NRC ISSUES FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR 

INDIAN POINT 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 

Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 and 3 located in Buchanan, N.Y., located 24 miles north 

of New York City. The report concluded there are no environmental impacts that would preclude 

license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation. 

 Indian Point Units 2 and 3 are two pressurized-water reactors whose current operating 

licenses expire Sept. 28, 2013, and Dec. 12, 2015, respectively. Entergy Nuclear Operations, 

Inc., submitted an application to the NRC on April 23, 2007, to extend Indian Point’s Unit 2 and 

3 licenses by 20 years. 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, if approved, the current operating licenses for Units 2 and 3 

would be extended until 2033 and 2035, 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. The agency solicited comments from members of the public, local officials, 

representatives of state and federal agencies and tribal governments. Indian Point’s draft 

environmental impact statement received the most comments of any license renewal application 

received by the NRC. The final publication encompasses three volumes – with Volume 2, 

discussing the public comments, in three separate parts – and totals more than 2,200 pages. The 

average SEIS for a license renewal application totals about 480 pages in a single volume. 

The NRC staff has completed both its environmental and safety reviews for the license 

renewal application. The agency staff documented its safety review in its safety evaluation report 

on Aug. 11, 2009, and NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) reviewed it 

on Sept. 10, 2009. Following the issuance and publication of the Indian Point final SEIS, the 

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) , NRC’s independent adjudicatory body, 

will establish a hearing schedule and conduct a public hearing concerning contested issues for 

the Indian Point license renewal application. 

 

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. 10-215 December 3, 2010
Indian Point’s final SEIS is available on the NRC’s website at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement38/ and can be 

viewed in the NRC’s ADAMS online documents system at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams/web-based.html by entering the following corresponding accession numbers for Vol. 

1, ML103350405; Vol. 2, ML103350438, ML103360209, ML103360212 and Vol. 3, 

ML103350442 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 . 

 Indian Point’s license renewal application is posted at: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/indian-point.html . 

Additional information about the license renewal process is available at: 

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

 Documents related to Indian Point’s license renewal application are also located at the 

following locations: The White Plains Public Library, 100 Martine Ave., White Plains, N.Y. ; 

the Hendrick Hudson Free Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road, Montrose, N.Y., and 

the Field Library, 4 Nelson Ave., Peekskill, N.Y. 

More information on the ASLBP is located on the NRC website at 

http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/aslbpfuncdesc.html. 

### 

NOTE: Anyone wishing to take photos or use a camera to record any portion of a NRC meeting should 

contact the Office of Public Affairs beforehand. 

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 website.