No More Licenses To Nuclear Plants

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will stop issuing licenses for nuclear plants. The Wall Street Journal reports, that's because of a recent federal appeals court decision. The case involves nuclear waste. The NRC can issue permits when it has confidence there will eventually be places to store the waste. But the Obama administration, working through Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), killed the program to build a national waste repository in Nevada. The court struck down the NRC's finding that it could still have reasonable assurance of a future storage site. The ruling casts new doubt on whether the U.S. will ever expand its nuclear generating capacity.