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A federal appeals court has refused a request by several states to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to declare spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants a serious environmental threat. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday 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 raise the risk level. The states had argued that spent fuel causes a greater risk of fire than previously appreciated. The appeals court said 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.

A federal appeals court has refused a request by several states to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to declare spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants a serious environmental threat. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday 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 raise the risk level. The states had argued that spent fuel causes a greater risk of fire than previously appreciated. The appeals court said 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.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Hanford's contractors in the massive downwinders' lawsuit - raising hopes for a legal settlement for up to 2,000 radiation-exposed people after 18 years of court battles and millions of dollars in litigation costs. The high court's one-line denial of the contractors' appeal was announced today. The contractors, including E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co., General Electric Co. and UNC Nuclear Industries Inc., filed their appeal in August, asking the court to review two recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rulings that sided largely with the downwinders.

Constellation Energy Group said Tuesday that it has appealed a Baltimore judge's decision to dismiss the company's request for review of a plan by the Public Service Commission to investigate the proposed sale of half the company's nuclear operations. The PSC said in June that it has jurisdiction to review the sale plan to French firm EDF because it would give EDF major control over Baltimore Gas and Electric, Constellation Energy's regulated utility. The PSC is considering whether the proposed $4.5-billion transaction is in the public interest. Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Stuart Berger on July 2 said the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the appeal of the PSC decision because the commission's decision to review the sale was not a final decision and therefore not subject to review. The company filed the appeal Monday to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. "We are taking this step to preserve our legal rights in the future," spokesman Robert Gould said.

"Two West Texas sisters opposed to a new radioactive dump site are asking the state's highest court to reverse the results of an election that narrowly approved $75 million in bonds for the project. Peggy and Melodye Pryor filed their appeal Wednesday to the Texas Supreme Court. The bond referendum, held in May 2009, allows Andrews County to borrow to build the nuclear waste disposal site for Waste Control Specialists. The bond issue was approved by a three-vote margin, and a recount verified the 642-639 vote. The Pryors unsuccessfully challenged the balloting, and an El Paso appeals court upheld that outcome last month. Andrews County attorney John L. Pool said he believes the high court will deny the Pryors' appeal."

The Massachusetts attorney general is appealing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rejection of concerns about possible accidents or sabotage involving the spent radioactive fuel pools at the Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee nuclear plants. The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed the appeal with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston this week.

Utah's court fight over who controls the flow of radioactive waste is turning into a national test case, as the state and its allies formally launched their appeal on Thursday and waste agencies representing eight more states prepared to join the fray. Attorneys for Utah, the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-level Radioactive Wastes and the Rocky Mountain Compact filed their initial arguments Thursday at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Representing 11 states, the three want the Denver court to overturn U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart's May ruling in favor of the Salt Lake City nuclear waste company EnergySolutions Inc. Rocky Mountain Compact attorneys said Stewart's decision puts the nation's entire waste oversight system at risk. "The District Court's ruling unravels the long-standing solution to the problem of low-level radioactive waste disposal -- which was crafted by the compact states and Congress over 20 years ago," attorneys wrote. Stewart ruled that EnergySolutions is not subject to the authority of the Northwest Compact because it was not created by the compact. The state's appeal says that ruling is an error because it relied heavily on a law that Congress repealed in 1986 and because it undermines Congress' intent in creating compacts to encourage new low-level waste disposal sites.

Attorney General Martha Coakley and her counterparts in New York and Connecticut are appealing a Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision that could impact the relicensing of Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant. Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut officials have filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York challenging the NRC's ruling that there was no "new and significant information" on the risks of severe accidents in the spent fuel pools at nuclear plants, including Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee, caused by terrorist attack, human error, equipment malfunction, or natural disaster. In 2006, Massachusetts filed a petition claiming that new and significant information on these risks to Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee, both owned by Entergy Nuclear Operations, and should be part of the relicensing process for each nuclear power plant.

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission set ground rules Wednesday for appeals of this week's ruling that sidetracked plans to scrap a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste license. The agency issued a one-page order setting a July 9 date for appeals and arguments on why the decision issued by an agency legal panel should not be overturned. Follow-up briefs are due July 16. Attorneys and officials who follow the Yucca Mountain case interpreted it as a sign that the commission wants to address the issue sooner rather than later. It was widely expected that the leaders of the regulatory agency would have the final word after the initial ruling. Based on the schedule for legal briefs and the amount of time taken for the commission to resolve a matter last year in the Yucca case, it is possible that a final decision could come around mid-August, according to Charles Fitzpatrick, an attorney representing Nevada."

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and the Pilgrim Watch citizen's group are both appealing a decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to close relicensing proceedings on the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant. Tuesday morning, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan provided staff responses to both appeals filed in opposition to the relicensing.

Three anti-nuclear protestors who were previously convicted of trespassing at Lake Anna Power Station's visitor center won an appeal in Louisa Circuit Court this morning and were resentenced on new charges. Three anti-nuclear protestors who were previously convicted of trespassing at Lake Anna Power Station's visitor center won an appeal in Louisa Circuit Court this morning and were resentenced on new charges. John "Jack" Maus, who represented all three protesters, appealed a lower court's conviction and sentence on grounds that the charges alleged a violation of county code, when in fact they should have been based on a violation of state law because the plant sits on private property.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is appealing a decision by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission about safety issues at nuclear power plants, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. Coakley's appeal comes roughly two months after the commission denied a request to consider new information about the risk of severe accidents in spent-fuel storage facilities at nuclear plants. The new information pertains to risks related to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, operator error and equipment failure, according to Coakley.

