Spent Nuclear Fuel Could Finally Be Removed From Oyster Creek

LACEY, NJ — Half a century's worth of spent nuclear fuel could finally be removed from Oyster Creek thanks to a planned storage facility in New Mexico.

Holtec International, which is in the process of decommissioning the Oyster Creek Power Plant, recently announced that they had secured a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a nuclear waste storage facility in southeast New Mexico.

The license allows 500 cannisters to be stored underground. And Holtec-owned properties like Oyster Creek would be first on the list to get removed, a company spokesperson told the Asbury Park Press.

By removing the spent fuel, the spokesperson said, it opens up the area for more economic development that may be deterred by the existing waste.

This would be temporary storage, Holtec said. But there is still no permanent storage area or way of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel in the United States, and unless this project is approved, the waste remains at the power plant sites.

"The licensing of HI-STORE CISF should be viewed as the triumph of private perseverance in the service of public purpose," Holtec's President and CEO Kris Singh said in a statement.

The project still has to be approved, and New Mexico legislators are hesitant to let it go through. The state recently passed a law to keep nuclear waste out.

But Holtec said it is both safe and beneficial.

"The project has the ability to allow Southeast New Mexico to diversify its economy, generate some 400 jobs, infusing ~$3 billion investment in the area," said Program Director Ed Mayer.

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