Last week the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) said it would freeze issuing final nuclear reactor licenses for new plants or license renewals for existing plants. This decision is in response to the June U.S. court decision that rejected the NRC’s decision that licensing and re-licensing of nuclear reactor plants could proceed because it was assumed that the environmentally responsible long-term disposal of used fuel would be resolved. The court found that the NRC had not adequately considered the environmental effects of the federal government’s failure to establish either a repository for used fuel, or of an adequate plan for longer-term storage of used fuel at reactor sites. The two plants which have already received final licenses and are under construction, Plant Vogtle and SCANA’s V.C. Summer expansion, will be allowed to proceed. Technical review processes underway for other proposed plants can also proceed.
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