Texas Could Become Nuclear Waste Repository Under A Secretary Of Energy Rick Perry: Report

AUSTIN, TX — With Rick Perry emerging as the leading candidate as U.S. energy secretary under president-elect Donald Trump, legitimate concern has emerged the former governor might move to make Texas the premier repository for highly radioactive waste transported from elsewhere in the country.

The Austin American-Statesman raised the specter of this possibility in a report on Monday.

"The company that most stood to benefit had an owner who was one of the top donors to Perry's campaigns," the newspaper begins as part of its report's reasoning. "Now, Perry is president-elect Donald Trump's choice to be U.S. energy secretary—putting him in prime position to influence who gets permission to build the highly lucrative radioactive waste facility."

During his tenure as governor of Texas, the Statesman noted, Perry urged the federal government to make the state the repository for highly radioactive waste from throughout the country. As energy secretary, Perry would be poised to make that a reality, given that one of the agency's areas of oversight is radioactive waste disposal, the reported noted.

Officials from Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists, a politically connected firm whose late owner was a strong Perry supporter, still hopes to develop a facility in West Texas for radioactive waste disposal. The targeted site is in remote Andrews County in West Texas where spent fuel from the nation's nuclear power plants could be stored.

The company is the sole firm vying for the permit, although a New Mexico competitor has recently emerged as being interested in being selected for such a project as well, the newspaper reported. As it stands now, virtually all of the nation's spent nuclear fuel is stored at reactors of their generation. Some 70,000 metric tons of spent fuel are stored nationwide—a size that would be comparable to the area of a football field 20 feet in height, according to the report.

The two nuclear sites in Texas reportedly house about 2,400 tons of spent fuel. A federal commission has called for developing at least one interim site to a state voluntarily taking in the material, according to the report.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

Above, official Rick Perry photo