Gov. Lujan Grisham: 'I will use every tool in my toolbox' to block nuclear waste storage in New Mexico

Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham put the Biden administration on notice Thursday that she will use "every tool" in her toolbox to block attempts to build interim storage of nuclear waste in her state.

"I think other states need to step up. I think other solutions need to step up," Lujan Grisham said during POLITICO's first-ever Energy Summit. "And I'll take it as a compliment. This is a highly scientific state ... that does a lot of innovation with two of [the Energy Department's] national labs right here. But don't expect us to always do the heavy lifting here."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued a long-awaited license to Holtec International for the construction and operation of an interim nuclear waste storage facility in New Mexico despite pushback from Lujan Grisham and other state officials who have cited public health, economic and environmental justice concerns over the project.

Lujan Grisham also signed a law this year that prohibits the issuance of state permits for the construction or operation of a disposal facility for spent fuel or high-level waste unless the state has consented and a permanent repository is in operation.

The U.S. currently has no permanent repository for the radioactive waste from the fleet of nuclear power plants that provide about one-fifth of the nation's electricity. The Biden administration, the Energy Department's national labs and several companies are working to deploy a new generation of small modular reactors that would take the place of the aging fleet of large reactors.

Holtec has said the timeline for the interim storage project “is still to be determined,” but said it believes the project is still viable.

On Thursday, Lujan Grisham said she supported advanced energy technologies and acknowledged the U.S. should be "a little bit more open-minded" about what technologies fuel the clean energy transition. But she criticized the federal government and Holtec's process for weighing the risks of nuclear waste storage within her state.

Lujan Grisham added that New Mexico will help the country solve its nuclear waste problem, "but we won't be burdened by going it alone unequivocally."