ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20105
No(s). 12-1106 (D.C. Cir. May 14, 2013)

The D.C. Circuit denied petitions for review challenging NRC's issuance of a combined license to construct and operate two new units at the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia as well as its approval of an amended design for a nuclear power plant reactor on which the Vogtle application relied. Environmental groups claimed that NRC unreasonably denied them a right to participate in a hearing at which NRC technical staff confirmed that the Fukushima accident had not presented new and significant information that would require a supplemental EIS for the plant. Yet NRC's original EIS for the plant considered precisely the types of harm that occurred as a result of the Fukushima accident. In addition, the groups failed to identify what specific "new and significant" environmental information NRC failed to consider or what deficiency in the existing EIS it failed to rectify. Accordingly, NRC reasonably found that the groups' contentions did not warrant a contested hearing. The court also rejected the groups' claim that NRC abused its discretion in approving the amended reactor design without first supplementing the EA that contained important information regarding "Severe Accident Mitigation Design Alternatives" applicable to the plant. In considering the design certification amendment, NRC reexamined the probability that a severe accident might occur and concluded that potential design changes did not affect its original evaluations.