ELR Citation: ELR 20824
No(s). 92-1061 (D.C. Cir. Apr 13, 1993)

The court holds that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is not required to perform an antitrust review before issuing renewals of nuclear power plant commercial or operating licenses under Atomic Energy Act (AEA) §§103-105. AEA §105(c) requires the NRC to perform an antitrust review of applications to construct or operate a §103 facility. The legislative history contains a Joint Committee Report regarding the scope of §105(c) that specifically excludes certain types of applications from antitrust review, including applications to "extend or 'review' a license." The court concludes that the word "review" is probably a typographical error intended to be "renew." The NRC's interpretation of the report as not requiring antitrust review upon receiving an application for a §103 renewal is therefore permissible. Additionally, although all new licenses must be issued pursuant to §103, AEA §105(c)(2) expressly allows plants that initially operated under a §104 operating license to be renewed under §104. Because the NRC is never required to perform an antitrust review of a §104 application, it is excused from performing antitrust review of any renewal application under either section.

Counsel for Petitioners
Robert A. Jablon, Cynthia S. Bogorad
Spiegel & McDiarmid
1350 New York Ave. NW, Ste. 1100, Washington DC 20005
(202) 879-4000

Counsel for Respondent
E. Leo Slaggie, Deputy Solicitor
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington DC 20530
(301) 492-7000

David Seidman
Environment and Natural Resources Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 514-2000

Before: SILBERMAN, WILLIAMS, and D.H. GINSBURG, Circuit Judges.