NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 Office of Public Affairs Region IV 

 611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400

 Arlington, TX 76011-4005

No. IV-04-041 October 4, 2004

Contact: Victor Dricks E-Mail: opa4@nrc.gov

Phone: 817-860-8128

NRC STAFF SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON DRAFT REPORT THAT FINDS

 ANO -2 LICENSE RENEWAL ENVIRONMENTALLY ACCEPTABLE

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

that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude the renewal of the operating license

for Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 2 (ANO-2), in Russellville, Ark.

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

license renewal. The statement is open for public comment until November 24, and will also be

the subject of a public meeting October 21, in Russellville.

The NRC has been reviewing the application for renewal of the ANO-2 operating license

since Entergy Operations, Inc., which operates the plant, filed it in October 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 operating license for ANO-2 will expire July 17, 2018.

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 ANO-2 are addressed in

Supplement 19, which will be issued in draft form in September. The NRC staff’s preliminary

recommendation is that the Commission determined that the adverse environmental impacts of

license renewal for ANO-2 are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for

energy-planning decision makers would be unreasonable.

On Thursday, October 21, the NRC staff will hold a public meeting to obtain comments

on the draft supplement to the GEIS. The meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn, 2407 N.

Arkansas Avenue in Russellville, from 7 to 10 p.m. The NRC staff will host a informal
discussion at 6 p.m. NRC staff will be available to answer questions and provide additional

information about the license renewal process during the informal session, but no comments or

written statements on the draft supplement will be accepted at that time. The meeting will

include a discussion by the NRC staff and its contractors on the contents of the draft supplement

to the GEIS.

For planning purposes, interested parties are encouraged to pre-register by contacting

Thomas Kenyon at 1-800- 368-5642, extension 1120, or by e-mail at ANOEIS@nrc.gov no later

than October 15. Interested parties may also register to speak before the start of the meeting.

Time for comments may be limited to accommodate all speakers. 

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

NRC staff. Comments should be submitted 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, DC 20555-0001, or by e-mail to ANOEIS@nrc.gov. 

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

public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room at NRC headquarters, One White Flint

North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md.; or electronically on the Internet at 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement19/ or the NRC Public

Electronic Reading Room at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. Assistance in using the electronic

reading room is available by calling the NRC Public Document Room at (301) 415-4737. In

addition, the Ross Pendergraft Library at Arkansas Tech University, 305 West Q Street,

Russellville, Ark., has agreed to make the draft supplement to the GEIS available for public

inspection.

At the conclusion of the public comment period on November 24 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 of the

proposed license renewal.

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