In principle, the experience to which you refer (the Shoreham plant on Long Island) cannot be repeated. In the licensing regime at the time that the Shoreham plant was being built, a construction permit was issued, which allowed the plant to be built. Before it could be operated, an operating license had be issued. At Shoreham, the operating license was never issued and the plant never operated (except for low power startup testing).
In the licensing regime today, the construction permit and the operating license are combined into a Combined Operating License (COL). It is a one-step process. In the case of Vogtle, all of the necessary hearings have been held and all of the intervenor questions have been resolved to the satisfaction of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
While one cannot rule out what a court might do, with the issuance of the COL, the utility simply (nothing to it) needs to build the plant according to the approved design and then it can start it up. No more licensing is needed.
There’s something about the Shoreham thing that has always bothered me.
Before the first stick of fuel was loaded, the utility and the state had the agreement to abandon the plant. Why did they even bother to take it to criticality? As you know, it makes handling the fuel ever so much more difficult.
good to know licensing process has changed for the better.