NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV

 611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400

 Arlington TX 76011-8064

No. IV-02-027 June 4, 2002

CONTACT: Breck Henderson E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov

Phone: 817-860-8128

Cellular: 817-917-1227

NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETINGS

ON FORT CALHOUN STATION LICENSE RENEWAL

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold public meetings Tuesday, June 18, on

the environmental review related to the application of Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) to renew

its operating license for Fort Calhoun Station, a nuclear power plant near Blair, Nebraska. Members of

the public are invited to attend and bring to NRC’s attention environmental issues it should consider in

its review of the proposed license renewal. 

The meeting will be held at the Days Hotel Carlisle, 10909 M Street, Omaha. Two similar

sessions will be held, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The first will be from 1:30 to 4:30

p.m., and the second will be from 7 to 10 p.m. Additionally, the NRC will host informal discussions

one hour before the start of each session at the Days Hotel.

Those who wish to present oral comments at the June 18 meetings may register in advance by

contacting Thomas Kenyon by telephone at (800) 368-5642, extension 1120, or by e-mail to

Ft_Calhoun_EIS@nrc.gov no later than June 12. Registration for comments will also be accepted

within 15 minutes of the start of each session. The opportunity for late-registering individuals to

provide comments may be limited by the time available.

At the meetings, NRC staff will describe the environmental process for license renewal, after

which members of the public will be given the opportunity to present their comments on what

environmental issues the NRC should consider during its review.

Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant is issued for up

to 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met. 

The current operating license for Fort Calhoun Station will expire on August 9, 2013. OPPD

submitted its application for license renewal in January.

As part of its application, OPPD submitted an environmental report. That report is available

for public review at the NRC Public Document Room located at One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, or from the Publicly Available Records component

of NRC’s document system, referred to as ADAMS. ADAMS is accessible at

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html , which provides access through the NRC's Public

Electronic Reading Room (PERR) link. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room reference

staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. The application can be

viewed on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/ftcalhoun.html. In addition, the W. Dale Clark Library, located at 215 South 15th Street, Omaha, NE 

68102, and the Blair Public Library, located at 210 South 17th Street, Blair, NE 68008-2055, have

agreed to make the environmental report available for public inspection.

NRC assesses the scope and impact of environmental effects that are associated with license

renewal at nuclear power plant sites in its “Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License

Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants,” (NUREG-1437). NRC is gathering information at the June

meeting for a supplement to the generic environmental impact statement that will be specific to the

Nebraska plant. It will contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability of the

license renewal action.

At the conclusion of the information-gathering process, the NRC staff will prepare a summary

of the conclusions reached and significant issues identified and will send a copy to each person who

participated. The summary will also be available for public review in the NRC’s Public Document

Room in Rockville, Maryland, the W. Dale Clark Library and Blair Public Library.

The NRC staff will then prepare a draft environmental impact statement supplement for public

comment and will hold a public meeting to solicit comments. After consideration of comments

received on the draft, the NRC will prepare a final environmental impact statement supplement.

Members of the public may also submit written comments on the scope of the Fort Calhoun

Station’s supplement to the generic environmental impact statement. Comments should be postmarked

by July 10, and sent either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of

Administrative Services, Mailstop T-6-D-59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C.

20555-0001 or by e-mail to the same address as above: Ft_Calhoun_EIS@nrc.gov.

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