NRC EXTENDS REVIEW SCHEDULE FOR INDIAN POINT LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is revising its schedule for the issuance of two reports that are central to the agency’s review of the license renewal application for the Indian Point nuclear power plant. The documents are the draft Safety Evaluation Report (SER) and the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the application.

Release of the draft SER will be extended by approximately four months for several reasons. They include additional time required to review supplemental information provided by the plant’s owner, Entergy; time devoted by the license renewal review staff to responding to an unusually large number of contentions filed by those seeking a hearing on the application; and the staff’s efforts to address, in reviews currently under way, issues raised by the agency’s Office of Inspector General in a report on the NRC’s license renewal program.  As a result of the schedule change, the NRC now expects to issue the draft SER in early January.

With regard to the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), its release will be extended by approximately three months. The primary reason for this extension is the exceptionally high number of public comments received on the scope of the staff’s environmental review for the application. NRC environmental staff also devoted significant time to responding to the large number of contentions filed by those seeking a hearing on the application. Under the revised schedule, the draft SEIS would now be issued in mid-December.

“We have said from the beginning that we are committed to a thorough and rigorous review of the Indian Point license renewal application. That has not changed,” said Brian Holian, director of the NRC’s Division of License Renewal. “The fact that we will, when necessary, take additional time to address outstanding issues underscores our determination to give this application our full measure of attention.”

Indian Point, which is located in Buchanan (Westchester County), N.Y., is owned and operated by Entergy. In April 2007, the company submitted an application to extend the life of the two operating reactors at the site by two decades each.

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a commercial nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license can be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met. The current operating license for the Indian Point 2 reactor is due to expire on Sept. 28, 2013, the license for Indian Point 3 on Dec. 12, 2015.

Additional information concerning license renewal reviews in general and the Indian Point application in particular can be found at: www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.

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Wednesday, September 03, 2008