NRC NEWS

 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 801 Warrenville Road

 Lisle IL 60532

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

No. III-04-037 June 8, 2004

CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630)829-9663 E-mail: OPA3@nrc.gov

Viktoria Mitlyng (630)829-9662

NRC TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING JUNE 15

ON PROPOSED LICENSE RENEWAL OF POINT BEACH NUCLEAR PLANT

The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold two public meetings on June 15 in

Mishicot, Wisc., on the environmental review related to the application of Nuclear Management

Company (NMC) to renew the operating licenses for the Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2. 

The plant is located near Two Rivers, Wisc. 

Members of the public are invited to attend and comment on environmental issues the NRC

should consider in its review of the proposed license renewal.

The meetings will be held at Fox Hills Resort, 250 West Church Street, in Mishicot. There will

be two similar sessions, one in the afternoon at 1:30 and one in the evening at 7:00. In addition, the

NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to each meeting. NRC staff members will be

available to answer questions and provide additional information about the process during those

informal sessions, but no comment submittals on environmental issues will be accepted at that time.

All are welcome to attend. For planning purposes, those who wish to present oral comments at

the meeting may register by contacting William Dam of the NRC by telephone at 1-800- 368-5642,

Extension 4014, or by email at PointBeachEIS@nrc.gov no later than June 11. Interested persons may

also register to speak before the start of each session. Individual comment time may be limited by the

time available.

The meetings will include an overview and NRC staff presentation on the environmental

process related to 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 licenses for Point Beach will expire on October 5, 2010, and March 8, 2013,

respectively. NMC submitted its application for license renewal on February 26, 2004.

The application is available for public review at the Lester Public Library, 1001 Adams Street,

Two Rivers. It is also available in the NRC Public Document Room at NRC Headquarters, One White

Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, on the Internet at 

www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/point-beach.html. 
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An existing NRC document, “Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of

Nuclear Plants,” (NUREG-1437), assesses the scope and impact of environmental effects that would

be associated with license renewal at any nuclear power plant site. The NRC staff is gathering

information at these meetings for a supplement to the generic environmental impact statement that will

be specific to Point Beach. 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 significant issues and will send a copy to interested persons who participated in the scoping process. 

The summary will also be available for public review through the NRC Public Electronic Reading

Room at www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html. Help in accessing documents on the Reading Room

site is available from the NRC Public Document Room reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209,

or by email at pdr@nrc.gov . 

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 EIS supplement.

Members of the public may also submit written comments on the issues they believe should be

considered in the Point Beach-specific supplement to the generic environmental impact statement. 

Comments should be submitted by July 14, either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch,

Division of Administrative Services, Mail Stop T-6-D-59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, D.C., 20555-0001, or by email to: PointBeachEIS@nrc.gov. 

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