Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) is challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to consider a 20-year license renewal for the Pilgrim nuclear plant without addressing lessons from Japan's nuclear crisis.

Coakley filed an appeal yesterday in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that challenges the NRC's decision to continue the relicensing process for Entergy Corp.'s plant in Plymouth, Mass. Entergy has been trying for the past seven years to renew its 40-year license for the plant, which expires June 8.

Coakley is now asking the court to halt the process until lessons from last year's Japanese nuclear accident are addressed.

"We believe safe nuclear power can be a part of our energy portfolio, but the NRC needs to understand the lessons learned from Fukushima and apply those lessons to Pilgrim before granting the plant a 20-year license extension," Coakley said in a statement.

The NRC last year rejected Coakley's request to consider lessons from the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Coakley argued that since Pilgrim uses the same Mark I GE boiling water reactor design as the Fukushima reactors, extra protection is needed to reduce the risk of an accident at the site.

The NRC has repeatedly said in such cases that arguments stemming from the Fukushima accident are premature and outside the scope of the rehearing process. The commission last week rejected similar arguments in reference to New York's embattled Indian Point nuclear power facility (Greenwire, April 5).

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) "requires that we conduct our environmental review with the best information available now," the commission said. "It does not, however, require that we wait until inchoate information matures into something that later might affect our review."

Coakley said that by rejecting her arguments, the NRC violated NEPA, the Atomic Energy Act and the commission's own regulations.

Michael Burns, a spokesman for Entergy, said the company is reviewing the petition.

"Pilgrim Station has gone through an exhaustive, 6-year technical and safety review as part of the NRC's license-renewal process," Burns said in a statement. "We have completed all the NRC requirements in this process and we look forward to the commissioners' decision with regard to license renewal for Pilgrim."

The plant is also facing opposition from other groups.

On Monday, anti-nuclear group Pilgrim Watch filed a contention with NRC that challenges the safety of the nuclear plant's venting system.

The NRC is considering how to ensure that the vents on the Mark I GE boiling water reactors are safe. The vent systems relieve pressure that builds up around the reactor during a severe accident.

Pilgrim Watch said the plant should be fitted with a filter system to prevent the release of radioactive gases to the atmosphere.

"Almost 40 years ago, the NRC identified a serious design flaw in these reactors -- in certain accident scenarios, the containment would fail in the event of pressure buildup," the group said.

Last month, Pilgrim Watch and the Jones River Watershed Association filed a separate contention that said NRC failed to satisfy the Endangered Species Act by not considering the fate of five species of whale, four species of turtle and the Atlantic sturgeon.

Overall, license renewals could be delayed as additional staff at NRC are shifted to address rulemakings and safety issues stemming from the Fukushima accident, said Martin Virgilio, NRC's executive director for reactor and preparedness programs, during an interview yesterday.

"We may not review [some applications] now if we can use those resources to support Fukushima," Virgilio said.

The NRC would not, however, delay action on a license that is slated to expire in the near future, he said.