Should oldest US nuke plant stay on line?

In what could be a precedent-setting case, New Jersey and a coalition of citizens are fighting renewal of the license for the nation's oldest operating nuclear power plant.

Their concern: The structural design of the 1960s-era Oyster Creek nuclear generating station is a security risk because, among other things, it stores highly radioactive spent fuel rods above ground. They argue that makes it vulnerable in the event of a terrorist attack from the air.

Their contention, if proved, could lead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny for the first time a nuclear generating station's request for a license renewal after its original 40-year license expires. It could also set a new standard for the NRC, which currently does not take terrorism into account when it decides whether to renew a nuclear plant's license.

In fact, the NRC recently ruled the "possibility of a terrorist attack ... is speculative" and therefore "beyond the scope" of relicensing proceedings.

The state of New Jersey is appealing that ruling, arguing that the threat of terrorism is not speculative at all but a danger that must be addressed. Terrorism experts agree.

"From a policy perspective, it's absolutely critical that the relicensing procedures take into account the vulnerability from man-made attacks," says Michael Greenberger, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security in Baltimore. "It's the height of folly ... for the [NRC] to say that it's not going to consider seriously the vulnerability of the oldest plants when everybody knows these facilities are high-level targets."

Oyster Creek is located in the densely populated Jersey Shore, a fast-growing area in the most densely populated state. That's one of the things that prompted Janet Tauro to join the fight to close the plant when its license expires in 2009.

"It's an obsolete design," she says. "There are almost 3,000 pounds of highly radioactive rods stored 70 feet in the air in a cooling pool of water protected only by a thin metal roof. It's way too vulnerable."

The owners of Oyster Creek, who have applied for a license renewal to operate another 20 years, deny the plant is obsolete and note the metal roof above the spent fuel rods is "a heavily reinforced steel structure."

"Oyster Creek is required to meet every single safety standard and regulation as every plant, no matter what the age," says Oyster Creek spokesman Pete Resler. "The station has been continually upgraded: We put in the most modern safety systems and equipment."

The clash hints at the challenge of addressing electricity needs as well as environmental concerns about greenhouse gases, which nuclear power plants don't emit. It also shows the challenges faced in this post-9/11 world by the NRC, which has recently come under fire from some members of Congress for what they see as not taking the threat of terrorism seriously enough.

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