Mass. Pilgrim reactor could get new license Thursday

By Scott DiSavino      March 8 (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear regulators
could decide on Thursday to renew the operating license for Entergy
Corp's 685-megawatt (MW) Pilgrim nuclear power plant in
Massachusetts for another 20 years until 2032.     

To date, the six-year old renewal process for the 40-year old Pilgrim
reactor was the longest yet for a new license in U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) history.     

However, Entergy's ongoing quest to renew the operating licenses for
the two reactors at its 2,063-MW Indian Point plant in New York,
which expire in 2013 and 2015, is expected to last much longer.

Entergy, the nation's second biggest nuclear power operator, applied
to renew the original 40-year operating license for Pilgrim in
Jan. 2006. It filed to renew the Indian Point reactors in April 2007.     

To date, the NRC has approved of new licenses for 71 of the nation's
104 operating reactors prior to Pilgrim and rejected none. Those
reactors produce about 20 percent of the electricity used in the
United States.     

Although the NRC has completed most license renewal applications
in about two years, it can take years to decide on the most heavily
opposed proceedings like Pilgrim and Indian Point.     

It took Exelon Corp, the nation's biggest nuclear power operator,
about four years to renew the license of the Oyster Creek reactor
in New Jersey and Entergy about five years to renew the Vermont
Yankee reactor, which the state of Vermont is still trying to shut.      

At Pilgrim, NRC commissioners are expected to rule on Thursday on
a filing related to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in
Japan last March filed by the Massachusetts Attorney General's
office, and some other associated motions.     

The NRC's judicial arm, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB),
recently denied the Massachusetts Attorney General's Fukushima
contention.     

If the commission were to uphold the ASLB ruling and reject the
contention, the commissioners could authorize the NRC staff to issue
the new license for Pilgrim.      The NRC has said on many occasions
it will not hold up a license renewal or even an application to build
a new reactor to wait for the final rules related to the lessons
earned from the Fukushima accident. Those rules will apply to all
reactors, new or existing, regardless of whether the reactor is
seeking a new license.

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