{"id":39768,"date":"2015-02-13T09:31:21","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T15:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=39768"},"modified":"2015-02-23T09:35:37","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T15:35:37","slug":"company-wants-to-expand-nuclear-waste-site-in-west-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2015\/02\/13\/company-wants-to-expand-nuclear-waste-site-in-west-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Company Wants to Expand Nuclear Waste Site in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_39770\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Waste Control Specialists' Andrews County storage site, where low-level waste is already housed.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/02\/WCS.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-39770\" alt=\"Waste Control Specialists' Andrews County storage site, where low-level waste is already housed.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/02\/WCS-300x214.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/02\/WCS-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2015\/02\/WCS.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">WCS<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Waste Control Specialists&#39; Andrews County storage site, where low-level waste is already housed.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A Dallas-based company is looking to expand its nuclear waste site in rural West Texas into a longer-term storage site for high-level radioactive waste.<\/p>\n<p>Waste Control Specialists (WCS) is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/media\/files\/news\/406a44ac\/WCS_Notice_to_NRC_1_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">asking<\/a>\u00a0the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve a new license to expand its above-ground storage facility in Andrews County to allow more radioactive types of waste.<\/p>\n<p>The company already stores \u201clow level\u201d waste \u2013 contaminated rags, tools and other equipment that have come mostly from the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lanl.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">national nuclear research lab<\/a>\u00a0in Los Alamos, New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The site also\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/marfapublicradio.org\/blog\/bound-for-carlsbad-diverted-nuclear-waste-arrives-in-west-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\">served as a home<\/a>\u00a0for waste that was supposed to wind up at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, until that site was shuttered after a leak\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fronterasdesk.org\/content\/9602\/report-highlights-serious-errors-nuclear-waste-facility\" target=\"_blank\">contaminated workers<\/a>\u00a0there about a year ago.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->WCS now wants to store used fuel rods from nuclear power plants across the country \u2013 a more radioactive form of waste.<\/p>\n<p>In theory, the waste would stay in West Texas temporarily \u2013 until the federal government comes up with a long-term disposal plan \u2013 but it could be decades before that happens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though it is called an interim storage facility, that storage period is a long time,\u201d says WCS President Rod Baltzer. \u201cWe think that\u2019s somewhere between 60 to 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/02\/27\/high-level-nuclear-waste-could-one-day-come-to-texas-but-its-a-long-road\/\">High-Level Nuclear Waste Could One Day Come to Texas, But It&#8217;s a Long Road<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/09\/08\/army-nuclear-reactor-barge-headed-for-dismantling-in-galveston\/\">Army Nuclear Reactor Barge Headed For Dismantling In Galveston<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/04\/30\/sierra-club-worried-about-precedent-from-nuclear-waste-site-ruling\/\">Sierra Club Worried about Precedent from Nuclear Waste Site Ruling<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/04\/03\/bound-for-new-mexico-diverted-nuclear-waste-arrives-in-west-texas\/\">Originally Meant for New Mexico, Diverted Nuclear Waste Arrives in West Texas<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/files\/2013\/04\/11819642_H20487791.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/topic\/radioactive-waste\/\">What You Need to Know About Radioactive Waste in Texas<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>Baltzer was in Washington, D.C. Monday talking to reporters about the company\u2019s push to expand the facility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis wasn\u2019t initially something we intended to do when we got out there, but we\u2019ve been out there a long time, and times have changed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Those changes have riled some environmentalists in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>The Sierra Club has\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/marfapublicradio.org\/blog\/sierra-club-worried-about-precedent-from-nuclear-waste-site-ruling\/\" target=\"_blank\">criticized<\/a>\u00a0the company for its track record of slowly expanding its intentions for the West Texas site. The environmental group says the company\u2019s misled lawmakers and the public as it\u2019s sought to store more radioactive types of waste through the years.<\/p>\n<p>Cyrus Reed, Conservation Director for the Sierra Club\u2019s Lone Star Chapter, says he\u2019s watched with concern while the company\u2019s plan for the site grew from storing low level waste to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/marfapublicradio.org\/blog\/west-texas-nuclear-dump-can-expand-after-tceq-ruling\/\" target=\"_blank\">larger quantities<\/a>\u00a0of the same waste.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow it turns out we are to become the nation\u2019s dumping ground for all manner of dangerous highly toxic radioactive waste,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>WCS maintains it can store the waste safely, and that the community in Andrews County has welcomed the idea.<\/p>\n<p>Baltzer says the company is fulfilling the Obama Administration\u2019s call in 2013 for a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.energy.gov\/articles\/adaptive-consent-based-path-nuclear-waste-storage-and-disposal-solutions\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cconsent-based\u201d<\/a>\u00a0approach to transporting, storing and disposing of the nation\u2019s nuclear waste.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.energy.gov\/sites\/prod\/files\/Strategy%20for%20the%20Management%20and%20Disposal%20of%20Used%20Nuclear%20Fuel%20and%20High%20Level%20Radioactive%20Waste.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">That strategy<\/a>\u00a0instructs the government to seek out communities willing to house nuclear waste \u201cin expectation of the economy activity that would result from the siting, construction and operation of such a facility in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For now, Andrews County appears to be that kind of place. County Commissioners recently passed a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.co.andrews.tx.us\/docs\/WCS_Resolution.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">resolution<\/a>\u00a0enthusiastically backing the plan.<\/p>\n<p>If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives WCS the green light, the company says construction on the expanded facility could be complete by the end of 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Dallas-based company is looking to expand its nuclear waste site in rural West Texas into a longer-term storage site for high-level radioactive waste. Waste Control Specialists (WCS) is\u00a0asking\u00a0the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve a new license to expand its above-ground storage facility in Andrews County to allow more radioactive types of waste. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[59],"tags":[55],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39768"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39787,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39768\/revisions\/39787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}