The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it review the NRC's rejection of a request by Massachusetts and California that it increases the risk level
- By Stephen Heiser -
A federal appeals court has refused a request by several states to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to declare spent fuel pools at atomic power plants a serious environmental threat.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week in Manhattan. It denied appeals by New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts that it review the NRC's rejection of a request by Massachusetts and California that it increases the risk level.
The states had argued that spent fuel causes a greater risk of fire than previously thought. The appeals court said that it must defer to the regulatory agency's expertise.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he will continue legal actions to force the agency to create a central national site to store nuclear waste.
Nuclear Power companies having been paying the U.S. governement to handle and store the nuclear waste since the Carter Administration. In addition, these same utilities have storing this nuclear waste on their own premesis since the 1970s.
The government had planned to store the waste at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, but that program was cancelled by political wrangling.
Spent fuel is stored in two ways. Some waste is stored underwater in huge pools of water inside nuclear plants. The pools are carefully monitored and have been a safe and reliable solution while the utilities wait for the governement to make good on its promise to come and collect the spent fuel.
The other storage system utilizes what are referred to as dry casks that store the spent fuel in carefully constructed and closely monitored chambers. These chambers are made up of a variety of materials that are specifically designed to handle spent fuel.