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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-98-60

October 13, 1998

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled an informal public hearing on October 26 at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant near Athens, Alabama on a petition filed by the Union of Concerned Scientists requesting that the NRC revoke the operating license of Browns Ferry Unit 1. The meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. in the plant training center, located near the intersection of Shaw Road and Nuclear Plant Road.

The informal hearing is intended to provide additional information from the petitioner, TVA and the public to assist the NRC staff in its evaluation of the merits of the petition. Members of the public who are interested in making presentations should contact Albert W. De Agazio of the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at least five working days prior to the date of the informal hearing by calling (301) 415-1443. Written statements will also be accepted and included in the hearing record. Written statements should be mailed to: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop O-14B21, Attention: Albert W. De Agazio, Washington, D. C. 20555.

In a letter dated April 5 of this year, the UCS submitted to the NRC a petition requesting that (1) the operating license of Browns Ferry Unit 1, which has been shut down since June 1, 1985, be revoked and (2) that the NRC require TVA to submit either a decommissioning plan or a lay-up plan for Unit 1 which the UCS says would provide assurance that the Unit's irradiated (spent) fuel is safely stored and that Units 2 and 3, currently in operation, are sufficiently independent of Unit 1.

The UCS petition's position is that a relicensing requirement for Unit 1 would be a better, safer process than the current restart process which would be used under NRC regulations.