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Chapter 30: Nuclear energy Environmental Law Institute’s Law of Environmental Protection, Vol. 3
31 March 2023
We represent nuclear clients on the full range of regulatory matters, including licensing, license amendments, compliance, investigations and enforcement, safety culture, as well as associated legal issues, including financial and restructuring, foreign ownership, nuclear liability, financial qualifications, and decommissioning funding.
We work at the forefront of the legal and technical issues before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and other key federal and state agencies, and have advised on a number of "first-of-a-kind projects" in both the United States and abroad. We help our clients set precedent on key regulatory and policy issues, such as on the NRC's power reactor foreign ownership and control prohibitions and siting of one of the nation's first small modular reactor (SMR) projects.
We have built relationships with nuclear regulators and other agencies that give us unique legal and business insights into the thinking of regulators and challenges facing the industry. Our team includes a former U.S. Department of Energy general counsel and former NRC lawyers, as well as several lawyers with technical backgrounds relevant to the nuclear field.
Representative experience
Assisted a leading nuclear utility in successfully restructuring ownership of nuclear units in bankruptcy, which involved complex NRC license transfers and decommissioning funding and state support matters.
Assisted a leading nuclear owner/operator in NRC license transfer proceedings for the purchase of a Northeast nuclear power plant under a zero-emissions credit program.
Represent nuclear owners/operators and parent companies in novel and complex ownership restructurings and related NRC license transfer matters.
Advised a leading nuclear reactor developer in relation to their bid to construct and operate the first nuclear power plant in Jordan on an engineering, procurement, and construction basis.
Represented a reactor supplier in a successful hearing before an NRC licensing board to overturn an NRC staff decision on financial and foreign ownership issues for a new nuclear power plant project.
Represented Entergy before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in defending NRC exemptions for a Northeast power plant.
Submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of nuclear operators supporting an appeal of a decision on Price-Anderson Act nuclear liability protections.
Assisted a nuclear reactor operator in successfully and amicably resolving a long-standing series of investigations related to safety culture allegations.
Routinely assist reactor operators on a host of enforcement and investigation matters, including on radioactive waste transportation matters.
Assist nuclear reactor operators and suppliers and transporters on cross-border nuclear liability issues related to the transport of nuclear waste and nuclear fuel.
