NRC Seeks Comments on Draft Environmental Report for Three Mile Island 1 License Renewal

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will solicit public comments at two meetings on January 28 regarding its preliminary conclusion that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude a 20-year extension of the operating license for the Three Mile Island 1 nuclear power plant.

 

A draft environmental impact statement on the proposed license renewal contains the information. The report, which was issued in December, will be discussed first at a meeting to be held at 1:30 p.m. on January 28 at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel, 4650 Lindle Road, Harrisburg, Pa. A second session will get under way at 7 p.m. on the same day at the same location.

 

The two meetings will begin with identical overviews, including a discussion of the contents of the report, then be opened for public comment.

 

In addition, the NRC staff will host informal discussions 1 hour prior to each meeting at the same facility. NRC staff members will be available to answer questions and provide information about the process during these discussions, but no comments on environmental issues will be accepted during them.

 

As part of its license renewal application, AmerGen submitted an environmental 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 comments offered at public meetings held on May 1, 2008, in Middletown, Pa. Based on its review, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that the “adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Three Mile Island 1 are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision-makers would be unreasonable.”

 

The NRC staff has been reviewing the Three Mile Island 1 license renewal application since AmerGen submitted it on January 8, 2008. Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional two decades if NRC requirements are met. The current operating license for Three Mile Island 1 is due to expire on April 19, 2014.

 

The possible effects of an additional 20 years of nuclear plant operation are described in the NRC’s Generic Environmental Impact Statement, or GEIS (NUREG-1437). The NRC issues a site-specific supplement to the GEIS on each plant requesting license renewal to address the potential environmental impacts.

 

The draft supplement to the GEIS, along with other related documents, is available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room at the NRC Headquarters, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.; or electronically through the Agencywide Documents Access System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible through the NRC webpage. The accession number of the Three Mile Island 1 draft supplement is ML083350417.

 

In addition, the draft supplement is available for public inspection at following locations: Londonderry Township Municipal Building, 783 S. Geyers Church Road, Middletown; Middletown Public Library, 20 N. Catherine St., Middletown; and Penn State Harrisburg Library, 351 Olmsted Drive, Middletown.

 

At the conclusion of the public comment period, the NRC staff will consider and address the comments received and issue a final supplement to the GEIS for the plant. That supplement will contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability for license renewal.