Markey Statement on Court Ruling Vacating NRC Waste Disposal Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Edward J. Markey (D- Mass.) today released the following statement after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the 2010 update to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Waste Confidence Decision to temporarily store nuclear waste at power plants for up to six decades, rejecting the “Commission’s conclusions regarding temporary storage because the Commission did not conduct a sufficient analysis of the environmental risks.”

“It comes as no surprise that the court has no confidence in NRC’s waste confidence decision. The NRC relied on what seemed to be a faith-based methodology to conclude that highly radioactive nuclear waste can be left simply sitting in the giant swimming pools and parking lots in which it is currently stored for an additional 60 years. There was a collective failure on the part of both Congress and the Department of Energy to enable a credible, science-based search for a permanent nuclear waste repository.”

Download: NRC Waste Disposal Decision