Nuclear Regulators Prevail in Diablo Canyon License Challenge

US nuclear regulators properly issued an exemption that allows Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in California to keep operating while they review the plant’s license renewal application, the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission “adequately explained why California’s changing energy needs constituted a special circumstance, and why the record supported its findings of no undue risk to the public health and safety,” wrote a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

The NRC properly found the licensing exemption met the eligibility criteria for a categorical exclusion, the opinion said, meaning no additional environmental ...