Judge rules against bid to halt Millstone restart

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday May 7, 11:52 am Eastern Time

Judge rules against bid to halt Millstone restart

NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) - A Connecticut judge ruled Friday 
against an injunction sought by an environmental group that would 
have prevented Northeast Utilities (NU - news) from restarting its 
Millstone 2 nuclear power plant.  

The move clears the way for the 880 megawatt reactor to resume 
operation. The unit has been shut since 1996 for extensive safety 
upgrades.  

``The judge decided against us. I guess this also means that our 
temporary restraining order is lost too. I'm very disappointed,'' Fish 
Unlimited President Bill Smith told Reuters.  

Fish Unlimited, a nonprofit group based in Shelter Island, N.Y., 
alleged restarting the plant would harm fish stocks in Long Island 
Sound, the body of water between Connecticut and Long Island, 
N.Y., into which the reactor releases its cooling water.  

``I don't know if we'll appeal the decision or not...I'll have to read it 
first,'' Smith said.

Officials at Northeast Utilities, headquartered in Berlin, Conn., were 
not immediately available to comment on the decision or say when 
they expect to restart Millstone 2.  

The Millstone 2 reactor has been in ``hot standby'', the final step 
before restarting the unit, for the past two weeks awaiting the 
judge's decision.  

On April 27, Fish Unlimited apparently became the first 
environmentalist group in the U.S. to delay the restart of a nuclear
power plant in court after Connecticut Superior Court Judge Robert 
Hale issued a restraining order temporarily blocking
Millstone 2's restart.

Without the restraining order, Northeast Utilities could have put the 
plant back in service on April 29, the day the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission in Washington approved its restart.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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