Feds want to hear your thoughts on West Texas site becoming nuclear waste dump
Federal regulators aren't quite ready to move forward on a plan to ship the nation's spent nuclear fuel to West Texas. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today that it would start accepting public opinion on the issue.
The agency wants the public to suggest issues to be covered in an environmental review of Waste Control Specialists' application. The company, which was owned by late Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, has a facility in Andrews County that accepts low-level radioactive waste. The firm submitted an application in April to take in the nation's spent fuel, which has been stacking up at the more 100 nuclear plants nationwide.
Public input will be collected even even before federal regulators have formally accepted the Texas application. The company has been providing the regulatory panel with additional documents and is expected to finishing submitting those early next month.
"We cannot proceed with the technical safety review until WCS adequately addresses our request for supplemental information, but we do have the information we need to begin the environmental scoping process now," Mark Lombard, the commission's director of spent fuel management, said in a written statement.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/environment/2016/11/14/feds-want-hear-thoughts-west-texas-site-becoming-nuclear-waste-dump