Court rejects challenge to Oyster Creek license renewal

A federal appeals court on Wednesday declined to review the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's license renewal of Exelon Corp.'s Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia said the NRC did not abuse its discretion when it rejected a challenge of the license renewal by a coalition of environmental groups.

"We are confident that the NRC's review of Exelon's application was well-reasoned, and we will not second-guess technical decisions within the realm of its unique expertise," the court said.

The NRC granted a 20-year license extension, although Exelon later agreed with New Jersey officials to shut down the Ocean County plant in 2019, which is 10 years ahead of schedule.

In a footnote, the court found that the recent Japanese reactor disaster, on which the NRC filed a supplemental brief, does not provide a basis for reviewing the Oyster Creek license extension.

The Oyster Creek reactor, which is similar to the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors that were damaged by a tsunami in March, is America's oldest commercial nuclear plant.