NRC RENEWS OPERATING LICENSES FOR DONALD C. COOK NUCLEAR PLANT
FOR AN ADDITIONAL 20 YEAR
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The D.C. Cook plant is located about 11 miles south of Benton Harbor, Mich. The licensee, Indiana Michigan Power Co., submitted its license renewal application on Oct. 31, 2003. With the renewal, the license for Unit 1 is extended to Oct. 25, 2034, and the license for Unit 2 to Dec. 23, 2037.

The NRC’s environmental review for this license renewal is described in a site-specific supplement to the NRC’s "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants" (NUREG-1437, Supplement 20), issued in April. The review concluded there were no environmental impacts that would preclude renewal of the licenses for environmental reasons. Two public meetings to discuss the environmental review were held near the plant on March 8 and Nov. 9, 2004.

After carefully reviewing the plant’s safety systems and specifications, the staff concluded that there were no safety concerns that would preclude license renewal, because the licensee had demonstrated the capability to manage the effects of plant aging. The "Safety Evaluation Report Related to the License Renewal of the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2," was published in May. In addition, NRC conducted inspections of the plants to verify information submitted by the licensee. The reports relating to the D.C. Cook renewal are available on the NRC Web site at this address: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/cook.html.

On July 18, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards – an independent body of technical experts which advises the Commission – issued its recommendation that the operating licenses for D.C. Cook be renewed. That recommendation is contained in "Report on the Safety Aspects of the License Renewal Application for the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2." This document is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acrs/letters/2005/.

The D.C. Cook renewals bring the total number of renewals to 35 reactor units. A complete listing of renewal applications can be found on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications.html.

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Thursday, December 11, 2008