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United States Supreme Court to hear nuclear waste storage dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court settled on Friday to choose whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the authority to accredit hazardous waste storage centers following a judicial ruling that upended decades of practice by stating it does not.

The justices used up appeals by President Joe Biden's. administration and a company that was granted a license by the. NRC to construct a waste storage center in western Texas of the. lower court's ruling. The license was challenged by the states. of Texas and New Mexico, as well as oil market interests.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case in its new. term, which begins on Monday, and a choice is anticipated by the. end of June.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative bulk,. has actually shown hesitation toward the authority of federal regulatory. agencies in a number of major rulings recently.

The NRC, the federal company tasked with managing nuclear. energy in the United States, issued the license in 2021 to. Interim Storage Partners, a joint endeavor of France-based Orano. and Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists.

While two other federal appeals courts turned down legal. challenges to the license, the New Orleans-based fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and. decided that the NRC did not have authority under a federal law called. the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to release the license at all.

The administration has said the judgment would interrupt the. nuclear energy sector. In its attract the Supreme Court, it. argued that the 5th Circuit had enforced novel limits on the. NRC's authority that will have severe repercussions for the. commission and the nuclear-power market.

The administration's appeal has the support of the nuclear. energy market's trade association, the Nuclear Energy. Institute, which stated the 5th Circuit's ruling would have. significant and destabilizing effects on the sector.

The NRC has actually released licenses like the one at concern in this. case for the temporary storage of spent fuel produced by nuclear. reactors since 1980 in acknowledgment that the nuclear-power. industry would require more space for the off-site storage of the. radioactive waste.

It did so pursuant to its authority under the Atomic Energy. Act to release licenses to possess nuclear material. Such sites. have continued to be licensed, with a proposition to permanently. store the country's radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain north of. Las Vegas stalled following years of opposition in Nevada.

In the 5th Circuit ruling versus the license, Judge James. Ho, an appointee of Republican previous President Donald Trump,. mentioned a different law, the Hazardous waste Policy Act, that was. changed in 1987 to designate Yucca as the sole permanent storage. website for such radioactive waste.

In the judgment against the NRC, Ho also conjured up the so-called. significant questions teaching - preferred by conservative jurists and. welcomed by the Supreme Court - that gives the federal judiciary. broad discretion to invalidate executive branch actions deemed. to lack clear congressional permission.

Interim Storage Partners prepared to operate its nuclear. storage facility in Andrews County, Texas. The plan drew. opposition from oil- and gas-related companies due to the fact that the. facility would be run within the Permian Basin, the. highest-producing oil field in the country.

Texas and New Mexico were joined in the litigation. challenging the license by Fasken Land and Minerals, a. Texas-based oil and gas extraction company, and a nonprofit. group called the Permian Basin Union Of Land And Royalty. Owners And Operators.

The plaintiffs argued that allowing the proposed facility to. be developed positioned ecological dangers to watersheds covering almost. all of New Mexico and Texas, and that a radiation leak could be. financially dreadful for oil and gas operations.

(source: Reuters)