Progress Energy applied for a nuclear license extension Tuesday to continue operating the Shearon Harris plant in southwestern Wake County for an additional 20 years.

The Raleigh utility's relicensing application sets the stage for a two-year review during which nuclear critics hope to turn Shearon Harris into the nation's first nuclear plant to fail to win a license renewal.

Progress Energy officials say the Shearon Harris plant is needed to meet growing energy demand. The company won a license extension for its Brunswick plant near Wilmington this summer, and relicensed the H.B. Robinson plant in South Carolina two years ago.

The Harris plant's license is scheduled to expire in 2026. The license extension would allow Progress Energy to operate the plant through 2046.

The license renewal process is expected to take between 22 and 30 months. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold at least five public meetings near the site of the nuclear plant. The first meeting could be as early as next month.

The N.C. Waste Reduction and Awareness Network in Durham and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Maryland have vowed to challenge the Shearon Harris application.

N.C. WARN alleges problems in such areas as fire safety, backup cooling, emergency planning and on-site security. The group has called Shearon Harris one of the most unsafe nuclear plants in the country, a claim disputed by Progress Energy and the NRC.

"Our primary goal is to persuade Progress Energy or the regulatory agency to require correction of these various safety and security problems," said Jim Warren, director of N.C. WARN. "This plant is too dangerous, and nuclear power is inherently too dangerous."

N.C. WARN has been emboldened by coalitions in three states that are opposing nuclear plant relicensing applications in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont. The opponents in those states include attorneys general and state environmental agencies.