Halt Holtec! NRC Scoping Meetings Next Week in SE NM
Action is needed now to Halt Holtec! This privately held international corporation wants to transport all of the commercial high-level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors located around the country to a proposed storage site between Hobbs and Carlsbad for up to 120 years. Beginning on Monday, April 30th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will host a series of public meetings in Roswell, Hobbs, and Carlsbad to gather comments about what the “scope” of the environmental impact statement it is preparing for the Holtec proposal. Comments are due to the NRC on Tuesday, May 29th.
This is the most dangerous of all radioactive waste because it contains fuel rods that have been irradiated inside nuclear reactors. Exposure to unshielded waste is deadly.
On Monday, April 30th, from 4 to 7 pm, the NRC will host an open house at the Eastern New Mexico University, Roswell Campus Union Building, Room 110, at 48 University Boulevard. From 7 to 10 pm, NRC will host a public meeting where public comments will be accepted. https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/view?AccessionNumber=ML18116A109
On Tuesday, May 1st, from 7 to 10 pm, in Hobbs, a public meeting for comments will be held at the Lea County Event Center, at 5101 North Lovington Highway. https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/view?AccessionNumber=ML18114A053
On Thursday, May 3rd, from 7 to 10 pm, in Carlsbad, a public meeting for comments will be held at the Eddy County Fire Service, at 1400 Commerce Street. https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/view?AccessionNumber=ML18114A054
The NRC’s power point presentation for the Environmental Scoping Meetings is available at:
https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/view?AccessionNumber=ML18115A078
This week United States Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich wrote to the NRC requesting at least two additional public meetings in New Mexico. They wrote, “Constituents in our state, the fifth largest in size in the nation, range from Native American tribes concentrated in the north to dairy farmers in the southeast, to tourism-related businesses across New Mexico, all desiring equal access to NRC public scoping sessions.” They suggested possible meetings in Gallup and Albuquerque “to ensure that residents of northern New Mexico have easier access to NRC officials in order to provide comment that could shape the environmental impact statement.” ATT00030
Holtec proposes in the first phase of the project to store 8,680 metric tons, or 500 canisters, of high-level radioactive waste. At the end of an estimated three-year process, Holtec anticipates the NRC will issue it a 40-year license, with extensions for up to 120 years.
But there is more. Holtec proposes 19 expansion phases over a 20-year period for a total of approximately 10,000 canisters, or about 100,000 metric tons. About 80,000 metric tons of waste currently exists at nuclear reactor sites. Holtec also proposes to bring all future waste to be generated. https://holtecinternational.com/productsandservices/hi-store-cis/
Rose Gardner, of the Alliance for Environmental Strategies, based in Southeast New Mexico, said, ” Holtec wants a license to bring high-level radioactive waste to Southeast New Mexico. This waste is so dangerous that the reactor communities that produced and benefited from the electricity they used no longer want to store it. We must let the NRC and Holtec know that we don’t want it and we refuse to accept this de facto permanent storage. It is an environmental injustice to promote Southeast New Mexico as a willing participant in their schemes to dump on a predominantly Hispanic and minority area, such as where we live.” https://www.facebook.com/Alliance-for-Environmental-Strategies-1959311804080514/
Scoping comments will be accepted until Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A sample public comment letter and talking points are available for you to use at http://nonuclearwasteaqui.org/
Tags: Alliance for Environmental Strategies, CIS Facility, consolidated interim storage facility, environmental impact statement, Holtec, Holtec International, NRC, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rose Gardner, Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Tom Udall, spent fuel rods
The material will be shipped on ‘unit trains’. Clovis, NM will be the train hub from all 77 locations across the US and then south on the BNSF line directly to Carlsbad. Look up the definition of a unit train.
I don’t understand why the two US Senators want more NRC scoping meetings in northern New Mexico. The people up north haven’t had a problem with HEU and Plutonium for the last 60 years at the two National Labs. It is still there and they are making more plutonium at present. There are also building nuclear fission power unit for space travel. It is all radioactive, but they control the risk. Where is the outrage?
SENM is like another world to the folks up north. However, they do like all our tax revenue to spend. Hey, guys, want some more money? The Holtec HI-STORE will being billions of steady income to the state unlike our dependency on the ebb and flow of the O&G industry, not to mention the GHC that comes with their product.