Circuit Watcher

07-1482, 07-1483 Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S.
Before Torruella, Circuit Judge, Stahl, Senior Circuit Judge, and Lynch, Circuit Judge.
LYNCH, Circuit Judge. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts wishes to ensure that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (”NRC” or the “Commission”) will take account of the Commonwealth’s safety concerns about treatment of spent fuel rods before the NRC decides whether to renew the operating licenses of two nuclear energy plants: the Pilgrim plant in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the Vermont Yankee plant in Vernon, Vermont, which is within ten miles of the Massachusetts border. The licenses were originally issued in 1972 and will expire in 2012; the re-licensing proceedings have been initiated and are ongoing. …
.
We hold as a matter of law that the Commonwealth has chosen the wrong path in seeking to raise the safety issues as a party in the licensing proceedings and deny its petition. We also bind the NRC to its litigation position, described in more detail below. This leaves the Commonwealth free to follow the NRC’s preferred path if it so chooses. To the extent the Commonwealth seeks an order from this court interfering with the NRC’s ongoing re-licensing proceedings by imposing decision-making timetables on the agency, we issue a very brief stay but otherwise decline to issue such relief. … Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S.