Coalition challenges Oyster Creek relicensing in court

Acoalition of citizens groups has filed suit in federal court, seeking to overturn the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's recent relicensing of the 40- year-old Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township.

"We are appealing the decision because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not have sufficient information available to it to decide whether Oyster Creek can operate safely for the next 20 years," Richard Webster, the coalition's attorney, said Monday.

Commission members voted 3-1 at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md., on April 1 to dismiss the coalition's contention that dealt with the integrity of the thickness of the plant's drywell liner and the frequency of ultrasonic tests in the drywell's sand bed region.

That vote paved the way for the NRC's April 8 decision to relicense Oyster Creek for another 20 years. Oyster Creek, which went online in December 1969, is the oldest largescale commercial nuclear power plant in the country.

The plant is owned and operated by Exelon Nuclear, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Exelon Corp.

Exelon spokesman David Benson said Monday that the lawsuit was "absurd."

"The NRC's review of this renewal application is the most extensive one to date," Benson said.

"It took four years to review the application," he added. "The agency spent nearly double the amount of time for review for Oyster Creek's application than it had for any other."

Exelon spent 93,000 hours over nearly four years to produce a 2,400-page relicensing application, Benson said.

"Certainly the citizens have the right to file the lawsuit," Benson said. "But we believe the lawsuit is absurd."

The NRC recognizes and respects the coalition's right to appeal, NRC spokesman Neil A. Sheehan said.

"Without passing judgment on the merits of the group's filing, we have thoroughly evaluated the issues associated with the plant's drywell liner," Sheehan said.

The NRC spent 46 months reviewing Oyster Creek's relicensing application, he said.

"It was only after intense scrutiny that the NRC determined that the plant would be safe for an additional 20 years of operation," Sheehan said.

The plant has had several setbacks since the NRC relicensed it on April 8, one day before its operating license was set to expire.

The radioactive isotope tritium was found in a concrete vault onsite and in several monitoring wells on April 15. A transformer failure on April 25 resulted in a "cold" shutdown of the plant for several days.

"Two weeks after the NRC staff said the plant was safe for another 20 years, underground pipes burst, spewing radioactive tritium in the groundwater," GRAMMES (Grandmothers, Mothers and More for Energy Safety) member Paula Gotsch said. "They are operating in the dark. The NRC has no idea what pipes have been inspected, how much of the pipes and how frequently."

Coalition members have also cited concerns about the plant's age, the reactor's spent fuel pool building, the plant as a target for terrorists, and evacuation problems in the event of a plant disaster.

"Since the NRC will not protect the public, we will, and that is why we filed the appeal," said Jeffrey Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "We could close down this unsafe plant and replace the power with renewable energy. There are wind and solar projects under way that will produce more power than this plant."

The five groups appealing the NRC's decision are the New Jersey Environmental Federation, the New Jersey Sierra Club, the Public Interest Research Group, the Nuclear Information Research Service, and GRAMMES.