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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
	CONTACT:	Ken Clark (Phone: 404-562-4416, E-mail: kmc2@nrc.gov )
		Roger Hannah (Phone 404-562-4417, E-mail: rdh1@nrc.gov )

No: II-97-71

October 1, 1997

Luis A. Reyes, Regional Administrator of the agency's southeastern office in Atlanta, will brief reporters at 1:00 p.m. in the Presidents Room at the Raleigh Plaza, located at 421 South Salisbury Street, prior to participation in an emergency exercise at the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. The NRC staff will have on display emergency response equipment brought by the agency from Atlanta.

He will also provide brief comments on NRC cooperation with North Carolina and other states in responding to emergencies, along with an overview of the NRC's safety-related inspection program at licensed commercial facilities.

North Carolina has five NRC-licensed commercial nuclear power reactors at three locations. Duke Energy Company operates two reactors at the McGuire nuclear power plant near Charlotte, and Carolina Power & Light Company operates two Brunswick units on the North Carolina coast near Southport and one at the Shearon Harris plant near Raleigh. North Carolina State University operates a small, licensed non-power research and training reactor on its Raleigh campus, and General Electric has a major commercial nuclear fuel fabrication plant under NRC license at Wilmington.

Licenses to possess and use other radioactive materials in North Carolina, such as those issued to hospitals, research facilities and construction companies, are issued by the state under an agreement with the NRC under which North Carolina has agreed to require and inspect against safety requirements compatible with those imposed by the NRC on such users in non-agreement states..

The news conference is being held as part of an NRC program to make senior officials available to meet with news media representatives on a periodic basis to provide briefings on subjects of current intrest and answer questions from reporters who attend.

EDITORS: An NRC Information Digest containing current information on the NRC as a regulatory agency, U.S. and worldwide energy, operating nuclear reactors, nuclear material safety and radioactive waste will be provided to reporters who attend.