On Thursday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission unveiled its timeline for complying with a recent court decision prompting the agency to suspend license approvals for new and existing nuclear plants.
In a release, the commission announced its staff will spend up to two years developing an environmental impact statement and corresponding update for its waste confidence rule. A 2010 agency decision had increased the acceptable on-site storage time for spent fuel to 60 years following the expiration of a plant's license. An appeals court in June ruled that the decision required an EIS, particularly in light of the possibility that a decades-delayed permanent waste repository might not be built.
Last month the NRC announced it would suspend final approvals of plant relicensings and licenses for new plants. According to the agency's website, plants with pending reactor relicensing applications include Indian Point, Crystal River, Diablo Canyon, Seabrook, Davis-Besse, the South Texas Project, Limerick, Grand Gulf and Callaway. Though final approval may not be granted, the NRC emphasized that work on the relicensing applications would continue while the waste confidence issue is resolved. The decision does not affect the four reactors under construction at the Vogtle and V.C. Summer plants, as they have already received combined licenses.