E8-18004. South Carolina Electric and Gas Company as Itself and Acting as Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Company (Also Referred to as Santee Cooper) Acceptance for Docketing of an Application for Combined License for Virgil C. Summer ...

By letter dated March 27, 2008, South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G), acting for itself and as an agent for South Carolina Public Service Company (also referred to as Santee Cooper) submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a combined license (COL) for two AP1000 advanced passive pressurized water reactors in accordance with the requirements contained in 10 CFR 52, “Licenses, Certifications and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.” These reactors will be identified as Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS) Units 2 and 3 and located on the existing VCSNS site in Fairfield County, South Carolina. A notice of receipt and availability of this application was previously published in the Federal Register (73 FR 39339) on July 9, 2008.

The NRC staff has determined that VCSNS has submitted information in accordance with 10 CFR Part 2, “Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings and Issuance of Orders,” and 10 CFR Part 52 that is acceptable for docketing. The docket numbers established for the VCSNS Units 2 and 3 COL application are 52-027 and 52-028, respectively.

The NRC staff will perform a detailed technical review of the application. Docketing of the application does not preclude the NRC from requesting additional information from the applicant as the review proceeds, nor does it predict whether the Commission will grant or deny the application. The Commission will conduct a hearing in accordance with Subpart L, “Informal Hearing Procedures for NRC Adjudications,” of 10 CFR Part 2 and will receive a report on the COL application from the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards in accordance with 10 CFR 52.87, “Referral to the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS).” If the Commission finds that the COL application meets the applicable standards of the Atomic Energy Act and the Commission's regulations, and that required notifications to other agencies and bodies have been made, the Commission will issue a COL, in the form and containing conditions and limitations that the Commission finds appropriate and necessary.

In accordance with 10 CFR Part 51, the Commission will also prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.26, and as part of the environmental scoping process, the staff intends to hold a public scoping meeting. Detailed information regarding this meeting will be included in a future Federal Register notice.

Finally, the Commission will publish in the Federal Register a notice of hearing, which will notice the opportunity to petition to intervene.

Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852, and will be accessible electronically through the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room link at the NRC Web site http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. The application is also available at http://www.nrc.gov/​reactors/​new-licensing/​col.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [e-mail].

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 1st day of August 2008.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Brian Hughes,

Senior Project Manager, AP1000 Projects Branch 1, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.