United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20555

Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234

Internet:opa@nrc.gov

No. 96-80 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Thursday, June 6, 1996)

NRC ESTABLISHES REQUIREMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS

OF APPLICATIONS TO RENEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPERATING LICENSES;

PUBLIC COMMENTS SOUGHT ON NEW RULE

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving to streamline

requirements governing environmental reviews of applications to

renew operating licenses for nuclear power plants.

It is amending its regulations to define two categories of

environmental impacts: (1) those for which a generic analysis

based on experience gained from operating nuclear power plants

has been performed and will be adopted in plant-specific reviews;

and (2) those environmental impacts for which a plant-specific

analysis will have to be performed.

These environmental issues are included in a table which

addresses the relative magnitude of the impact of each issue and

categorizes it according to whether or not additional sitespecific review is needed at the time an application for license

renewal is being reviewed. The scope of the additional sitespecific analysis also is spelled out.

The NRC is soliciting public comment on this interim final

rule during a 30-day period which ends July 5. Commenters are

specifically asked to address the treatment in environmental

reviews of the impact of low-level waste storage and disposal;

the cumulative radiological effects from the uranium fuel cycle;

and the effects from the disposal of high-level waste and spent

fuel.

The final rule, consisting of amendments to Part 51 of the

Commission's regulations, will be effective August 5 unless the

NRC determines that changes should be made as the result of

public comments received.

In addition to defining the two environmental impact

categories, the amendments:
-- eliminate NRC judgments regarding the need for electric

generating capacity, which is the responsibility of other

regulatory bodies;

-- require a plant-specific comparison of the environmental

impacts of alternative energy sources to those of license

renewal;

-- eliminate consideration of utility economics and the

traditional cost-benefit analysis from license renewal reviews;

and

-- use a site-specific decision standard under which a

license renewal application would be rejected if the

environmental impacts of license renewal are sufficiently great

that preserving that option for energy planning decisionmakers

would be unreasonable.

In the procedure under the amendments, the results of the

environmental review will be detailed in a supplemental site

specific environmental impact statement. Members of the public

will be given the opportunity to participate in a public meeting

to discuss what issues should be addressed in that document. A

draft of the new impact statement will be made available for

public comment, and any comments received will be taken into

account in preparing the final version which will contain the

staff's conclusions regarding the acceptability of the

environmental impacts associated with license renewal.

The amendments also include a provision that they and the

supporting "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License

Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants" (NUREG-1437) will be reviewed on

a schedule that will permit revisions to be made, if needed,

every 10 years. Copies of NUREG-1437 can be purchased from the

Government Printing Office, P. O. Box 37082, Washington, D. C.

20402-9328; telephone: 202/512-1800.

Persons wishing to comment on the amendments should send

comments to: The Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention:

Docketing and Services Branch. Comments may be hand-delivered to

the Office of the Secretary, One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a. m. and 4:15

p. m. on Federal workdays.

More detailed information is available in a notice published

in the June 5 edition of the Federal Register.

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