NRC NEWS

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION II

61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta GA 30303

Web Site: www.nrc.gov

No. II-04-045 August 12, 2004

CONTACT: Ken Clark (404)562-4416 E-mail: OPA2@nrc.gov

Roger Hannah (404)562-4417

NRC STAFF SEEKS INPUT ON FARLEY NUCLEAR PLANT

DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT FOR LICENSE RENEWAL

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has reached the preliminary conclusion that

there are no environmental impacts to preclude renewal of the operating licenses for the Joseph M.

Farley Nuclear Power Plant located in Houston County, Ala., about 16 miles east of Dothan.

The information is contained in a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed

license renewal. The draft EIS is open for public comment until November 5, 2004, and will also be

the subject of public meetings September 30 in Dothan.

The NRC has been reviewing the application for extension of the Farley license since Southern

Nuclear Operating Company, which operates the plant, filed it in September 2003. 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

NRC licenses at Farley will expire on June 25, 2017, for Unit 1 and March 31, 2021, for Unit 2.

The possible environmental 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. Issues specific to Farley are addressed in Supplement 18. The NRC

staff’s preliminary recommendation is that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for 

Farley are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy-planning decision

makers would be unreasonable.

On Thursday, Sept. 30, the NRC staff will hold two similar meetings to obtain comments on

the draft supplement to the GEIS. The meetings will be held at the Quality Inn, 3053 Ross Clark

Circle in Dothan. The two sessions will begin at 1:30 in the afternoon and at 7:00 in the evening,

respectively. 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

license renewal process during those informal sessions, but no comment submittals on environmental

issues will be accepted then.

The two sessions will begin with identical overviews, including a presentation by NRC staff

and its contractors on the contents of the draft supplement to the GEIS. There will then be an

opportunity for public comments.
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For planning purposes, anyone interested in attending or presenting oral comments at the Sept.

30 meetings is encouraged to pre-register by contacting Jack Cushing of the NRC by telephone at

(800) 368-5642, extension 1424, or by e-mail at FarleyEIS@nrc.gov. Interested persons may also

register to speak before the start of each session. Time for individual comments at the meetings may

be limited to accommodate all speakers.

Written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS will also be considered by NRC staff. 

Comments should be submitted either by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of

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

Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail to FarleyEIS@nrc.gov.

The draft supplement to the GEIS, along with other related documents, is available

electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room at NRC headquarters, 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. It is also available on the Internet at www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams/web-based.html under accession number ML042180117. In addition, the Houston Love

Memorial Library, 212 West Burdeshaw Street, Dothan, Ala., and the Lucy Maddox Memorial Library,

11880 Columbia Street, Blakely, Ga., have agreed to make the draft supplement to the GEIS available

for public inspection.

At the conclusion of the public comment period on November 5, the NRC staff will consider

and address the comments provided and issue a final supplement to the GEIS. That supplement will

contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability for license renewal.

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