NRC blocks 'foreign owned' NPP application

11 September 2012


The USA's Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has ruled that Unistar is not eligible for a licence for its proposed Calvert Cliffs 3 nuclear power plant in Maryland because it is 100% owned by a foreign corporation.

When the company submitted its combined construction and operating licence application for the Calvert Cliffs 3 EPR in 2007, UniStar was a joint venture between Maryland-based Constellation and the French company EDF. In late 2010, EDF bought Constellation’s part of the company, which rendered UniStar foreign-owned. EDF itself is 85% owned by the French government. The ASLB has ruled that if Unistar fails to find a domestic partner within 60 days of the 30 August decision then the proceedings will be terminated.

However, if EDF did find a US partner that would still not end the matter. Various other issues still to be settled come under the ASLB's jurisdiction. Firstly, the judges have examined a challenge to the NRC’s environmental review. The groups opposed to the application argued that the agency’s review failed to properly account for possible increases in solar and wind power as an alternative to a new reactor. The judges said that argument was valid when the hearing started, but that the weight and extent of information considered during the hearing had the effect of correcting the agency’s error. The judges ruled the environmental review as it exists today is acceptable.

The judges also ruled on the groups’ attempt to offer a new argument based on the lessons learned from last year’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident in Japan. The groups claimed the Calvert Cliffs environmental review would be incomplete until the NRC considered information from the agency’s Fukushima task force report, including possible improvements for dealing with reactor accidents.

The judges ruled that, while the groups had filed their argument within the time allowed by the NRC’s rules, the judges must abide by a 16 March 2012 decision from the agency’s five Commissioners. That decision rejected a similar argument in other hearings, concluding that the argument failed to point out how Fukushima events were directly related to the applications under review. The Calvert Cliffs judges ruled the same situation applied in this case, and that therefore the groups’ argument must be rejected.

As is the case with all Atomic Safety and Licensing Board decisions, the ruling can be appealed to the NRC’s five Commissioners.




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