Press Release-I-09-044, NRC to Seek Public Input Nov. 5 on Possible Environmental Impacts of License Extensions for Salem, Hope Creek Nuclear Plants

Press Release-I-09-044: NRC to Seek Public Input Nov. 5 on Possible Environmental Impacts of License Extensions for Salem, Hope Creek Nuclear Plants

ML093010708
Person / Time
Site:	Salem, Hope Creek
Issue date:	10/29/2009
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:
Category:Press Release
References
FOIA/PA-2011-0113 Press Release-I-09-044
Download: ML093010708 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 Site: http://www.nrc.gov No. I-09-044 October 29, 2009

Contact:

Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 NRC TO SEEK PUBLIC INPUT NOV. 5 ON POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF LICENSE EXTENSIONS FOR SALEM, HOPE CREEK NUCLEAR PLANTS Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a pair of public meetings on Thursday, Nov. 5 to solicit public comments on possible environmental impacts of a proposed 20-year extension of the operating licenses for the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants. Salem Units 1 and 2 are pressurized-water reactors while Hope Creek is a boiling-water reactor. All three units are located in Hancocks Bridge (Salem County), N.J., and are owned and operated by PSEG Nuclear LLC. The company submitted the license renewal applications for the facilities on Aug. 18.

The first session will begin at 1 p.m. at the Salem County Emergency Services Building, at 135 Cemetery Road in Woodstown, N.J. A second session, which will follow the same format as the first meeting, will get under way at 7 p.m. at the same location. An NRC open house will be held for one hour prior to the start of each meeting to provide interested members of the public with an opportunity to talk informally with agency staff. However, formal comments must be expressed during the transcribed meetings.

Both sessions will start with a brief overview of NRCs license renewal review process, with emphasis on the environmental evaluation portion of the process. Afterwards, audience members will be able to offer comments on environmental issues they consider worthy of review as the agency evaluates the Salem and Hope Creek applications.

These meetings are to be held at the beginning of an intensive review process for the Salem and Hope Creek applications, said Brian Holian, Director of the NRCs Division of License Renewal. As such, they represent an ideal opportunity for members of the public who are interested in these plants and their potential future operations to provide input on issues they believe the agency should evaluate as these assessments move forward.

At the conclusion of the information-gathering process, the NRC staff will prepare a summary of the conclusions reached and significant issues identified. A copy will be sent to each person who took part in the scoping process. The summary will also be available on the NRCs web site through the Public Electronic Document Reading Room at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, and at the Salem Free Library, at 112 W. Broadway

in Salem, N.J. Help in accessing documents through the Reading Room is available by contacting the NRCs Public Document Room.

The NRC staff will subsequently prepare a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) supplement for public comment and will hold public meetings at a future date to solicit comments. After consideration of comments on the draft report, the NRC will prepare a final EIS supplement.

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years, provided that NRC requirements are met. The current operating licenses for the plants are set to expire as follows: Salem 1, Aug. 13, 2016; Salem 2, April 18, 2020; and Hope Creek, April 11, 2026.

As part of the applications, PSEG submitted environmental reports for the plants. The Salem report can be found on the NRCs web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/salem.html . The Hope Creek report can be found at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/hope-creek.html. The reports are also available for review at the NRCs Public Document Room in Rockville, Md.,

which can be reached by phone at 1-800-397-4209 or by e-mail at pdr.resource@nrc.gov, and at the Salem Free Library.

An existing NRC document, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants (NUREG-1437), assesses the scope and impact of environmental effects that would be associated with license renewal at any nuclear power plant site. The document for which the NRC will gather information at the Nov. 5th meetings will supplement the Generic EIS and will be specific to the Salem and Hope Creek plants. It will contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability of the license renewal action.

Interested individuals may register to attend or present oral comments at the Nov. 5th meetings by contacting NRC Project Manager Charles Eccleston by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, ext. 8537, or by e-mail at Charles.Eccleston@nrc.gov, no later than Nov. 3. Those who wish to comment may also register at the meetings within 15 minutes of the start of each session.

Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register.

Additional information on the license renewal review process is available on the NRCs web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.