NRC OKs first new nuke plant in 34 years

WASHINGTON -- The nation's first new nuclear power plant in a generation won approval yesterday as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in Georgia.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 to approve Atlanta-based Southern Co.'s request to build two reactors at its Vogtle site, south of Augusta. The vote clears the way for officials to issue an operating license for the reactors, which could begin operating as soon as 2016 and 2017.

The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978, a year before a partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania raised fears of a radiation release and brought new orders nearly to a halt.

NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko voted against the Vogtle license, saying he wanted a binding commitment from the company that it would make safety changes prompted by the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan.

"We've given them a license. They have not given us any commitment they will make these changes in the future," he said.

The meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant led to a series of NRC recommendations to improve safety at the 104 U.S. commercial reactors. The changes are intended to make the plants better prepared for incidents they were not initially designed to handle, such as prolonged power blackouts or damage to multiple reactors at the same time.

The changes are still being developed, though Jaczko said it is clear they will be required by the NRC before the new reactors open in 2016 or 2017.

Despite his opposition, Jaczko called the vote "historic" and a culmination of years of work by Southern Co. and the NRC.

The firm's chief officer, Thomas A. Fanning, called the NRC vote "a monumental accomplishment for Southern Company, Georgia Power, our partners and the nuclear industry."

Allison Fisher of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen called the NRC's action a step in the wrong direction. "It is inexplicable that we've chosen this moment in history to expand the use of a failed and dangerous technology," she said.