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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION II 61 Forsyth Street, Suite 23T85, Atlanta, GA 30303

February 2, 2000

NRC Staff to Discuss Harris Spent Fuel Pool License Amendment Review at Public Meeting in Raleigh February 28

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a public meeting for February 28 at North Carolina State University's McKimmon Conference Center in Raleigh to discuss Carolina Power & Light's request to amend the license for the Harris nuclear power plant, located 21 miles southwest of Raleigh.

CP&L has requested NRC approval of an amendment that would allow the company to use two currently unused spent nuclear fuel pools at the Harris plant. The NRC staff is carefully reviewing the company's application, including analyses of changes to the cooling systems for the additional pools.

The meeting is scheduled from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. and will include a discussion by the NRC staff of its license amendment review process and the scope and status of its review of the CP&L request. Members of the public are also encouraged to ask questions or provide relevant information to the staff.

The Harris plant was originally designed for four units, but only one was completed. However, the plant's fuel handling building has four spent fuel pools, as originally planned. The current Harris license authorizes CP&L to use two of those pools for spent fuel from the Harris plant and from the company's other two nuclear plants, Brunswick, near Southport, N.C., and H.B. Robinson, near Hartsville, S.C.

The Board of Commissioners of Orange County has intervened in the license amendment process and an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is reviewing the Orange County contentions, but that ASLB process is separate from the NRC staff's review of the technical aspects of the CP&L request.

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