County Appeals NRC Order

The Orange County Board of Commissioners filed a federal appeal with the full Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week to require a full public hearing before Carolina Power & Light Co. officially can expand its storage of nuclear waste.

The appeal stems from a March 1 decision made by the full NRC allowing CP&L's Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant to open two additional cooling pools at the site to store more low-level waste.

"Hopefully, we'll get a full evidentiary hearing," Commissioner Barry Jacobs said. "My expectations of the responsiveness to the concerns of Orange County citizens are not high."

A full evidentiary hearing is a meeting where the two nuclear scientists hired by Orange County would be allowed to present their findings and conduct an open scientific debate with CP&L's scientists.

The federal appeal brings Orange County's to a total of three. Initially, CP&L was given the green light to expand by the NRC staff, but that decision was held until a ruling was made by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. The board, which is a branch of the NRC, gave its approval to the on-site expansion, which was OK'd by the full commission.

But NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said that if the full commission renders a decision the commissioners disagree with, then they still can appeal to the federal Court of Appeals.

CP&L officials said they did not think the appeal by Orange County would be successful. "The NRC and ASLB have already determined our plan is safe and responsible," said Keith Poston, the spokesman for Progress Energy, which owns CP&L. "We expect additional court action by Orange County, but believe the courts will side with the NRC."

But some commissioners are optimistic the ruling will go in the county's favor.

"We've never accomplished our initial goal of getting a public hearing on the matter," Commissioner Moses Carey said. "We feel we've invested enough in this to go the next step and appeal. I expect them to reverse the appeal and then get a public hearing."

Hannah said Orange County was within its rights to appeal the decision, but he and his staff feel the CP&L plan is safe. "We decided the license amendment filed by CP&L can be used safely, and we still feel this way," Hannah said.

The third cooling pool at the plant should be fully operational by the middle of this year, and the fourth pool will not be needed until several years down the road, CP&L officials said.

Poston said the appeal would not impact CP&L's expansion plans yet.

But some groups, such as the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, feel expansion could result in a major accident.

Jim Warren, executive director of N.C. WARN, said he believes Orange County has a very strong legal case but might not be successful because the NRC was "too closely allied with the nuclear industry."

But Poston said a major accident is not likely and CP&L is simply expanding a way of storing spent fuel that has been used safely for years.

"It's a process we are confident in," he said. "It's the industry standard."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.