Gov. Nikki Haley's office said South Carolina will not join other states in voluntarily opening its doors to house the nation's spent nuclear fuel, stating that a recently announced federal search for interim storage sites "masks repeated failures to meet commitments."
Haley's comments come on the heels of President Barack Obama authorizing the Department of Energy to search for other material repositories for high-level radioactive nuclear-weapon-related waste and spent nuclear fuel rods from commercial electric generation.
The process began in March with an ongoing consent-based approach to find communities and states interested in housing spent fuel and radioactive waste.
The search could potentially reverse a decades-long plan to dispose of them together at Yucca Mountain - a volcanic structure near the former Nevada Test Site about 100 miles from Las Vegas - where the nation intended to permanently store its nuclear waste. The facility has been heavily debated since 1994 when DOE began drilling a 5-mile tunnel through the mountain.
In 2010, Obama ordered work on Yucca to cease, leaving $13 billion of work on the table. Then, in 2014, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission began releasing a series of reports that have concluded that Yucca is suitable for storage.
Still, Obama's announcement has shown that the federal government is looking beyond Yucca. So far, New Mexico and Texas expressed interest in temporarily housing the nation's spent nuclear fuel, including an endorsement from New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.
"There is a significant and growing national need for such an interim storage facility," Martinez wrote in letter to DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz. "The recent decision by your administration to adopt a consent-based approach for waste management should highlight areas such as southeastern New Mexico where there is broad support in the region for such an endeavor."
Though New Mexico and Texas are showing interest, Chaney Adams, a spokesperson for Haley, said the governor is committed to not bringing in more shipments of nuclear waste or fuel to the Palmetto State.
"Gov. Haley has been clear on this issue since taking office - South Carolina's taxpayers have paid for Yucca Mountain, and it should be completed and opened," Adams said. "South Carolina won't volunteer to hold any more nuclear materials as long as we cannot to dispose of those we currently have."
Locally, several groups already have gone on the record stating their opinions on the matter, particularly in regards to the Savannah River Site where both forms of nuclear materials are housed.
Chuck Munns, the chairman of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, said in March he is still in support of Yucca. If the project never materializes, however, Munns said SRS should at least be part of the selection process.
"In the end, we are a democracy, and if our system decides that Yucca is no longer politically possible, then we should quickly determine the new strategy and get at making it a reality," Munns said.
Tom Clements, the director of SRS Watch, opposed the notion and added that the SRS Citizens Advisory Board shot down in 2013 the thought of SRS opening its doors for more waste.
"The public doesn't want a spent-fuel storage site at SRS or anywhere else in the area," Clements said.
Derrek Asberry is the SRS beat reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the paper since June 2013. He is originally from Vidalia, Ga., and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Follow him on Twitter @DerrekAsberry.