NRC Rule Clears Way to End Two-Year Nuclear Project Holdup

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a plan Tuesday that would settle the way spent fuel can be stored at nuclear power plants. The decision would clear the way to ending a two-year standstill on granting power plant licenses, which has prevented the progress of several nuclear projects.

The NRC's action followed a June 2012 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which struck down the NRC's previous nuclear waste confidence rule. The court required the NRC to develop new rules dealing with 70,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel at power plants across the country.

The court found the NRC's previous generic environmental impact statement did not meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The NRC's new Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule reassesses the lengths of time that spent fuel can be stored on location, which can be 60 years, 100 years, or indefinitely. The commission believes the new rule will satisfy the NEPA requisites, but it could be overturned by the court again.

If the new ruling is approved, projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority's (Knoxville, Tennessee) unit addition at its Watts Bar Nuclear Power Station will be able to proceed. TVA has nearly completed the project and plans to load nuclear fuel next summer, and start the Unit 2 reactor by the end of 2015.

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If there are no holdups with the new rule, Watts Bar will be the one of the first nuclear plants in the country to complete post-Fukushima safety upgrades as required by the NRC.

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