US sweetens pot to study siting for spent nuke fuel storage

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government is offering more money to find a solution for storing or disposing of spent nuclear fuel from the nation’s commercial nuclear power plants. The Biden administration sweetened the pot this month, putting up $26 million in grant funding for communities to study potential interim storage sites. The deadline to apply is next week. The extra funding comes as top elected officials in New Mexico and Texas look for ways to stop two proposed multibillion-dollar interim storage facilities from being built along the state line. New Mexico lawmakers advanced legislation this week seeking to ban construction of such a facility without state consent.