The Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied a request for a new rule that would establish a framework for restarting retired nuclear reactors, according to a notice published last week.
There’s not enough industry interest in a regulatory framework to reauthorize operations at retired reactors, NRC said in its denial of a 2018 petition for a new rulemaking published on the Federal Register May 6.
The commission’s existing regulations can also be used “on a case-by-case basis” to address the issue of restarting reactors. However, no reactor licensees to date have requested permission to restart operations using this method, the agency said.
The 2018 petition requested that NRC establish a new rule allowing retired reactors to return to operations even after their license expires. In order to resume operations, reactors would only need to pass a safety inspection based on criteria from the year they shut down — not the latest safety standards.
