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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 10 May 2023
U.S. regulators OK spent nuclear fuel facility in New Mexico

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRY- Steinborn, a Democrat who
AN sponsored the measure.
Associated Press Holtec has argued that
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) the New Mexico measure
— U.S. nuclear regulators is pre-empted by federal
licensed a multibillion-dol- law and that a court fight
lar complex to temporarily would only delay the eco-
store tons of spent nuclear nomic boon that would
fuel in New Mexico from come from building the
commercial power plants complex.
around the nation, a deci- The company has spent an
sion likely to be challenged estimated $80 million pursu-
in court. ing the 40-year license to
The Nuclear Regulatory build and operate the fa-
Commission issued its de- cility.
cision Tuesday, saying it “This milestone is the culmi-
will allow the energy com- nation of an eight-year pro-
pany Holtec International cess to bring a safe, secure,
to build and operate the temporary and retrievable
facility in southeastern New private facility to help the
Mexico. New Jersey-based nation’s spent fuel storage
Holtec may still need to dilemma,” Holtec said in a
acquire permits from the An illustration depicts a planned interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New statement thanking regula-
state, and top New Mexi- Mexico as officials announce plans to pursue a project by Holtec International during a news tors.
co officials have vowed to conference in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 29, 2015. Associated Press Since the federal govern-
fight the project. ment has failed to build a
Hot and highly radioac- uranium fuel. Future expan- Gov. Michelle Lujan proved legislation in March permanent repository, it
tive, spent fuel consists sion could make room for Grisham and the state’s aimed at stopping the reimburses utilities to house
of uranium pellets inside as many as 10,000 canisters congressional delegation project. “Today’s actions the fuel in either steel-lined
metal rods. It can only be over six decades. The ma- say they fear New Mexico by the NRC illustrate the concrete pools of water or
handled by machines and terial would be transported will become the nation’s importance of New Mex- in steel and concrete con-
people have to be physi- to New Mexico via rail. dumping ground for spent ico’s new prohibition on tainers known as casks at
cally shielded from it, usu- Critics say most would be nuclear fuel because the the storage and disposal of sites in nearly three dozen
ally by steel or concrete. brought from East Coast federal government has no high-level nuclear waste. states. The cost of that
The New Mexico project sites, prompting concern permanent solution for the It’s time that our voice be practice is expected to
would have capacity to after recent railway ac- waste piling up at commer- heard and honored, and stretch into the tens of bil-
temporarily store up to cidents involving other cial reactors around the that this project be shut lions of dollars over the next
8,680 metric tons of used chemicals and cargo. country. New Mexico ap- down,” said state Sen. Jeff decade.q

U.S. busts Russian cyber operation in dozens of countries

By ERIC TUCKER ware to conduct cyberes- The specific targets were successfully exfiltrated America. U.S. officials said
Associated Press pionage against the United not named in court papers, sensitive documents from they’d been investigat-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The States and our allies that but the Justice Department NATO countries. ing Snake for about a de-
Justice Department said ends today,” Assistant At- said the affected networks Prosecutors say the hack- cade and came to regard
Tuesday that it had dis- torney General Matthew were in more than 50 coun- ers, employing malicious it as the most sophisticated
rupted a long-running Rus- Olsen, the head of the Jus- tries. U.S. officials described software known as Snake, malware implant relied on
sian cyberespionage cam- tice Department’s National the espionage campaign routed data stolen from for- by the Russian government
paign that infected com- Security Division, said in a as “very consequential,” eign governments through for espionage campaigns.
puter networks in dozens of statement. saying the hackers had compromised computers in They said Turla, the FSB unit
countries, including in the the U.S. as a way to cover believed responsible for the
United States, and resulted their tracks. They operated malware, had refined and
in the theft of sensitive infor- from what the Justice De- revised it multiple times as
mation from governments. partment said was a known a way to avoid being shut
Prosecutors linked the spy- FSB facility in Ryazan, Russia. down. The Justice Depart-
ing operation to a unit of In a separate statement, ment, using a warrant this
Russia’s Federal Security CrowdStrike Intelligence, a week from a federal judge
Service, or FSB, and ac- private cybersecurity firm in Brooklyn, launched what
cused the hackers of steal- that has studied the threat, it said was a high-tech op-
ing documents from hun- said the sectors targeted eration using a specialized
dreds of computer systems by the hacking included tool called Perseus that
belonging to governments government organizations, caused the malware to ef-
of NATO members, an un- defense-related organiza- fectively self-destruct.
identified journalist for a tions and companies de- Federal officials said they
U.S. news organization who veloping cryptographic were confident that, based
reported on Russia, and Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles drive along the embankment hardware. It said coun- on the impact of its op-
other select targets of inter- next to the Kremlin wall after the Victory Day military parade tries all over the world had eration this week, the FSB
est to the Kremlin. in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, marking the 78th been affected, including would not be able to re-
“For 20 years, the FSB has anniversary of the end of World War II. in Europe, Australia, part of constitute the malware
relied on the Snake mal- Associated Press Asia and North and South implant.q