"Federal appeals court judges today indicated that environmental groups may face an uphill battle in challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval of a reactor design and the country's first new nuclear construction in more than three decades."
"Anti-nuclear groups have argued for months that NRC violated federal law last year by approving the revised version of Westinghouse Electric Co.'s AP1000 reactor design without first incorporating far-reaching lessons from the nuclear accident in Japan last year. The March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, causing core meltdown in three reactors, radiological release and multiple evacuations.
NRC also violated federal law in February by allowing Southern Co. and a group of utilities to build the country's first reactor in more than 30 years using the AP1000 design at an existing plant in Georgia, the environmental groups say."
Lawrence Hurley and Hannah Northey report for Greenwire November 19, 2012.
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