NRC Declines MassAGO’s Request To Halt License Renewal

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has declined Massachusetts Attorney General's (MassAGO) request to defer the license renewal procedures of Entergy Corp’s (Entergy) Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear power plants. MassAGO asked the NRC to suspend the procedure until a federal appeals court has made a decision on whether the NRC should undergo a plant-specific review of the dangers of storing used nuclear fuel at the two power plants.

Entergy has applied to the NRC to extend the operating licenses for both plants from 2012 to 2032.

The NRC has signified that it has found no environmental or safety reasons to not license the two power plants, but no official decision has been handed down yet. Entergy must also receive approval for Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant from the Vermont Public Safety Board and the Vermont Legislature to continue operation past 2012.

Earlier, the NRC has said that spent fuel pools have already been reviewed on a generic basis, concluding that the pools are safe from hostile actions, such as a terrorist attack.

MassAGO argued that the generic review of spent fuel pools was not good enough and requested the NRC to change the approach it reviews the spent fuel pools. The NRC had denied various requests by MassAGO, including a request that it rewrite the rules governing spent fuel pools.

MassAGO contested the rule making decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which is presently reviewing the Bay State’s contention.

While the commissioners did deny the request to suspend the license renewal procedure, they said any decision passed down from the U.S. Court of Appeals could be incorporated into the Pilgrim and Yankee nuclear power plant environmental reviews.

The commissioners said we understand that you have this challenge going and we are going to wait to see what happens and we’ll evaluate what comes out of that, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC.

If the court orders the NRC to rewrite its rules, the NRC will issue an order indicating whether any further steps in these proceedings are necessary, stated the commissioners findings stated.

Sheehan said because of the commissioners ruling, a license renewal could be issued prior to the court’s decision. If the court ruling is in favor of MassAGO, the commissioners could demand that the NRC reevaluate the risks of spent fuel pools, a decision that would have no effect on the new licenses.