This decision has affected nine licenses for construction and operating license renewals 8, an operating license, and leave early.
The order issued by the NRC, reads:
We are considering all options available to solve the problem of trust in the treatment of waste, which could include generic or specific actions of the site or any combination thereof. We have not yet determined a course of action. [...] This determination extends only to the final issuance of the license, so all reviews of licenses and the procedure must move forward.
The court ruling that halted the granting of licenses for U.S. nuclear power plants, is derived from an action brought by the Attorney General of the State of New York, on the renewal of the licenses for the 2013 nuclear power plant Indian Point, 38 miles north of New York. One of the three reactors at Indian Point is now definitely closed, with the remaining two nearing the end of their operating licenses initial 40 years.
Analysis of the impact of an accident at Indian Point shows that if an event of the magnitude of the Fukushima disaster were to occur, would be 10-100 times more expensive than the estimated price of $ 60 billion to the nuclear disaster, besides forcing the evacuation of millions of people in the most densely populated area of the United States.
The central Indian Point is ranked as the most dangerous nuclear power plant in the United States, both for its antiquity, as being built on a fault line. Added to this is that there have been security incidents, and in 2007 received a fine from the NRC, which includes it in the "black list".
Moreover, the analysis shows that closing Indian Point plant, does not need to produce additional electricity to replace online until 2020, due to excess power capacity in the surrounding regions.
