Responding to critics who have asked why Lynas was not building the plant in Australia, Mr. Mashal said the company had received a license to build a plant in Perth but had decided to come to Malaysia for economic reasons.
Duke said it would continue pursuing a license to build and operate the plant, but drop the contracts for completing the engineering work, acquiring components and building the reactors.
Three companies have filed applications for licenses to build and operate five reactors.
In 1979, residents sued the government to try overturn its decision granting Tepco a license to build a plant there.
The staff has also completed work on Southern's application for a license to build and run the reactors.
The Energy Department had applied for a license to build and operate the repository but then withdrew the application, he noted.
Nonaircraft producers obtained licenses to build entire products developed by the aircraft industry or acted as subcontractors for aircraft manufacturers.
More than 100,000 licenses to build were handed out in Bangkok in 1995, according to the central bank.
In August, South Korea announced that it will no longer give licenses to build or run coal plants.
(Foxwoods won a license to build a casino in Philadelphia, but its financial problems prompted the state's gaming control board to revoke it in 2010).
