NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

 Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200

 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

 Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov/OPA

No. 05-008 January 11, 2005

NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING JAN. 19 ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF

PROPOSED NORTH ANNA EARLY SITE PERMIT

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting Jan. 19 in Mineral, Va., to

receive public comment on the draft environmental impact statement for a proposed Early Site Permit

(ESP) at the North Anna site in Louisa County, about 40 miles northwest of Richmond.

The meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Louisa County Middle School, 1009

David Highway, in Mineral. The meeting will be transcribed. In addition, NRC staff members will host

an informal discussion one hour prior to the meeting. NRC staff members will answer questions and

explain the ESP process during this informal session, but no official comments on the EIS will be

accepted then.

The ESP process allows an applicant to address site-related issues, such as environmental

impacts, for possible future construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the site. The North

Anna application was filed Sept. 25, 2003, by Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC. If approved, the

permit would give Dominion 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.

The NRC staff’s preliminary recommendation is that a permit should be issued. The staff’s

conclusion is based on its independent review of a report submitted by Dominion, taking into account

consultations with federal, state, tribal and local agencies and comments from the public. The staff’s

preliminary conclusions include a finding that there are no environmentally preferable or obviously

superior sites, and that any adverse environmental impacts from possible site preparation and

preliminary construction activities at North Anna could be redressed.

For planning purposes, anyone interested in attending or presenting oral comments at the Jan.

19 meeting is encouraged to pre-register no later than Jan. 14, by contacting Alicia Williamson of the

NRC by telephone at (800) 368-5642, extension 1878, or by e-mail at NorthAnna_ESP@nrc.gov . 

Interested persons may also register to speak within 15 minutes of the start of the meeting. Time for

individual comments at the meetings may be limited to accommodate all speakers.

Written comments on the draft EIS will also be considered by NRC staff. Comments should be

submitted either by mail (postmarked by March 1, 2005) to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch,

Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear
-2-

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail (sent no later than March 1, 2005)

to NorthAnna_ESP@nrc.gov .

The draft EIS and related documents are available electronically for public inspection in the

NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. It is available on the NRC’s

Web site at two locations:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/docs4comment.html and 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/north-anna.html . In addition, the Louisa County

Library, 881 Davis Highway in Mineral, has agreed to make the draft EIS available for public

inspection.

At the conclusion of the public comment period on March 1, 2005, the NRC staff will consider

and address the comments provided, then issue a final EIS on the environmental acceptability of an

ESP at North Anna later in 2005.

###