Environmental groups challenge nuke spent fuel rule

Environmental groups challenge nuke spent fuel rule

Environmental groups on Sept. 29 challenged the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's long-awaited rule on the storage of spent fuel at nuclear reactor sites, claiming that it is unlawful for the agency to issue licenses or renew licenses because the rule ignores the need for nuclear waste to be disposed of in a long-term underground repository.

The petition filed by the groups, including Beyond Nuclear, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, comes only a month after the NRC ended a two-year suspension on licensing activity by approving a new rule on how to consider the safety of spent fuel storage.

If successful, the new challenge could cause the license applications of more than a dozen proposed or existing reactors to go back on hold. The challenge was filed with the NRC directly as a petition demanding the agency to stop issuing licenses and also as a contention claiming the agency lacks authority under the Atomic Energy Act to continue licensing. A contention is a formal protest of an NRC action and the first step to lead to a hearing before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

https://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/Article.aspx?cdid=A-29335658-12326