separate briefs were filed by the following groups:

• Sens. Ted Cruz (R.) and John Cornyn (R.), along with Reps. Jodey Arrington (R.), Henry Cuellar (D.), August Pfluger (R.), and Ronny Jackson (R.), all of Texas.

• The city of Fort Worth, Texas.

• Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights law firm.

• The state of Utah and six other states (Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Iowa, South Carolina, and West Virginia).

• The state of Idaho.

• The states of New Mexico and Michigan.

• The industry groups Permian Basin Petroleum Association and New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau.

• The antinuclear group Don’t Waste Michigan.

• The antinuclear group Beyond Nuclear.

Texas arguments: In a brief filed on January 15, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton outlined the state’s arguments against the NRC license for the ISP facility.

The brief states: “Nothing about this license is lawful. Congress has already legislated a solution to the nation’s nuclear-waste problem: permanent storage in Yucca Mountain. No statute mentions, let alone authorizes, private interim offsite storage. Instead, the only interim storage Congress has permitted is in federal facilities, and only under defined circumstances.”