The Seabrook Station nuclear plant pays almost half of the property taxes in town, but the company that owns the plant is arguing that its $15.3 million tax bill is simply way too much. Florida Power and Light, the company that owns the major portion of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, recently filed an abatement appeal with selectmen over the new taxable value of its facility. According to Seabrook Town Manager Barry Brenner, the town received Florida Power and Light's appeal of the town's new $1.65 billion assessment of the plant on Monday, making the deadline for such abatement appeals. The prior agreed-upon worth of the plant was $1.043 billion, meaning the new value represents an increase of $607 million.

A federal appeals court has dismissed an Indian Point case arguing that regulators improperly allowed the nuclear plant's owners to loosen a fire safety equipment standard at the Buchanan site. Advertisement "This case tests the limits of our jurisdiction ... to review orders of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Judge John Walker Jr. of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in the 20-page decision. "Petitioners challenge only that exemption in this appeal," Walker wrote. "Because we lack jurisdiction ... we must dismiss the petition." Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, brought the case and said yesterday that he would decide his next move soon.

* Companies to withdraw all pending appeals * USEC says to realize $70 mln no earlier than Q4 * USEC shares up 6 pct May 18 (Reuters) - Uranium fuel supplier USEC Inc (USU.N) and its French competitor Areva (CEPFi.PA) said they agreed to settle pending appeals related to an anti-dumping case involving imports of French low-enriched uranium. Under the settlement, the parties will immediately withdraw or request dismissal of all pending appeals and U.S. Department of Commerce proceedings. USEC said it expected to realize about $70 million no earlier than the fourth quarter from estimated duties deposited by Areva's holding company, Eurodif SA, as a result of the settlement.

The Navajo Nation's anti-uranium mining ban scored a victory April 17 when the 10th Circuit Court upheld federal, rather than state, control over a permit for a proposed in situ leach uranium mine in a mixed-ownership area of northwestern New Mexico. Hydro Resources Inc. asked the federal appeals court to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency determination that HRI's proposed mine near Church Rock was in "Indian country" as legally defined and therefore must be permitted by EPA and not by the state.

A regional organization is headed back to court in a fight to reclaim its authority over a Utah company, including whether it can dispose of foreign radioactive waste. The Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-level Radioactive Waste will take the case to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in hopes of overturning a decision by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart. In his May 15 ruling, Stewart sided with EnergySolutions Inc., the Salt Lake City-based nuclear waste company that wants to import waste generated in Italy and other foreign countries and bury it at its disposal site in Tooele County. The Northwest Compact, which includes Utah and seven other states, made the decision to push forward with an appeal on Monday.

An environmental group said Wednesday it may go to court to try to stop South Carolina's largest private utility from building two nuclear reactors after state regulators threw out the group's petition to block the project. Bob Guild, an attorney who represents Friends of the Earth, said he would review the ruling by the Public Service Commission and could decide to appeal the issue to a circuit court. Guild said he did not know how long the group would have to file an appeal of the panel's decision.

After a six-year legal war over safety at a nuclear waste dump, South Carolina environmentalists hope a pending court decision will force stricter disposal practices for the Barnwell County site. The S.C. Court of Appeals, which heard the case last fall, is expected to render a decision early next year on the Sierra Club's challenge to the site's operating permit. The landfill closed to the nation in 2008, but remains open to bury low-level nuclear waste for South Carolina and two other states. If the appeals court sides with the Sierra Club, it could force Chem-Nuclear to improve the way it buries garbage, which would better prevent leaks of radioactive material into groundwater, club lawyer Jimmy Chandler said. For years, landfill operators have allowed rainwater to fall on open trenches lined with clay, instead of plastic. Burial vaults also have holes in them, allowing water to escape.

After a six-year legal war over safety at a nuclear waste dump, South Carolina environmentalists hope a pending court decision will force stricter disposal practices for the Barnwell County site. The S.C. Court of Appeals, which heard the case last fall, is expected to render a decision early next year on the Sierra Club's challenge to the site's operating permit. The landfill closed to the nation in 2008, but remains open to bury low-level nuclear waste for South Carolina and two other states. If the appeals court sides with the Sierra Club, it could force Chem-Nuclear to improve the way it buries garbage, which would better prevent leaks of radioactive material into groundwater, club lawyer Jimmy Chandler said. For years, landfill operators have allowed rainwater to fall on open trenches lined with clay, instead of plastic. Burial vaults also have holes in them, allowing water to escape.

"Utah should have a say over whether a company can ship low-level radioactive waste from another country into the state, attorneys argued Thursday before a federal appeals court. Attorneys for Utah and an interstate compact that regulates the waste argued before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the law creating the compact gives the state and other members broad authority. They asked the judges to reverse a Utah federal court decision saying the Northwest Interstate Compact can't block EnergySolutions Inc. from shipping in low-level radioactive waste from Italy. EnergySolutions wants to import up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy. The waste would be processed in Tennessee, and about 1,600 tons would be disposed of in Utah."

A federal appeals court this week moved to allow uranium mining operations in Churchrock, a Navajo community just east of Gallup, New Mexico. The decision by the Federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals comes at a time of increased financial incentives for uranium mining-but also intense opposition from many communities, including the Navajo Nation, which outlawed uranium mining in 2005. "This ruling is a major breakthrough for URI and upholds the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] license that took us 10 years to obtain and as many to address in supplemental reviews and litigation," Don Ewigleben, President and CEO of Uranium Resources, said in a statement this week. "… The ruling also demonstrates that ISR technology, including the restoration process that follows mining activity, is safe and effective."