NRC DOCKETS APPLICATION FOR NEW REACTORS
AT HARRIS SITE IN NORTH CAROLINA
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has docketed, or accepted for review, a combined license (COL) application for two new reactors at the Shearon Harris site near Apex, N.C. Progress Energy’s application, submitted Feb. 19, is the sixth COL the agency has accepted.

“The NRC staff has concluded Progress’s submittal meets our requirements for a full review, and they have started analyzing how the application resolves environmental and safety issues,” said Bill Borchardt, Director of the NRC’s Office of New Reactors. “We expect the technical work, followed by a hearing on the application, will continue well into 2011.”

The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/col.html. Progess seeks approval to build and operate two AP1000 reactors at the site, approximately 20 miles southwest of Raleigh, N.C. The AP1000 is a Westinghouse 1,100 megawatt electric pressurized-water reactor design the NRC certified in 2006. The NRC accepted Westinghouse’s application to amend the AP1000 design in January of this year.

Docketing the Harris application does not preclude additional requests for information as the review proceeds; nor does it indicate whether the Commission will issue the license. The docket numbers established for this application are 52-022 and 52-023. The NRC will publish in the near future an opportunity to intervene in the adjudicatory hearing required for this application. Petitions to intervene in a hearing may be filed within 60 days of the notice, by anyone whose interest may be affected by the proposed license and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding.

The NRC is currently reviewing COL applications for reactors at six other locations:

• the Lee site in South Carolina;
• the South Texas Project site in Texas;
• the Bellefonte site in Alabama;
• the North Anna site in Virginia; and
• the Calvert Cliffs site in Maryland, and;
• the Grand Gulf site in Mississippi.

The agency is also conducting an acceptance check on an application for the Vogtle site in Georgia. The agency will in the near future conduct a check on an application for the Summer site in South Carolina. The NRC expects 10 more applications in 2008. Information about the new reactor licensing process is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactor-licensing.html.

NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.

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Friday, April 18, 2008