Earlier this month a federal appeals court said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was “flouting the law” and ordered the agency to resume a stalled permit that would turn Nevada’s Yucca Mountain into a nuclear waste storage site.
The state of South Carolina, Aiken County and Washington State sued the U.S. Energy Department last year to force the NRC to resume license review.
Senator Lindsey Graham praised the decision to move forward.
If the permit is approved, it could relieve South Carolina of 4,000 metric tons of nuclear waste currently stored at the nearby Oconee Nuclear Station, the Savannah River Site in Aiken County, and other locations. The radioactive waste would move to the Yucca Mountain site about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The Obama administration had halted the project in 2009 amid objections from U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada. Shoshone Indians in the area also protest that the mountain is a sacred site.
Meanwhile, utilities companies have collected some $21 billion in surcharge fees to fund the project, which would help the federal government fulfill its responsibility to safely dispose of nuclear waste. Experts say the matter of safe nuclear waste storage grows more important every year as more nuclear power plants hit the 40-year-old mark when they must be decommissioned. Nuclear waste is currently stored at the plants.
Although the NRC has been ordered to revisit the matter, the outcome remains uncertain, as the NRC might or might not approve the license.
