The report documents the results of the NRC staff’s review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant’s aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. Overall, the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation.
Issuing the final SER is a significant milestone in the license renewal review process. This process proceeds along two tracks – one for review of safety issues and another for environmental issues. The SER marks the completion of the NRC staff’s safety review that is published and subsequently reviewed and publicly discussed by the agency’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS). The staff is in the process of reviewing the environmental part of the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating plant’s license renewal application. That review must be completed before a final decision is made on the renewal.
Northern States Power Co. submitted the application on April 15, 2008, to extend the plant’s licenses by 20 years for each unit. The Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant has two pressurized-water reactors and it is located 28 miles southeast of Minneapolis, Minn. The current operating licenses expire Aug. 9, 2013, for Unit 1 and Oct. 29, 2014, for Unit 2.