NRC puts Callaway's license renewal decision on hold

REFORM, Mo. - Ameren Missouri's Callaway Energy Center won't have a final decision regarding its license renewal application from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) this month as it originally expected, according to an NRC spokesperson.

The Callaway plant's current operating license is set to expire in 2024. If granted, the license renewal would add another 20 years onto the nuclear facility's operating license.

Last week, NRC staff informed the Callaway plant that the renewal decision is on hold "due to the pending status of administrative hearing petitions before the Commission," according to NRC records.

The delay stems from a petition filed Dec. 8 by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE).

Dave McIntyre, NRC public affairs officer, said the staff will respond to the petition in the next few days. After that, the environmental group will have about a week to give its response. McIntyre said the commission will then decide what next step to take.

According to the petition, the environmental group wants the license renewal delayed because the group challenges the "legal adequacy" of a recently issued NRC rule.

The revised and renamed Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule became effective Oct. 20. It was a response to a 2012 court ruling that led the NRC to take a hiatus from issuing new licenses and license extensions to nuclear facilities across the country.

It resumed issuing license renewals in October and has since issued one to the Limerick nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Callaway's plant was to be the second license renewal under the revised rule.

MCE recently joined a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals that challenges the new rule.

McIntyre said the NRC has not directed staff to stop activities related to nuclear facility license renewals.

With the holidays and changes in the commission, including a new chairman, McIntyre said it is hard to say how long the plant's license renewal will be on hold.

"There are a whole lot of things in play as far as the time goes," McIntyre said.

Lara Uselding with the NRC said schedule changes of nuclear plant license renewals due to public contentions is not unusual.