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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended its deadline for public comment on a proposed twin-reactor nuclear power plant at TVA's Bellefonte site near Scottsboro until June 6, 2008. The 60-day extension, announced in the Federal Register, comes in response to a request by Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team (BEST), a local group associated with BREDL (Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League). Both groups oppose the use of nuclear power and BEST had complained that TVA's application for a COL (Combined Operating License) was incomplete

A North Carolina environmental group is seeking a public hearing with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to oppose the reinstatement of a construction permit for Bellefonte Nuclear Plant's Units 1 and 2. "This is an unprecedented action by the commission," said Louis Zeller, director of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. Issuing permits to a utility that had abandoned the project in 2006 and had not been inspecting or maintaining the plant over a three-year period violates the National Environmental Policy Act, he said Thursday. Zeller said the Tennessee Valley Authority should be made to start over "from square one," as if it's a new construction project, in applying for a permit to finish the two units. Efforts to reach the commission for comment were unsuccessful.

"There has been a lot of talk of next-generation reactors in the U.S. "nuclear revival," but some plans for new nuclear power generation are looking back rather than ahead. Alongside a multitude of pending applications for new nuclear reactors, there is a move to restart construction at sites where the work began decades ago only to be abandoned before completion. On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a hearing on challenges to the reinstatement of construction permits for one such project. It involves permits granted to the Tennessee Valley Authority to build the Bellefonte nuclear reactors, two reactors that were started near Hollywood, Ala., in 1974 but never finished. "

In what is being called a rare victory for whistle blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man 2004. In a decision that was made public today, the Department of Labor's review board ruled that James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc., while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens after reporting safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In what is being called a rare victory for whistle blowers, a U.S. Department of Labor appeals panel has ruled that a Tennessee Valley Authority contractor violated the federal whistle-blower law when it fired a Tuscumbia man 2004. In a decision that was made public today, the Department of Labor's review board ruled that James Speegle was improperly dismissed from his job as a painting foreman for Louisiana-based Stone and Webster Construction Inc., while working at Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens after reporting safety concerns to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.