NRC EXTENDS CONSTRUCTION PERMIT FOR WATTS BAR UNIT 2
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the construction permit for the unfinished Unit 2 at the Watts Bar nuclear power plant to March 31, 2013. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates Unit 1 at the plant about 10 miles south of Spring City, Tenn., requested the extension May 8.

The NRC staff’s environmental assessment of the extension request, which found no significant impact on the environment, was published in the Federal Register on June 26. The agency issued the staff’s safety evaluation of the extension, as well as an order extending the construction permit, in the Federal Register on July 11.             Any person adversely affected by the order may request a hearing by Sept. 8,   specifically listing whether TVA failed to show good cause for the extension and why the NRC should not have issued the order. Those interested in filing a hearing request can find instructions in the order, which will be available on the NRC’s Web site here:  http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/plant-specific-items/watts-bar.html.

TVA has informed the NRC it intends to complete Unit 2 and request an Operating license in 2012. The NRC will decide whether to issue a license for Unit 2 in accordance with the agency’s regulations. Unit 2, if completed, would be an 1,100-MWe, Westinghouse-designed pressurized water reactor essentially the same as the operating Unit 1.

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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Tuesday, July 15, 2008