NRC RENEWS OPERATING LICENSE FOR 

OYSTER CREEK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FOR AN ADDITIONAL 20 YEARS 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed the operating license for the Oyster Creek 

Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J., for an additional 20 years. 

The new license will expire April 9, 2029. 

 The decision to renew the license comes after thorough and extensive safety and 

environmental reviews of the application, submitted July 22, 2005, by the plant’s operator, 

AmerGen Energy Co. LLC, a subsidiary of Exelon Nuclear Generation Co. LLC. The application 

was also reviewed by the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), an 

independent body of nuclear safety experts that advises the NRC, and was the subject of an 

adjudicatory hearing by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), a quasi-judicial arm of the 

NRC that handles licensing matters. Challenges to the ASLB’s decision were addressed on appeal 

by the Commission itself. 

“This has been the most extensive license renewal review to date, including the first 

adjudicatory hearing of a license renewal application,” said Eric Leeds, NRC’s director of Nuclear 

Reactor Regulation. “The staff’s licensing and inspection scrutiny, along with the independent 

contributions of the ACRS, the ASLB and various citizen groups, should give the people of New 

Jersey added confidence that Oyster Creek will remain safe during its continued operation.” 

 As a result of these reviews and proceedings, the license includes several conditions and 

requirements that AmerGen has committed to performing to ensure that the plant continues to 

operate safely. The full list of AmerGen’s commitments and license conditions can be found in the 

NRC staff’s Safety Evaluation Report on the Oyster Creek license renewal application, NUREG1875, Appendix A, available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1875/, as supplemented in a letter from AmerGen dated Jan. 14, 

2008, and available in the NRC’s ADAMS document system at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html under accession number ML080160540. 

Documents pertaining to the Oyster Creek license renewal, including the staff’s 

Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and the ASLB’s Dec. 18, 2007, ruling in the 

adjudicatory hearing, are available on the NRC Web site at this address: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/oystercreek.html. 

 

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. 09-067 April 8, 2009
Oyster Creek is the 52nd reactor license renewed by the NRC. Thirteen other applications are 

under review. Information about the license renewal process is available at this address: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html. 

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