NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETINGS REGARDING DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT STATEMENT FOR PEACH BOTTOM LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION
Printable Version

The NRC will hold two meetings on July 31 to accept comments, with one session scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and another at 7 p.m. Both meetings, which are scheduled to last up to three hours each, will take place at the Peach Bottom Inn, 6085 Delta Road in Delta.

In addition, NRC staff will be available for an hour prior to the start of each meeting for informal discussions of the report.

Interested parties may pre-register to attend or present oral comments at the meetings by contacting Duke Wheeler of the NRC at 1-800-368-5642, ext. 1444, or by sending an e-mail to Peach_Bottom@nrc.gov, no later than July 24. Members of the public may also register 15 minutes before each session to provide oral comments. Individual comment time may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. Written comments on the draft report will also be considered by the NRC staff. Comments can be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6 D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. The public comment period ends on September 17, 2002.

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 Peach Bottom Unit 2 is due to expire on August 8, 2013, while the current operating license for Peach Bottom Unit 3 is scheduled to expire on July 2, 2014. (Peach Bottom Unit 1 has been permanently shut down since 1974.)

Exelon submitted a license renewal application for the Peach Bottom reactors in July 2001. As part of its application, the company submitted an environmental impact report. The NRC staff reviewed the report and performed an on-site audit. The staff also considered comments made during the environmental scoping process, including those offered at public meetings held last November in Delta. Based on its review, the NRC staff has preliminarily recommended that the Commission determine that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Peach Bottom Units 2 and 3 are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision-makers would be unreasonable.

When issued in its final form (scheduled for February 2003), the statement will be a Peach Bottom-specific supplement to the "Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants," (NUREG-1437).

The draft report can be viewed electronically via the NRC's web site, at: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement10/. Copies of the report can also be reviewed at the NRC Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md., 1-800-397-4209, and at the following libraries:

• Harford County Public Library, Whiteford Branch, 2407 Whiteford Road, Whiteford, Md. 21160.
• Collinsville Community Library, 2632 Delta Road, Brogue, Pa. 17309.
• Quarryville Library, 357 Buck Road, Quarryville, Pa. 17566.

NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.

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Monday, December 08, 2008