The authorization granted by a federal agency for a company to build a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in western Texas has been revoked by a U.S. appeals court. This ruling was prompted by concerns raised by the state of Texas, predominantly led by Republicans, regarding the safety implications associated with locating such a facility in one of the country’s largest oil basins.

A panel of three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, determined that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not possess the legal authority, as per federal law, to issue permits for private, temporary nuclear waste storage sites.

The license obtained by Interim Storage Partners LLC in 2021 for the project development encountered resistance from both the state of Texas and oil and gas stakeholders in western Texas.

U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho, the author of the court’s ruling, agreed with Texas’s claim that the Atomic Energy Act does not give the agency the extensive power to approve a privately-owned storage facility for used nuclear fuel located off-site. Ho also highlighted the inconsistency of such a license with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, a U.S. legislation that prioritizes long-term storage options and allows for temporary storage of nuclear waste solely at reactor sites or federal facilities.

Representatives from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office, and the developer have not yet provided a prompt response in regards to this decision.

In 2021, Abbott and other state officials had petitioned the court to review the agency’s authorization for Interim Storage Partners to receive and store up to 5,000 metric tons of spent fuel and approximately 230 metric tons of low-level radioactive waste for a duration of 40 years at a planned repository in Andrews County, Texas.

Governor Abbott expressed firm resistance to this proposed plan, pledging to prevent Texas from becoming a receptacle for the nation’s nuclear waste. The notion of establishing a temporary facility had been considered as a means of addressing the escalating nuclear waste problem in the US, following the failure of attempts to establish a permanent storage site in Nevada due to strong local opposition.