Environmentalists contest Ameren nuclear renewal
Source: CBS News
A Missouri environmental group is asking the federal government to more closely scrutinize Ameren Corp.'s request for a 20-year license renewal at the state's only nuclear power plant.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment on Tuesday filed a legal objection to the utility's plan with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The coalition wants the federal agency to hold a formal public hearing on Ameren's license renewal application, a move that would likely delay consideration of the request. Ameren's current 40-year operating license for the Callaway County plant expires in 2024.
<snip>
The nuclear agency has given Ameren and other U.S. nuclear reactor operators a deadline of February 2013 to submit updated seismic studies and complete another safety plan sought in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese disaster, with a December 2016 deadline to put those improvements in place.
Agency officials said at a March public hearing in Fulton that they expected to make a decision on Ameren's relicensing request by the end of 2013, though that timeframe didn't account for a public hearing. Curran said the license renewal shouldn't happen until Ameren provides the government those requested plans. The St. Louis-based utility submitted its license renewal application for the nuclear plant late last year.
<snip>
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57421919/environmentalists-contest-ameren-nuclear-renewal/
