Not what New Mexicans signed up for

Dear Friend,

I wanted to let you know that I just introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation to prevent private interim nuclear waste storage sites from becoming de facto permanent nuclear waste storage facilities. My legislation prohibits the use of federal funds from being used to carry out any activities at that would lead to the development of an interim storage facility owned or operated by a private company.

Currently, private storage companies can stand to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in additional cash flow through the federal Judgement Fund. My legislation would prohibit private facilities from receiving those payments and require the prohibition to remain in place until a permanent repository is available to accept high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

I understand the need for and support establishing a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel, and the final location of that repository must be determined through sound scientific reasoning, transparency, and engagement and consent from affected stakeholders. But until the U.S. Department of Energy fulfills its statutory responsibility under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to provide a site for permanent waste disposal, interim sites can become permanent sites.

That is not something that New Mexico signed up for. That’s why I’m proud to lead this bipartisan legislation to prevent New Mexico from ending up with a long-term nuclear waste storage problem that was supposed to be a short-term solution.

Sincerely,

MARTIN HEINRICH
United States Senator