No. I-09-044 

Contact: Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 

 Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 

October 29, 2009 

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov

NRC TO SEEK PUBLIC INPUT NOV. 5 ON POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS 

OF LICENSE EXTENSIONS FOR SALEM, HOPE CREEK NUCLEAR PLANTS 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a pair of public meetings on Thursday, 

Nov. 5 to solicit public comments on possible environmental impacts of a proposed 20-year 

extension of the operating licenses for the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear power plants. Salem 

Units 1 and 2 are pressurized-water reactors while Hope Creek is a boiling-water reactor. All 

three units are located in Hancocks Bridge (Salem County), N.J., and are owned and operated by 

PSEG Nuclear LLC. The company submitted the license renewal applications for the facilities 

on Aug. 18. 

The first session will begin at 1 p.m. at the Salem County Emergency Services Building, 

at 135 Cemetery Road in Woodstown, N.J. A second session, which will follow the same format 

as the first meeting, will get under way at 7 p.m. at the same location. An NRC “open house” 

will be held for one hour prior to the start of each meeting to provide interested members of the 

public with an opportunity to talk informally with agency staff. However, formal comments 

must be expressed during the transcribed meetings. 

Both sessions will start with a brief overview of NRC’s license renewal review process, 

with emphasis on the environmental evaluation portion of the process. Afterwards, audience 

members will be able to offer comments on environmental issues they consider worthy of review 

as the agency evaluates the Salem and Hope Creek applications. 

“These meetings are to be held at the beginning of an intensive review process for the 

Salem and Hope Creek applications,” said Brian Holian, Director of the NRC’s Division of 

License Renewal. “As such, they represent an ideal opportunity for members of the public who 

are interested in these plants and their potential future operations to provide input on issues they 

believe the agency should evaluate as these assessments move forward.” 

At the conclusion of the information-gathering process, the NRC staff will prepare a 

summary of the conclusions reached and significant issues identified. A copy will be sent to 

each person who took part in the “scoping” process. The summary will also be available on the 

NRC’s web site through the Public Electronic Document Reading Room at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, and at the Salem Free Library, at 112 W. Broadway 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov
in Salem, N.J. Help in accessing documents through the Reading Room is available by 

contacting the NRC’s Public Document Room. 

The NRC staff will subsequently prepare a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) 

supplement for public comment and will hold public meetings at a future date to solicit 

comments. After consideration of comments on the draft report, the NRC will prepare a final 

EIS supplement. 

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, provided that 

NRC requirements are met. The current operating licenses for the plants are set to expire as 

follows: Salem 1, Aug. 13, 2016; Salem 2, April 18, 2020; and Hope Creek, April 11, 2026. 

As part of the applications, PSEG submitted environmental reports for the plants. The 

Salem report can be found on the NRC’s web site at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/salem.html . The Hope 

Creek report can be found at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/hope-creek.html. The 

reports are also available for review at the NRC’s Public Document Room in Rockville, Md., 

which can be reached by phone at 1-800-397-4209 or by e-mail at pdr.resource@nrc.gov, and at 

the Salem Free Library. 

An existing NRC document, “Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License 

Renewal of Nuclear Power 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 document for which the NRC will gather information at the Nov. 5th meetings will 

supplement the Generic EIS and will be specific to the Salem and Hope Creek plants. It will 

contain a recommendation regarding the environmental acceptability of the license renewal 

action. 

Interested individuals may register to attend or present oral comments at the Nov. 5th

meetings by contacting NRC Project Manager Charles Eccleston by telephone at 1-800-368-

5642, ext. 8537, or by e-mail at Charles.Eccleston@nrc.gov, no later than Nov. 3. Those who 

wish to comment may also register at the meetings within 15 minutes of the start of each session. 

Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of 

persons who register. 

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

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

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