NRC ISSUES FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR 

PALO VERDE NUCLEAR PLANT LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION 

 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued its final supplemental environmental 

impact statement (SEIS) for the proposed renewal of the operating license for the Palo Verde 

Nuclear Generating Station’s Units 1, 2 and 3 in Maricopa County, Ariz. The report concluded there 

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

operation. 

Arizona Public Service Company (APS) submitted an application to the NRC dated 

December 2008 to extend the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station licenses by 20 years for each 

unit. Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a nuclear power plant has a term of 

40 years. The current operating licenses for Palo Verde’s Units 1, 2 and 3 expire on June 1, 2025, 

April 24, 2026, and Nov. 25, 2027, respectively. 

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

the plant to discuss the review process 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. 

 Publication of the final environmental impact statement does not represent final NRC action 

on the license renewal application. The agency staff is also finalizing its safety evaluation report 

(SER) on the Palo Verde license renewal. The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards 

(ACRS), an independent body of experts that advises the Commission on reactor safety matters, 

will review the SER and make its recommendations before the agency makes a final decision on 

whether to renew the operating license. 

 

 The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station’s Units 1, 2 and 3, final supplemental 

environmental impact statement is available on the NRC’s website at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement43/ and can also be 

viewed in the NRC’s ADAMS online documents system at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html by entering accession number 

ML103560149 in the search window. 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. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa.resource@nrc.gov

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 11-002 January 3, 2011
 The Palo Verde license renewal application is posted at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/palo-verde.html. Additional 

information about the license renewal process is available at: 

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

 

 Documents related to Palo Verde’s license renewal are also located at the following 

locations: Litchfield Park Branch Library, 101 West Wigwam Blvd., Litchfield Park, Ariz.; and 

Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library, 495 East Western Ave., Avondale, Ariz. 

 

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