The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that NextEra Energy’s Seabrook Station could operate for another 20 years beyond 2030 without negative impact on the environment. NRC published its final report on the environmental impacts of renewing Seabrook’s operating license and gave the plant’s owners the green light to move to the next step in the re-licensing process.

“The NRC’s preliminary recommendation is that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Seabrook are not great enough to deny the option of license renewal,” according to NRC, which based its findings on an environmental report submitted by NextEra Energy, consultation with federal, state and local agencies and NRC staff’s independent review and public comments.

A Safety Evaluation Report, the last step in the license renewal process, is scheduled for release in May. NextEra has been working through the renewal application since 2010.

More: New Hampshire Union Leader

Mass. Mayor to Ask FERC to Extend Meetings for Tennessee Gas Pipeline

The mayor of Peabody, Mass., wants FERC to add a special meeting near the city to allow the public to comment on Kinder Morgan’s plan to build a lateral from its Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

Mayor Ted Bettencourt said he would seek the additional meeting after he met with the Northeast Municipal Pipeline Coalition, a group opposing the pipeline. Kinder Morgan has said it wants to build the pipeline to provide fuel for power plants. The Northeast has experienced a shortage in natural gas during times of peak demand, such as frigid winter days and nights.

Several meetings have already been held concerning the pipeline, which is to run from Dracut, through Peabody and connect to an existing line in Danvers.

More: The Salem News

Ninth Circuit Throws out Suit Against FERC Curtailment Order

A panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a group of wholesale electricity customers has no standing to sue FERC for requiring it to pay for curtailing wind generation in times of unusually high hydro generation.

The customers had argued that the dispatch-curtailment mandate — originally put into place as a result of high expected hydro generation on the Columbia River — meant that increased generation prices would be passed on to them. FERC issued the curtailment policy to cover incidents of “last resort” when high water levels forced Bonneville Power Administration to generate electricity that exceeded demand. In order to preserve system integrity, FERC decided it could mandate curtailment by other generators.

The plaintiffs argued that the mandate exceeded FERC’s area of responsibility, as it dealt with generation rather than transmission. The judges noted that the plaintiffs may suffer harm from the rule but that they had no statutory standing under FERC rules.

More: Courthouse News Service

Report: Wind Could Replace Coal, Gas as Dominant Resources

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory released a report that shows that wind power’s capacity factor could reach 65%, exceeding both coal and natural gas.

The Department of Energy’s lab data indicates that increasing to a 65% capacity factor could reduce wind’s cost, improve transmission line efficiency and provide necessary power at times of peak demand. The report shows that if “near-term” technology and enough appropriate sites are used, the capacity factor of wind turbines could exceed both coal and natural gas. The report also indicated that new wind power technology on the horizon would mean that wind alone would be able to power the U.S. demand.

More: Greentech Media

NRC: Beaver Valley Nuclear Station Has Enough Staff for Emergencies

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that the emergency plan of the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Pennsylvania is adequate to meet the needs for any large-scale emergencies. The commission reviewed the new safety guidelines put into place following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

All of the nation’s nuclear stations are undergoing a commission review of plans updated after the disaster.

More: Times Online

NRC Report Says Yucca Mountain Environmental Risk Low

A report issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain would pose “only a negligible increase” in health risk from radioactivity leaking into groundwater. The study is one of the final products of the funding for the Yucca Mountain project, which President Obama mothballed in 2010.

The report will be presented next month in Washington and Nevada.

More: Las Vegas Review-Journal

New Mexico Site Eyed for Storing Spent Nuclear Fuel

Holtec International has submitted documents showing its intent to file for a license to store spent nuclear fuel at a site in southeast New Mexico. The company said the facility would retain spent fuel from stations that are shutdown or in the process of decommissioning — Connecticut Yankee, Humboldt Bay, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Maine Yankee, Millstone Unit 1, Oyster Creek, Rancho Seco, Trojan, Yankee Rowe and Zion stations.

The letter of intent says that the site is 35 miles from any large population center. Holtec is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to store the fuel underground with the same system being used at Callaway and San Onofre stations.

Holtec said it is planning on filing its complete license application by June 2016.

More: FierceEnergy

NRC Dismisses Complaint Against San Onofre Station as Moot

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dismissed a complaint filed by an anti-nuclear organization against San Onofre nuclear generating station as moot because the station is being decommissioned. The Friends of the Earth filed the complaint against San Onofre owner Southern California Edison, alleging it failed to get approval for new steam generators before installing them.

The commission noted that fuel has been removed from the station and it is permanently closed, and so the complaint is unnecessary.

More: The Energy Collective