The U.S. Supreme Court appeared torn Wednesday about whether to block a federal license allowing a private company to store spent nuclear fuel away from a nuclear facility amid safety concerns raised by Texas and a massive landowner.
During oral arguments in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the court considered whether federal law allows such an arrangement or if aspects of the Atomic Energy Act and Nuclear Waste Policy Act require that spent nuclear fuel be stored either at the site where it is used or at an off-site facility run by the federal government. Several justices seemed sympathetic to arguments from Texas and Fasken Land and Minerals that the laws prohibit private, off-site storage of the highly radioactive fuel rods used to power nuclear reactors.
