Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC; Belews Creek; Notice of Hearing
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing public notice for an uncontested hearing on NRC staff's review of the early site permit (ESP) application, from Duke En...
Early site permit application; notice of uncontested hearing.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing public notice for an uncontested hearing on NRC staff's review of the early site permit (ESP) application, from Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, (Duke Energy) for the Belews Creek Site located in Sauratown Township, Stokes County, and Belews Creek Township, Forsyth County, North Carolina.
DATES:
The hearing is scheduled for September 17, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. eastern time (ET) at the Ronald W Reagan Building (Administration Building) 1014 Main Street, Hwy 89, Danbury, NC 27016.
ADDRESSES:
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-2161 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly available information related to this document using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website:
Go to
www.regulations.gov
and search for Docket ID NRC-2025-2161. Address questions about Docket IDs in
Regulations.gov
to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-415-1003; email:
Bridget.Curran@nrc.gov.
For technical questions, contact the individual(s) listed in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section of this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):
You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
To begin the search, select “Begin ADAMS Public Search.” For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at 301-415-4737, or by email to
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov.
The Belews Creek ESP application is available in ADAMS under Package Accession No. ML25364A004. A copy of the application is also available for public inspection at
www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced/who-were-working-with/applicant-projects/dukeenergy.
NRC's PDR:
The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov
or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Emmanuel Sayoc, telephone: 301-415-4084; email:
Emmanuel.Sayoc@nrc.gov;
or Kodaran Anand, telephone: 301-287-0767; email:
Kodaran.Anand@nrc.gov.
Both are staff of Office of Advanced Reactors at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
By letter dated December 30, 2025 (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML25364A004), Duke Energy submitted to the NRC, the ESP application, in accordance with the requirements contained in part 52 of title 10 of the
Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), “Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants,” Subpart A, “Early Site Permits.” Duke Energy is seeking this ESP to approve the Belews Creek site for the potential deployment of multiple advanced nuclear reactors. Because a specific reactor technology has not yet been selected, the ESP application uses the Plant Parameter Envelope (PPE) approach. The PPE approach combines information from reactor vendors whose technologies are under consideration to define a bounding surrogate facility. It identifies the maximum or minimum values for key plant parameters across the candidate technologies, and these bounding values are used as inputs to the analyses supporting the ESP application, which is currently under NRC review.
Pursuant to Section 189a. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission Policy Statement on Mandatory Hearings for Reactor Licensing (published in the
Federal Register
on June 8, 2026, at 91 FR 34661), notice is hereby given that the uncontested (
i.e.,
mandatory) hearing will be held on September 17, 2026, starting at 5 p.m. (ET) in the Ronald W Reagan Building (Administration Building) 1014 Main Street, Hwy 89, Danbury, NC 27016. Members of the public are invited to attend this hearing. There will be an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions and provide feedback on the ESP application. This is not an opportunity to request a contested hearing, where petitioners can file intervention requests that contain the contentions they wish to litigate pursuant to 10 CFR 2.309. The opportunity to request a contested hearing and petition for leave to intervene was noticed on February 9, 2026 (91 FR 5787) and no intervention petitions were received.
An open house will be held before the hearing begins, from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., to give the public an opportunity to speak with the NRC staff. The hearing will then convene at 5 p.m. and begin with a presentation by the NRC staff that will explain the review process and provide a brief overview of the application, followed by a comment period of up to 3 hours. During the comment period, the public will be provided an opportunity to speak on the
( printed page 50897)
record. Each member of the public will be allowed to speak for no more than 5 minutes at a time to ensure that all stakeholders who wish to provide oral comments or ask questions will have the opportunity to do so.
The hearing record for comments will remain open until October 1, 2026. Written comments must be submitted via the following email address:
BelewsCreekESP-Hearing@nrc.gov.
In order to be included in the hearing record, written comments must be received by October 1, 2026. The NRC staff will not consider comments or questions received via other means or after the deadline of October 1, 2026. The NRC staff will treat any comments or questions received consistent with the Commission Policy Statement on Mandatory Hearings for Reactor Licensing.
www.regulations.gov
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html
10 CFR 2.309
42 U.S.C. 2011