BRATTLEBORO - Stating Vermont had numerous opportunities to contest the completeness of the relicensing application for Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the Vermont Department of Public Service's challenge to the issuance of the new license in March 2011.

DPS and the New England Coalition had contended that the relicensing application was incomplete because it did not inclued a water quality certificate from the state.

They asked the court to order the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's to reconsider its decision to issue the new license.

The court ruled today that DPS and NEC had failed to exhaust their administrative remedies prior to the license issuance and therefore, the court denied their petitions for review.

In its decision, the Court of Appeals wrote "the petitioners sat silent for two and one-half years thereafter, raising their (water quality certificate) objection only after the Commission issued the license renewal in March 2011."

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