A Vermont anti-nuclear group joined with dozens of other organizations this week asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to halt final decisions on licenses until it evaluates the environmental impacts of storing nuclear waste.
The Brattleboro-based New England Coalition signed on to a petition filed Monday that asks the federal agency to suspend final licensing decisions for nuclear power plants until it updates what is called a “Waste Confidence Decision.”
The maneuver comes in response to a decision from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month that found the commission’s regulations did not address adequately environmental concerns when it concluded spent nuclear fuel could be stored safely for 60 years on site after a nuclear reactor closed.
The court also found the agency failed to address the future effect of not establishing a spent nuclear fuel repository when it said a final resting place for that radioactive waste would be available “when necessary.”
The decision brings to the forefront the issue of long-term storage of spent fuel.
The federal government promised almost 30 years ago to find a place to bury nuclear waste from power plants that is piling up at power plants around the country.
It spent billions of dollars preparing to store waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. An application for that site has been withdrawn, but some in the nuclear industry and many Republicans in Congress are fighting to reverse that decision.
In the meantime, 70,000 tons of spent fuel sits mostly at power plants like Vermont Yankee in Vernon.
The petition is telling the agency not to issue any pending licenses until it satisfies the court that its storage plan is safe.
The petition also asks the agency to: declare that any environmental assessments it issues will be published in proposed form with a reasonable opportunity for public comment and provide a period of at least 60 days for raising site-specific concerns relating to the remanded proceedings in individual licensing proceedings.
Some legal experts say court decision issued earlier this month could affect efforts by Entergy Corp. to obtain a new certificate of public good from the Vermont Public Service Board for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The plant received a new license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2011. That license was issued under the regulation that the court invalidated.
Entergy and Vermont are tied up in litigation in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals over laws that would require legislative approval for the plant to continue operating.
“Just how the June 8th Court Order will affect future federal litigation at Entergy Vermont Yankee is uncertain,” New England Coalition technical adviser Raymond Shadis said in a statement. “We are carefully weighing our options.”
