Supreme Court examines fight against nuclear waste

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's authority to approve temporary nuclear waste storage facilities will soon come under Supreme Court review.

On Friday, justices agreed to reconsider a lower court ruling that denied a private company the regulator's license to build a temporary storage facility in Texas' Permian Basin.

The appeal is part of the agency's ongoing defense of its ability to approve replacement storage facilities until the federal government establishes a permanent waste storage facility. The government's long-term plans to store spent nuclear fuel at Nevada's Yucca Mountain remain stalled.

The Supreme Court will review a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year that blocked the NRC's license for Interim Storage Partners to build its facility, handing a victory to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

NRC argued that Texas did not have standing to sue because the state had not engaged in a formal approval process for the proposed facility. Paxton, a Republican, had successfully argued before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that the state had the authority to oppose the plant because the risk it faced from possible contamination from the project was great and because the state had filed opinions opposing it submitted the location.

The Supreme Court consolidated the case with a separate appeal by Interim Storage Partners.