The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has refused to suspend the relicensing of a Massachusetts nuclear plant following a contention by the state attorney general that the Fukushima Daiichi accident called for a delay.
The ASLB made its decision Monday, allowing the Pilgrim plant relicensing to continue. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley had petitioned in May to shelve the relicensing application until the lessons of the Japanese accident could be studied further. The Patriot Ledger in Quincy reported that she is not sure whether she will appeal to the full Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Entergy operates the plant 38 miles southeast of Boston. Its single General Electric 3 boiling water reactor was licensed in 1972. That license expires in June 2012, although the NRC has said the plant can continue operating after that point if the relicensing process is still pending. Entergy first applied for the 20-year extension in 2006, making it the oldest relicensing application on the NRC docket.