Press Mention SustainableBusiness.com August 8, 2012
SACE Referenced
US Delays Nuclear Licensing Decisions Over Waste Storage
In this mention
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission postponed at least 19 nuclear licensing decisions in response to a petition filed by 24 environmental groups including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which urged a freeze on licensing until progress is made on federal nuclear waste storage and disposal strategy. The delay follows a federal appeals court ruling that found the NRC's current waste strategy insufficient and ordered the agency to examine environmental consequences of permanent on-site fuel storage.
Full transcript
US Delays Nuclear Licensing Decisions Over Waste Storage
SustainableBusiness.com News
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is
postponing at least 19 nuclear licensing decisions while it considers new
policies for disposal and storage of nuclear waste.
The NRC decision affects nine construction &
operating licenses, eight license renewals, one operating license, and one
early site permit, according to the 24 environmental and citizens' groups that petitioned for their delay.
Among the affected projects are Ameren Corp.'s 20-year license renewal at its Callaway County plant in Missouri; a
renewal request by the Calvert Cliffs power plant in southern Maryland; and a
request by Florida Power & Light to build two new reactors at its Turkey
Point nuclear plant south of Miami.
The NRC's action came in response to a petition filed by
24 groups including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League urging it to freeze final licensing decisions until progress is made
on a federal storage and disposal strategy for spent reactor fuel.
About 65,000 tons is stored at 75 nuclear reactors around
the US. A central storage site on Yucca Mountain in Nevada was identified in
1987, but the state pushed back against it.
In June, a federal appeals court found the NRC's current
strategy for dealing with waste insufficient. It noted the NRC "has no
long-term plan other than hoping for a geologic repository, " and ordered
the NRC to examine the environmental consequences of storing spent fuel at
reactor sites on a permanent basis.
Diane Curran, an attorney representing some of the groups
in the Court of Appeals case, says:
"This Commission decision halts all final licensing
decisions -- but not the licensing proceedings themselves -- until NRC
completes a thorough study of the environmental impacts of storing and
disposing of spent nuclear fuel. That study should have been done years ago,
but NRC just kept kicking the can down the road. When the Federal Appeals Court
ordered NRC to stop and consider the impacts of generating spent nuclear fuel
for which it has found no safe means of disposal, the agency could choose to
appeal the decision by August 22nd or choose to do the serious work of
analyzing the environmental impacts over the next few years. With today's
Commission decision, we are hopeful that the agency will undertake the serious
work."
When the Obama administration approved the
first US nuclear plants in 30 years in early 2012, dozens of potential projects
were announced. Many of those plans have been delayed or scrapped because of
financing problems, lower electricity demand and the emergence of cheaper,
easier alternatives such as natural gas.
Two plants in approved in Georgia and South Carolina are
already behind schedule and face millions of dollars in cost overruns.