The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 3-1 Friday to renew a license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., despite objections from the agency's outgoing chairman.

Three commissioners -- two Republicans and one Democrat -- favored extending Entergy Nuclear's license to operate the 1970s Pilgrim reactor for an additional 20 years.

The company's current license expires June 8.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who recently announced he will resign, opposed the license renewal. Democratic Commissioner George Apostolakis recused himself because he had previously reviewed the project while serving on NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel.

The decision marks NRC's longest review of a license extension.

Entergy Nuclear asked NRC to extend its 40-year license in 2006, but the request faced stiff opposition from anti-nuclear and environmental groups who say the plant threatens whales, turtles, the Atlantic sturgeon and the roseate tern, a seabird whose population is in decline (E&ENews PM, May 4).

Jaczko said a three-judge NRC licensing board should resolve legal challenges the groups have raised before NRC extends Entergy's license (Greenwire, May 25). Approving the license renewal while challenges remain sends a "confusing message" to petitioners, Jaczko said.

"If the commission were so comfortable that the issues raised in the motion to reopen were trivial, the commission could have simply dismissed them itself without referral to the board," Jaczko wrote in his vote.

But Republican NRC Commissioners Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff and Democrat Bill Magwood said Entergy should be able to continue operating the plant until the board makes a decision. If all issues are settled, the plant should operate for an additional 20 years, the commissioners said.