Northern States Power Company-Minnesota; Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2; Notice of Issuance of Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-42 and DPR-60 for an Additional 20-Year Period; Record of Decision, 39445-39446 [2011-16848]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 6, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39445-39446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-16848]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-282 and 50-306; NRC-2009-0507]


Northern States Power Company--Minnesota; Prairie Island Nuclear 
Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2; Notice of Issuance of Renewed Facility 
Operating License Nos. DPR-42 and DPR-60 for an Additional 20-Year 
Period; Record of Decision

    Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC, the Commission) has issued Renewed Facility Operating License 
Nos. DPR-42 and DPR-60 to Northern States Power Company--Minnesota 
(licensee), the

[[Page 39446]]

operator of Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2 
(PINGP). Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-42 and DPR-60 
authorize the licensee to operate PINGP at reactor core power levels 
not in excess of 1,677 megawatts thermal for each unit, in accordance 
with the provisions of the PINGP renewed licenses and technical 
specifications.
    The notice also serves as the record of decision for Renewed 
Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-42 and DPR-60, consistent with 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 51.103, ``Record 
of Decision--General.'' NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact 
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 39, 
Regarding Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2,'' 
issued May 2011, discusses the Commission's consideration of a range of 
reasonable alternatives, including replacement power from a new 
natural-gas-fired, combined-cycle plant; a combination of natural gas, 
wind, and wood-fired generation and conservation; a combination of 
wind, conservation, and continued operation of one of the PINGP units; 
and not renewing the licenses (the no-action alternative). The factors 
considered in the record of decision appear in the supplemental 
environmental impact statement (SEIS) for PINGP. Subsequent to the 
issuance of the final SEIS, the NRC received two letters commenting on 
the final SEIS. The first letter was from the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 5, dated June 15, 2011. The second letter was 
from the Prairie Island Indian Community, dated June 20, 2011. The NRC 
staff has reviewed the comments and has determined that the comments 
provide no new or significant information, and therefore, none of the 
findings in the final SEIS are changed as a result of the comments.
    The PINGP units are pressurized-water reactors located within the 
city limits of Red Wing, MN, on the west bank of the Mississippi River 
in southeastern Minnesota. The application for the renewed licenses 
complied with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's regulations. As required by 
the Atomic Energy Act and the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR 
chapter I, the Commission has made appropriate findings, which are set 
forth in the licenses. Prior public notice of the action involving the 
proposed issuance of the renewed licenses and of an opportunity for a 
hearing on the proposed issuance of the renewed licenses was published 
in the Federal Register on June 17, 2008 (73 FR 34335).
    For further details with respect to this action, see (1) Northern 
States Power Company's license renewal application for PINGP dated 
April 11, 2008, as supplemented by letters dated through May 11, 2011; 
(2) the Commission's safety evaluation report, issued October 16, 2009, 
and supplemented on April 15, 2011; (3) the licensee's updated safety 
analysis report; and (4) the Commission's final environmental impact 
statement (NUREG-1437, Supplement 39), issued May 2011. These documents 
are available at the NRC's Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852, and online in the NRC 
Library at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
    Copies of Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-42 and DPR-
60, may be obtained by writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Director, Division of 
License Renewal. Copies of the PINGP safety evaluation report and the 
final environmental impact statement (NUREG-1437, Supplement 39) may be 
purchased from the National Technical Information Service, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161, (https://www.ntis.gov), 
703-605-6000, or Attention: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. 
Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954, 
(https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys), 202-512-1800. All orders should clearly 
identify the NRC publication number and the requestor's Government 
Printing Office deposit account number or VISA or MasterCard number and 
expiration date.

    Dated at Rockville, MD, this 27th day of June 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bo M. Pham,
Chief, Projects Branch 1, Division of License Renewal, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-16848 Filed 7-5-11; 8:45 am]
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