NRC RENEWS OPERATING LICENSES FOR
BRUNSWICK STEAM ELECTRIC PLANT FOR AN ADDITIONAL 20 YEARS

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating licenses of the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2, for an additional 20 years.

The Brunswick plant is located south of Wilmington, N.C., at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. The licensee, Carolina Power & Light Co., submitted its license renewal application Oct. 18, 2004. With the renewal, the license for Unit 1 is extended until Sept. 8, 2036, and the license for Unit 2 is extended until Dec. 27, 2034.

The NRC’s environmental review for this license renewal is described in a site-specific supplement to the NRC’s "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants" (NUREG-1437, Supplement 25), issued in April. The review concluded there were no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the licenses for environmental reasons. Public meetings to discuss the environmental review were held near the plant Jan. 27, 2005, and Oct. 18, 2005.

After carefully reviewing the plant’s safety systems and specifications, the staff concluded that there were no safety concerns that would preclude license renewal, because the licensee had demonstrated effectively the capability to manage the effects of plant aging. The "Safety Evaluation Report Related to the License Renewal of the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2" (NUREG-1856) was published in March. In addition, NRC conducted inspections of the plant to verify information submitted by the licensee. The reports relating to the Brunswick renewal are available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/brunswick.html.

On May 17, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards - an independent body of technical experts which advises the Commission - issued its recommendation that the operating licenses for Brunswick be renewed. That recommendation is contained in "Report on the Safety Aspects of the License Renewal Application for the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2." This document is available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acrs/letters/2006/.

The Brunswick renewals bring the total number of renewals to 44 reactor units. A complete listing of renewal applications can be found on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html.

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Friday, November 28, 2008