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NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011

NRC SEEKS PUBLIC INPUT ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR ANO-1 PROPOSED LICENSE RENEWAL

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with the public on Tuesday, November 14, in Russellville, Arkansas, to obtain public comments on the recently published report on its review of the potential environmental effects of renewing the operating license of Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1, for an additional 20 years. ANO Unit 1 is a nuclear power plant near Russellville, Arkansas, operated by Entergy Operations Inc.

The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn in Russellville. Two similar sessions will be held, the first from 1:30 - 4:30 p.m., and the second from 7 - 10 p.m. or until all interested members of the public have been heard.

The possible environmental effects of an additional 20 years of nuclear plant operation are described in the NRC's Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or GEIS (NUREG-1437). The NRC issues a site-specific supplement to the GEIS on each plant requesting license renewal to address the potential environmental impacts. Issues specific to ANO Unit 1 are addressed in Supplement 3, which was published in draft form on October 3. The NRC staff's preliminary recommendation is that the Commission determine that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for ANO Unit 1 are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy-planning decision makers would be unreasonable.

The two sessions will begin with identical overviews, including a discussion by NRC staff and its contractors of the contents of the draft supplement to the GEIS. The meeting will then be opened for public comment.

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant is issued for up to 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met. The current operating license for ANO-1 will expire on May 20, 2014, and if approved, the proposed license renewal will extend the potential operating life of Unit 1 to 2034.

At the conclusion of the public comment period on January 4, 2001, the NRC staff will consider and address the comments provided and issue a final supplement to the GEIS. The final supplement to the GEIS will contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability for the license renewal action.

The draft supplement to the GEIS, along with other related documents, is available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room at NRC headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). In addition, the Pendergraft Library, located at Arkansas Tech University, 305 West Q Street, Russellville, AR 72801, has agreed to make the draft supplement to the GEIS available for public inspection.

Persons may register to attend or to present oral comments at the November 14 meeting by contacting Kimberly Leigh by telephone at (800) 368-5642, extension 2678, or by Internet at anoeis@nrc.gov no later than November 12. Members of the public who wish to make comments may also register at the Holiday Inn meeting site within 15 minutes of the start of each session. Individual comments may be limited to accommodate all speakers within the available time.

Members of the public may also submit written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS for consideration by NRC staff. Comments should be submitted either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Mail stop T-6 D 59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by Internet to anoeis@nrc.gov.

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