Anti-nuclear power activists took their fight to the Supreme Court on Monday night in a rare petition asking the justices to require federal regulators to change rules that exclude nuclear power plants’ transmission lines from environmental review.
The group Beyond Nuclear asked that the court take up its claims against the Fermi 3 reactor outside of Detroit, and claimed that the 29-mile long transmission line that would connect the reactor’s power supply to the grid would harm local wildlife areas.
The petition marks the first time the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to allow expedited construction of a new power plant is being challenged in the Supreme Court, said Beyond Nuclear’s oversight specialist and watchdog Kevin Kamps in a statement.
The group is opposing the commission’s 2007 limited work authorization regulation, which allows certain construction activities to commence ahead of the commission’s grant of a normal permit for construction and operation, according to the NRC. The rule would improve the “efficiency” of issuing licenses for nuclear power plants, according to the agency.
But the anti-nuclear group said the commission is allowing them to begin building “in a great big hurry,” said Kamps. The rapid construction approval process had been used to begin building nuclear plants in the Southeast almost a decade ago.
Beyond Nuclear had led a coalition of environmental groups in opposing the commission’s decision to issue a similar license for the Fermi 3 reactor in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second highest court in the land to confront federal regulations. But lack of favorable treatment there over the last three years has driven them to approach the Supreme Court.
The group argued that the federal commission’s rule violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires environmental reviews be conducted before construction commences. In this case, the group is protesting the transmission line, not the reactor itself, for crossing vulnerable habitat areas in Michigan.
“We are striving to prevent such high-speed bulldozing, in violation of NEPA, at Fermi 3,” Kamps said.
Fermi 3 would be the third reactor to be built at the current Fermi 2 power plant site operated by the utility firm Detroit Edison, or DTE.
The utility said it applied for the reactor license to give it the option of including more nuclear energy in its future grid planning. NRC approved the license to build the third reactor in 2015, even though the company had no plans to begin construction.
