FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found that environmental concerns are not significant enough to halt the construction of a proposed new reactor at the Fermi plant in Monroe County.

Fermi owner Detroit Edison applied to the NRC in 2008 to build one of the newest generation of nuclear reactors.

The commission weighed the new reactor's impact on plant and wildlife, geology and waterways and says in a report this week that "there are no environmentally preferable or obviously superior sites."

The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/V7zf9E ) the reactor is the only one currently proposed in the Midwest. It's known as Fermi 3.

NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng says although the report's conclusion clears a major hurdle, the design of the reactor, as well as its safety, still must be reviewed.

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Information from: Detroit Free Press, http://www.freep.com