US grants license for temporary nuclear waste dump in Texas

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials are giving the go-ahead for temporary storage of highly radioactive waste in west Texas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a license to Interim Storage Partners to build and run a facility that could take up to 5,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants and 231 million tons of other radioactive waste. That sets up a showdown with state officials. Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill to ban storing or shipping high-level nuclear waste through the state. Environmental groups have also sued to block the project, which would be built about 350 miles west of Dallas, near the Texas-New Mexico state line.