Full 5th Circuit Court Upholds Victory against Texas Nuke Waste Dump

On March 14, 2024, the full panel of 16 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, by a 9 to 7 vote, upheld the August 2023 ruling by a 3-judge panel, nullifying the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) September 2021 license approval for Interim Storage Partners, LLC’s (ISP) consolidated interim storage facility for high-level radioactive waste in Andrews County, Texas. NRC, the DOJ, and ISP had appealed en banc, but the full 5th Circuit has now affirmed the earlier ruling.

See the March 14th en banc ruling here.

NRC, DOJ, and/or ISP have 90 days from March 14th to appeal the 5th Circuit’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, if they so choose.

The State of Texas, Fasken Land and Minerals, Ltd., and the Permian Basin Land and Royalty Owners won this victory against the ISP dump.

In a March 21, 2024 article entitled “Fed lose appeal of vacated license for nuclear waste storage site in Permian Basin,” by Adrian Hedden, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported on this story.