Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Friday, August 31, 2012

License denied for proposed Calvert Cliffs nuclear reactor

    1. License denied for proposed Calvert Cliffs nuclear reactor
      Baltimore Sun‎ -
      Federal regulators denied a license Thursday to the French-controlled company for a proposed third nuclear reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear ...
  1. Calvert Cliffs-3 Reactor License Denied; NRC Licensing Board ...

    www.prnewswire.com/.../calvert-cliffs-3-reactor-license-denie...
    13 hours ago – Prohibits Construction/Operating License For UniStar Nuclear ... today denied a license for the proposed Calvert Cliffs-3 nuclear reactor on the ...
  2. License denied for proposed Calvert Cliffs nuclear reactor | WYPR

    www.wypr.org/.../license-denied-proposed-calvert-cliffs-nucle...
    10 hours ago – Atomic Safety and Licensing Board cites company's foreign ownership. Federal regulators denied a license Thursday to the French-controlled ...
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 30, 2012

    Contact:  Michael Mariotte 301-270-6477


    CALVERT CLIFFS-3 REACTOR LICENSE DENIED

    NRC LICENSING BOARD RULES IN FAVOR OF INTERVENORS, SAYS ATOMIC ENERGY ACT
    PROHIBITS CONSTRUCTION/OPERATING LICENSE FOR UNISTAR NUCLEAR PROJECT IN
    MARYLAND

    A three judge Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing
    Board (ASLB) today denied a license for the proposed Calvert Cliffs-3
    nuclear reactor on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

    In a 29-page decision, the ASLB agreed with intervenors that the Calvert
    Cliffs-3 project would be in violation of the Atomic Energy Act¹s
    prohibition against foreign ownership, control or domination, and that
    the project¹s owner, UniStar Nuclear, is eligible neither to receive a
    license nor to even apply for a license. UniStar is 100% owned by the
    French government¹s Electricite de France.

    Said the ASLB, ³For the aforementioned reasons, the Board grants summary
    disposition in favor of Joint Intervenors as to Contention 1 and finds
    Applicants currently ineligible to apply for or obtain a license. The
    license cannot be granted as long as the current ownership arrangement is
    in effect.²

    This is only the second time in history a reactor license has been denied
    by an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. The first was the license
    application for the Byron reactor in Illinois in 1984, which was briefly
    denied because of quality assurance problems at the site. But that
    decision was quickly overturned on appeal as the utility already had
    initiated a program to correct the problems.

    In this case, the ASLB is giving UniStar 60 more days to find a U.S.
    partner that might enable it to meet the foreign ownership restrictions
    before the ASLB declares the proceeding concluded. The decision noted
    that UniStar already has had nearly two years since it became solely
    owned by EDF to find a partner, and has not shown any progress toward
    that. UniStar can appeal this decision to the NRC Commissioners.

    ³This is a great day for Maryland,² said Michael Mariotte, executive
    director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which first filed
    the contention on foreign ownership in November 2008 and has been the pro
    se intervenor on the issue ever since. ³Marylanders need not fear another
    dangerous nuclear reactor in our state, nor the accumulation of still
    more lethal radioactive waste on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay.²

    Mariotte added, ³But this is also a blow to the so-called Œnuclear
    renaissance.¹ In the summer of 2007, Calvert Cliffs-3 became the first
    new reactor project to submit even a partial application in about 30
    years. It was the flagship of the nuclear renaissance and now it is a
    symbol of the deservedly failed revival of nuclear power in the U.S. That
    UniStar has been unable to find a single U.S. utility to partner with it
    in this extraordinarily expensive project speaks volumes about the lack
    of genuine interest in new nuclear reactors in the U.S.²

    Originally, UniStar Nuclear was composed of EDF and the Maryland-based
    Constellation Energy. Even then, NIRS argued the corporate structure was
    dominated by EDF and the French government‹that was when our contention
    was filed. But Constellation dropped out of the project and sold its
    share to EDF in October 2010, after turning down an offered taxpayer loan
    guarantee from the Department of Energy.

    The original intervention in the Calvert Cliffs-3 licensing in November
    2009 was undertaken by NIRS, Public Citizen, Beyond Nuclear and Southern
    Maryland CARES. NIRS was the lead intervenor on the foreign ownership
    issue and on a separate contention also decided today. That contention
    argued that the Environmental Impact Statement for the project
    understated the potential contribution of solar and wind power as
    alternatives to Calvert Cliffs-3. In a lengthy and complicated decision,
    the ASLB ruled that the contention was correct when it was filed, but
    that the NRC already has taken sufficient steps to address the
    deficiencies.

    The ASLB today also declined to admit a separate new contention, filed in
    numerous licensing cases, based on findings of the NRC¹s Fukushima Task
    Force and its potential implications for U.S. reactors.

    A copy of the decision is here:
    http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/calvert/contention1decision.pdf

    A copy of the decision on the solar and wind contention (Contention 10C)
    is here: http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/calvert/10cruling.pdf

    A copy of the decision on the Fukushima Task Force contention (Contention
    11) is here: http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/calvert/cont11ruling.pdf

    On July 26, 2012, NIRS held a press briefing to discuss the upcoming ASLB
    decision and its implications for Calvert Cliffs and the nuclear industry
    generally. That briefing can be heard here:
    http://www.hastingsgroupmedia.com/NIRS/072612CalvertCliffsDecisionImplicat
    ionstelenewsevent.mp3

    Statement of Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, at the July
    22, 2012 briefing is here:
    http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/calvert/CC3briefingstatement72612.pdf

    A timeline of the Calvert Cliffs case is here:
    http://www.nirs.org/nukerelapse/calvert/cc3timeline.pdf
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