"About two dozen environmental groups launched a volley of legal challenges at nuclear regulators on Thursday in an attempt to stall action to extend the operation of aging reactors and to delay construction of more advanced nuclear designs."
"Using findings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's own Fukushima task force as ammunition, the groups, representing anti-nuclear parties from coast to coast, made filings with the NRC claiming that existing federal law requires the agency to address safety concerns in the Fukushima review before moving forward.
"The NRC may not issue or renew a single reactor license until it has either strengthened regulations to protect the public from severe accident risks or until it has made a careful and detailed study of the environmental implications of not doing so," the groups said in a statement, citing provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Atomic Energy Act."
Eileen O'Grady and Scott DiSavino report for Reuters August 12, 2011.
SEE ALSO:
"Nuclear Regulator's Misplaced Focus on Process, Not Policy, Chairman Says" (Greenwire)
"U.S. Nuclear Regulator Tied Up By Process: Chairman" (Reuters)
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