Friday, May 9
BRATTLEBORO -- The Massachusetts Attorney General's office is continuing its efforts to get its concerns about spent fuel at Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear power plants heard by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The AG's office asked the NRC to suspend the license renewal proceedings at the two power plants pending review of its contention that the NRC's environmental review of spent fuel pools was outdated and inadequate. When the NRC denied the AG's request, the AG appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which ruled last month that the NRC had acted correctly.

Massachusetts can't ask for a stay in the proceeding, wrote the court, because it hasn't been recognized as an interested party by the NRC. However, the court did issue a 14-day stay in the renewal proceedings to allow the AG to file a request for the state of Massachusetts to be recognized as an "interested governmental entitity" in the relicensing hearings.

"The state has just filed the request and the agency and judges will now need time to review it and determine where it fits in the overall proceedings," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC.

Entergy, which owns and

Advertisement
operates both Pilgrim and Yankee, has asked the NRC to approve a license extension to both plants, allowing them to operate 20 years past the original 2012 license expiration date.

If the state receives status as an interested governmental party, it can then apply for a stay in the relicensing procedure pending the outcome of the rulemaking petition. The court also acknowledged that if the AG is recognized as an interested party and Yankee and Pilgrim receive license renewal approval, Massachusetts could ask the court to issue a "writ of mandamus," forcing the NRC to make a decision on its rulemaking petition.

A writ of mandamus is a court order that requires another court, government official, public body, corporation or individual to perform a certain act.

The AG also complained to the court that the NRC had refused to ensure that the results of the rulemaking petition would apply to the license renewals, but the court refused to rule on that issue, saying it could only consider it after the NRC had issued it decision on the petition.

"The agency and the judges will now have to review the Massachusetts AG's request to take part as an interested governmental entity and determine how it fits in with the overall proceeding," said Sheehan. "The agency, and the judges, will have to review the filing and determine how to respond to it, especially since the evidentiary hearing in the Pilgrim license renewal proceeding has already taken place."

Sheehan could not tell the Reformer when the NRC might rule on the AG's request to be considered an interested state party.

In its rulemaking petition, the AG is asking the NRC to change the way it evaluates spent fuel pools in the license renewal process. Spent fuel pool issues are considered "generic" in license renewals -- that is, the NRC considers them on an industrywide basis and not on a case-by-case basis for each plant asking for an operating extension.

The AG has argued that spent fuel should not be considered a generic issue, especially in light of "new and significant information" which makes the NRC's procedures concerning spent fuel obsolete. Not only are spent fuel pools vulnerable to terrorist attacks, argued the AG's office, but the density of fuel assemblies in the pool has increased over the years to the point that even a partial loss of cooling water could cause a catastrophic fire.

"The rule making petition submitted by the Mass Attorney General is still under consideration," said Sheehan. "It can take years for the NRC (and other agencies) to disposition petitions for rulemaking. They are, after all, petitions calling for the development of new regulations, a process that can take years."

"It makes more sense for the NRC to study whether, as a technical matter, the agency should modify its requirements relating to spent fuel storage for all plants across the board than to litigate in particular adjudications whether generic findings in the Generic Environmental Impact Statement are impeached by ... claims of new information," ruled the NRC in denying the AG's request.

The NRC also ruled it would be "premature" for it to delay a final decision on relicensing that decision is not expected "for another year or more."

Depending on the status of the rulemaking petition, NRC staff have the authority to request a suspension in the rule regarding generic issues and include plant-specific analyses of spent fuel at Pilgrim and Yankee.

"We are told that to date, that has not happened," wrote the court in its decision.

Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 273.