NRC: News Release - 2006-054 - NRC Completes Technical Review of Grand Gulf Early Site Permit Application

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No. 06-054

April 14, 2006

NRC COMPLETES TECHNICAL REVIEW OF
GRAND GULF EARLY SITE PERMIT APPLICATION
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has published the complete safety evaluation report (SER) for an Early Site Permit (ESP) at the Grand Gulf site, located about 25 miles south of Vicksburg, Miss. Combined with the recent issuance of a final Environmental Impact Statement on the application, this marks the end of the staff’s technical review on the first ESP, although additional steps must be completed before the NRC reaches a final decision on the matter.

The ESP process allows an applicant to address site-related issues for possible future construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the site. The Grand Gulf application was filed Oct. 21, 2003, by System Energy Resources, Inc., a subsidiary of Entergy. If approved, the permit would give the company up to 20 years to decide whether to build one or more nuclear plants on the site and to file an application with the NRC for approval to begin construction.

With the technical review complete, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board must conclude its mandatory hearing on the matter before the Commission can reach a final decision on issuing the permit. The NRC expects to finish this process early in 2007.

The 400-page SER, NUREG-1840, contains the agency's safety and site suitability review of the Grand Gulf ESP application. The NRC staff reviewed information on:

– site seismology, geology, meteorology and hydrology;
– risks from potential accidents resulting from operation of a nuclear plant at the site;
– the site’s ability to support adequate physical security for a nuclear plant; and
– proposed major features of the emergency plan System Energy Resources would implement if a reactor is eventually built at the site.

The report will be available shortly on the NRC’s Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/grand-gulf.html and http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/. In addition, the Harriette Person Memorial Public Library at 606 Main St. in Port Gibson, Miss., has agreed to make the SER available for public inspection.

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