Press Release-III-09-035, NRC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Environmental Report for Prairie Island Nuclear Plant License Renewal

Press Release-III-09-035: NRC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Environmental Report for Prairie Island Nuclear Plant License Renewal

ML093450557
Person / Time
Site:	Prairie Island
Issue date:	12/11/2009
From:	Office of Public Affairs Region II
To:
Category:Press Release
References
Press Release-III-09-035
Download: ML093450557 (2)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Region III 2443 Warrenville Road Lisle IL 60532 No. III-09-035 December 11, 2009 Contacts: E-Mail: opa3@nrc.gov Viktoria Mitlyng 630-829-9662 Web site: www.nrc.gov Prema Chandrathil 630-829-9663 NRC SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENTS ON DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT FOR PRAIRIE ISLAND NUCLEAR PLANT LICENSE RENEWAL The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public meetings on Wednesday, Dec.

16, to solicit public comments on the draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant license renewal application. The plant is owned and operated by Northern States Power Company-Minnesota. The plant is located in Welch, Minn.,

roughly 40 miles southeast of St. Paul.

The first meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at the Red Wing Public Library, at 225 East Avenue in Red Wing. The second meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the same location. The two meetings will begin with overviews, including a discussion of the contents of the report, and then be opened for public comment. An NRC Open House will be held half an 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 only during the transcribed meetings.

The company submitted its license renewal application on April 11, 2008. As part of its application the company submitted an environmental report. The NRC staff reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff also considered comments made during the environmental scoping process, including comments offered at public meetings held on July 30, 2008. Based on its review, the NRC has preliminarily determined that the environmental impacts of the license renewal for Prairie Island nuclear power plant Units 1 and 2 do not preclude license renewal.

The draft SEIS report is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html at accession number ML093170484. A copy of the report will be available at the Red Wing Library, also additional details of the renewal were announced in a Nov. 16 press release (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2009/09-186.html).

Members of the public may register to present oral comments at this meeting by Dec. 14, 2009, by contacting Elaine Keegan at 1-800-368-5642, extension 8517, or by email at Elaine.Keegan@nrc.gov. Those with special needs should also contact Keegan to make arrangements. Those who wish to make comments may also register at the meeting 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. Public comments will be accepted until Jan. 30, 2010.

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

NRC news releases are available through a free list serve 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.