The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2024.

The way in which some New Mexico lawmakers are ganging up against Holtec International’s plans to build a consolidated interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel makes it seem that everyone in the state is against the project, no matter that the benefits would far outweigh any risks.

But, as a recent editorial in the Albuquerque Journal illustrates, the communities of southeastern New Mexico, where the facility would be located, are firmly behind the project. They are, after all, well versed in nuclear technology and cognizant of the economic and social benefits it would bring.

An article published on the Carlsbad Current-Argus news site on February 5 presents the wide gap between lawmakers in New Mexico on either side of the issue of temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel in the state.

The article noted that two identical bills—Senate Bill 54 and House Bill 127, which advanced in legislative committees last week—would block a spent fuel storage facility in New Mexico by prohibiting state agencies from issuing permits for such a facility.