The Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) filed an appeal to the Callaway Energy Center's license extension, granted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month.
While the appeal would not immediately affect the Callaway facility's license, MCE and court documents said it would serve as a "placeholder" contention so later court decisions could affect its license. MCE Safe Energy Director Ed Smith said the organization feels placeholder contention is important because an NRC rule regarding the storage of spent nuclear fuel is currently contested in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Smith added MCE is not asking the NRC to permanently deny the Callaway Energy Center's license renewal request.
"We are simply asking the court to make sure that the Callaway nuclear reactor's license is not extended pending the outcome of this spent nuclear fuel waste litigation," Smith said.
Diane Curran, MCE's legal counsel, said the environmental group wants to litigate the NRC's rule and ensure any outcome from that case will apply to the Callaway plant.
"It's putting our foot in the door and saying to the court and the NRC: It's not over yet with respect to Callaway," Curran said.
Since the State of New York vs. NRC case was filed last fall, multiple other states and environmental groups, including MCE, have joined as petitioners asking for a review of the NRC's recently revised Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule. The NRC made its revised and renamed rule effective Oct. 20, 2014. Prior to October, it took a two-year hiatus from issuing license extensions and new licenses to nuclear facilities while the rule was revised.
According to NRC records, the revision was in response to a 2012 court ruling vacating the NRC rule. Curran was one of the attorneys who won the case.
Curran said the rule was thrown out because the NRC had not analyzed the environmental impacts on what would happen if a permanent repository for spent fuel was never created. She said the court also criticized the NRC assessment of the impacts of pool leakage and pool fires.
"We think that the NRC did a very poor job of evaluating the environmental impacts of spent fuel storage for an extended period," Curran said during a press conference Thursday. "We've asked the court ... to basically suspend (the Callaway license renewal) pending the outcome of the rule making and appeal."
Ameren Missouri said it is in the process of reviewing MCE's appeal. The NRC's license renewal last month extended the Callaway nuclear facility's operating license 20 years - from 2024 to 2044.
"We are confident the NRC will stand by its decision," Ameren Missouri said in a statement. "Renewal of our license ensures that Callaway, which is one of the safest and highest performing carbon-free producing generating centers in the United States, will continue to benefit our customers."
The Callaway plant received a license extension from the NRC on March 6, months later than expected after MCE filed contentions in December that put the renewal on hold. NRC commissioners decided last month to renew the plant's license despite those contentions, which were still pending before the NRC commissioners until Thursday.
The commission's denial led MCE to file its appeal, Curran said.
Regarding the case which questions the NRC's revised rule, Curran said that appeal, pending in the D.C. Ciruit Court, is waiting on a briefing schedule from the court. She is hoping that case will hear oral arguments either this fall or spring 2016.
"If we ultimately win our appeal of the rule ... we will ask the court to reverse the Callaway license renewal decision," Curran said.
If the court decides to again throw out the NRC's rule regarding storage of spent nuclear fuel, MCE's appeal filed yesterday has the potential to cause the CEC to revert back to its original operating license until the NRC produces a long-term storage plan for spent nuclear fuel.