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Podcast: New Mexico in Focus (A Production of NMPBS)
Episode: New Mexico’s Nuclear Underground: An Our Land Special
Description: This year, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a 40-year license for a private company, Holtec International, to build a facility between Hobbs and Carlsbad that would store nuclear waste from power plants the company is decommissioning in states from New Jersey to California. New Mexico already stores transuranic waste from nuclear weapons production in the salt caverns at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or WIPP. This project would be different, and would eventually hold up to 10,000 canisters, with each canister holding 8,680 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from commercial power plants. The New Mexico State Legislature passed S...