Friday, September 17, 2010

Review of Pilgrim nuclear license is among the longest in country

From the Patriot Ledger:

The Pilgrim nuclear power plant is one of only three power plants in the country whose relicensing requests have taken longer than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s self-imposed 30-month deadline to resolve.

In recent letters to Sen. John Kerry and Rep. William Delahunt, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko wrote that his agency issued 59 license renewals at 34 sites and had 14 license renewal applications under review. Of those, Entergy Corp.’s Pilgrim plant in Plymouth is one of only three that have not been resolved in a 30-month window. The others include Vermont Yankee in Vernon, Vt., and the Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey. The Oyster Creek license was renewed in 2009, while Entergy’s Vermont Yankee request is still being considered.

Jaczko, who was responding to inquiries from Kerry and Delahunt, attributed the delays at Pilgrim to the complexity of issues being raised as a panel of judges reviews Entergy’s relicensing request.

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