[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 28 (Monday, February 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 6279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-3227]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-460]


Energy Northwest Nuclear Project No. 1

Order

    Energy Northwest (formerly Washington Public Power Supply, 
permittee) is the current holder of Construction Permit No. CPPR-134, 
issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on December 23, 
1975, for construction of Nuclear Project No. 1 (WNP-1). The facility 
is presently in a deferred construction status at the permittee's site 
at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Reservation in Benton 
County, Washington, approximately eight miles north of Richland, 
Washington.
    On April 9, 2001, the permittee submitted a request pursuant to 
section 50.55(b) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 
Section 50.55(b)) that the completion date for WNP-1 be extended from 
June 1, 2001, to June 1, 2011. In addition, the permittee requested the 
NRC to update the permit to reflect an administrative change in the 
permit holder's name from the Washington Public Power Supply System to 
Energy Northwest. The permittee requested this extension for WNP-1 for 
the following reasons, as stated in its application:
    Increased electrical load in the Pacific Northwest has underscored 
the need for a flexible range of power generation options and 
alternatives to meet the region's growing base-load power supply needs. 
Furthermore, in response to the energy crisis in the Western United 
States, some of our stakeholders have requested that we conduct a 
viability study on the completion of the facility. Until the viability 
study is completed and decisions on generating options to meet future 
load forecasts are finalized, maintaining WNP-1 as a deferred facility 
is consistent with our commitment to maintain potential generating 
resources.
    Energy Northwest also stated that the extension request is 
consistent with Section A.2 of Generic Letter (GL) 87-15, ``Policy 
Statement on Deferred Plants.'' The NRC's Policy Statement on Deferred 
Plants addresses extension of construction permits for plants in a 
deferred status and states that the staff will consider such extensions 
in accordance with 10 CFR 50.55(b). Section 50.55(b) does not specify 
any limit on the length of an extension the staff may grant, but states 
that ``[u]pon good cause shown the Commission will extend the 
completion date for a reasonable period of time.'' The staff has 
concluded that the permitee's stated bases for the requested extension 
represent good cause, and are reasonable.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that 
extending the construction completion date will have no significant 
impact on the environment.
    The NRC staff has prepared an environmental assessment and finding 
of no significant impact which was published in the Federal Register on 
January 30, 2002 (67 FR 4475).
    For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application dated April 9, 2001, and the NRC staff's letter and safety 
evaluation of the request for extension of the construction permit, 
dated January 30, 2002. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a 
fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint 
North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and are 
accessible electronically through the ADAMS public Electronic Reading 
Room link at the NRC Web site (http://www.nrc.gov).
    It is hereby ordered that the latest completion date for 
Construction Permit No. CPPR-134 is extended from June 1, 2001, to June 
1, 2011, and that the permit holder's name be changed from Washington 
Public Power Supply System to Energy Northwest.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of January 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jon R. Johnson,
Acting Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-3227 Filed 2-8-02; 8:45 am]
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