NRC ISSUES FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND DRAFT SAFETY 

EVALUATION FOR SUSQUEHANNA NUCLEAR PLANT LICENSE RENEWAL 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed its final environmental impact 

statement (EIS) for the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2, and concluded that 

there are no environmental impacts that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 

years of operation. The staff has also issued a safety evaluation report (SER) that documents the 

interim results of the NRC staff’s review of the license renewal application and site audits of 

Susquehanna’s aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the 

period of extended operations. Overall, the interim results show that PPL has identified actions 

that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, 

structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the 

period of extended operation. 

 

 Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2 are boiling-water reactors, located 

seven miles northeast of Berwick, Pa. The current operating licenses for Units 1 and 2 expire 

July 17, 2022, and March 23, 2024, respectively. Under NRC regulations, the original operating 

license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license may be renewed for up to an 

additional 20 years if NRC requirements are met. Therefore, the operating license would be 

extended until Unit 1 to July 17, 2042; and for Unit 2 to March 23, 2044. PPL Susquehanna, 

LLC, plant owners and operators, submitted an application for renewal of its licenses to the NRC 

on Sept. 13, 2006. 

 As part of its environmental review of the application, the NRC held public meetings 

near the plant to discuss the scope of the review and the draft version of the environmental 

impact statement. Comments were received and considered from members of the public, local 

officials, and representatives of state and federal agencies. 

 In a letter dated March 13, Brian Holian, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation’s Division of License Renewal, provided PPL with the SER and requested comments 

by May 3, 2009. The SER is available on NRC’s Web site at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications.html. The NRC staff will 

present its final conclusions on the license renewal application in an update to this SER. NRC 

reviewers expect to finalize the SER by August. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 09-048 March 16, 2009
The SER and the license renewal application have also been provided to the NRC’s 

Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), an independent body of experts that 

advises the NRC on reactor safety matters. An ACRS subcommittee is expected to discuss the 

SER during a meeting in April. The meeting, which will take place at NRC Headquarters in 

Rockville, Md., will be open to the public and will be announced on the agency’s web site at 

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm. The full ACRS will later issue a 

report discussing the results of its review. 

 Afterwards, the full ACRS will evaluate final reports and make its recommendation 

before the agency makes a final decision on the renewal of the license. 

 The Final EIS and SER will be available electronically in the NRC’s Agencywide 

Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) under accession number 

ML090700454 and ML090630309 respectively. ADAMS is accessible via the agency’s web site 

at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting 

the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. 

 

A copy of the Susquehanna license renewal application is available via the NRC’s web 

site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/susquehanna.html.

Additional information on the NRC’s license renewal review process is available at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html and http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/license-renewal-bg.html. 

 In addition, copies of the reports will be available for review at the McBride Memorial 

Library, 500 N. Market St., Berwick, and at the Mill Memorial Library, 495 E. Main St., 

Nanticoke, Pa. 

### 

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: 

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE 

link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.