If you live near the Permian Basin, you likely know the importance of the region to the economies and environments of New Mexico and Texas, and to the energy security of the United States, but it’s worth revisiting just how critical it is for our community and the country.
In short, the Permian Basin is responsible for delivering America’s energy independence. If it were a country, the Permian Basin would be the third largest oil producer in the world. The 5.3 million barrels of oil per day and approximately 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day that come from the Basin are essential to our nation’s economy and our energy security. The region holds an untapped potential of 92.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 299.7 trillion feet of recoverable natural gas. That’s enough natural gas to meet U.S. household demand for 60 years.
Despite all of this, there is an effort underway in Washington that threatens the future of the Permian Basin. From mostly behind closed doors, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved two private companies – Holtec and Interim Storage Partners – to take ownership of spent nuclear fuel at decommissioning reactors all over the nation and consolidate it at two above-ground storage facilities that are located in America’s most productive oil field – the Permian Basin.
If this project ultimately comes to fruition, the Permian Basin won’t just be home to most of America’s energy resources, but it will also become the largest storage area of spent nuclear fuel in the world. According to Holtec, more than 2,100 shipments of spent nuclear fuel have been made in the U.S. in the past 60 plus years. That’s certainly a large amount, but to put this into perspective, Holtec’s proposed storage site in New Mexico is expected to hold over 170,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. The Interim Storage Partners’ site in Texas is already licensed and could ultimately hold 40,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. It is estimated that it would require up to ten times the number of shipments that have already taken place to move this toxic material to Texas and New Mexico and just as many shipments will be required down the road if a permanent storage solution is ever developed. That means these two sites would store at or near the surface over 450 million pounds of highly radioactive material at their proposed capacity. A 60 year history of shipments of spent nuclear fuel dwarfs in comparison to what these two private companies have planned. A project of this scale has never happened before and never in area as economically and strategically valuable to our nation.
That’s why it defies logic to store spent nuclear fuel in the Permian Basin. Significant data shows that the Permian Basin does not even qualify to host the waste. For instance, the proximity of the deadly waste to aquifers and to old, abandoned wellbores that are subject to collapse disqualifies the storage sites. Seismic activity is regularly reported in the region, including a 5.3 earthquake this past December. That, alone, disqualifies the siting of nuclear waste storage. Additionally, government reports show that terrorist groups primarily focus on economic disruption. A security analyst recently reported that putting deadly nuclear waste alongside oil and gas would create a major target.
It gets worse. Holtec, the company leading the proposed storage site in New Mexico, was recently fined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for security and safety lapses at a nuclear power plant. Yet, this private company wants to be responsible for storing most of the nation’s high-level nuclear waste.
Mr. Taylor is the Director of Oil and Gas Development at Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd.