US NUCLEAR FACILITY LICENSING - GRIDLOCK, REFORM, AND THE LES EXPERIENCE

The licensing of nuclear facilities in the United States, even to the U.S. nuclear industry companies familiar with the licensing regime, is arcane and forbidding. But the scene is changing and the success of t he reforms will bear directly on the chance for new nuclear developmen t over the long term. This article will examine both the established a nd evolving regulatory picture following, by way of illustration and e xample, a U.S. venture now underway to license a private uranium enric hment facility in the U.S.