NEW MEXICO
If an energy company
and a Republican senator get their way, southern New Mexico will
get even hotter than its habañeros. The European-owned company
LES plans to build a facility near Eunice to produce nuclear
reactor fuel, but it still doesn’t have anywhere to store the
highly toxic, radioactive byproduct (HCN, 10/13/03: New Mexico: A
nuclear homeland?).
LES officials and Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N.M., have assured Gov. Bill Richardson that the depleted uranium
byproduct will not be permanently stored in the state. In its
December 2003 application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, LES
proposed keeping its waste on site for no more than 25 years, then
dumping it in a Colorado mine owned by Cotter Corporation. But the
mine’s owners had no knowledge of the plan, and no site in
the country can legally accept such material.
Lee Cheney,
founder of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center in Hobbs,
says local citizens support the project because they “fear
repercussions.” He adds, “LES did a lot of wining and dining of
local leaders and politicians, and it’s hard to find anyone
to oppose (the plant).”
Despite the lack of permanent
waste storage, Gov. Richardson’s “support of the project has
not wavered,” says Gilbert Gallegos, the governor’s
spokesman. Gallegos also notes that LES will post a bond that could
reach $800 million to pay for disposal if the company
defaults.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline No place for pesky nuclear waste.
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