Mikie Sherrill pares back de facto New Jersey nuclear energy moratorium 

Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) signed legislation Wednesday ending a decades-old barrier to building new nuclear power plants as the state grapples with rising energy demand and costs.

The new law alters the state’s permitting process, removing what had functioned as a de facto moratorium on new nuclear facilities by updating requirements around radioactive waste storage. 

Previously, state rules effectively blocked new construction by requiring a federally approved long-term waste disposal solution, but there are no facilities to dispose of high-level waste in the United States. Additionally, New Jersey’s environmental protection department required facilities to identify safe methods of waste disposal, creating a de facto moratorium.

Under the revised framework, regulators can now approve permits if the state’s Department of Environmental Protection finds that a project’s method for storage and disposal of radioactive waste is safe.

Sherrill signed the new legislation while visiting Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station in southern New Jersey.

“For too