02-12687. Duke Energy Corporation, Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2; Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement 9 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement and Public Meeting for the License Renewal of Catawba Units 1 and 2

Notice is hereby given that the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has published a draft plant-specific supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating licenses NPF-35 and NPF-52 for an additional 20 years of operation at Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 (Catawba). Catawba is located in York County, South Carolina. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources.

The draft supplement to the GEIS is available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room). If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [e-mail]. In addition, the York County Library, located at 138 Black Street, Rock Hill, South Carolina, has agreed to make the draft supplement to the GEIS available for public inspection.

Any interested party may submit comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS for consideration by the NRC staff. To be certain of consideration, comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS and the proposed action must be received by August 9, 2002. Comments received after the due date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. Written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS should be sent to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mail Stop T-6D 59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

Comments may be hand-delivered to the NRC at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Electronic comments may be submitted to the NRC by the Internet at [e-mail]. All comments received by the Commission, including those made by Federal, State, and local agencies, Indian tribes, or other interested persons, will be made available electronically at the Commission's Public Document Room in Rockville, Maryland and from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS).

The NRC staff will hold public meetings to present an overview of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS and to accept public comments on the document. The public meetings will be held in the auditorium at the Council Chamber at the City Hall, located at 155 Johnston Street, Rock Hill, South Carolina on June 27, 2002. There will be two sessions to accommodate interested parties. The first session will commence at 1:30 p.m. and will continue until 4:30 p.m. The second session will commence at 7:00 p.m. and will continue until 10:00 p.m. Both meetings will be transcribed and will include (1) a presentation of the contents of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS, and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and individuals to provide comments on the draft report. Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to the start of each session at the same location. No comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS will be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meetings or in writing. Persons may pre-register to attend or present oral comments at the meeting by contacting Mr. James H. Wilson by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 1108, or by Internet to the NRC at [e-mail] no later than June 21, 2002. Members of the public may also register to provide oral comments within 15 minutes of the start of each session. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. If special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to Mr. Wilson's attention no later than June 21, 2002, to provide the NRC staff adequate notice to determine whether the request can be accommodated.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Mr. James H. Wilson, License Renewal and Environmental Impacts Program, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Mr. Wilson may be contacted at the aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of May, 2002.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

John R. Tappert,

Acting Program Director, License Renewal and Environmental Impacts, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.