Vermont and three other states have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a more expansive environmental review of storing highly radioactive waste at nuclear power plants.
The petition follows a federal court ruling last summer that found the NRC’s environmental review of onsite waste storage was inadequate.
The NRC staff has since launched a more limited review process. Attorney General Bill Sorrell says the petition asks the commission to overrule its staff.
“The NRC should follow the court’s guidance and consider in licensing or re-licensing decisions not permitting any future generation of spent nuclear fuels unless or until the federal government comes up with a permanent solution for the storage of spent nuclear fuels,” he said.
Without a federal nuclear waste repository, spent nuclear fuel is now stored at 104 plants around the country.
Vermont was joined in the petition by the attorneys general of New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
