SEABROOK � The NextEra Energy Seabrook Station nuclear power plant is expected to receive its long-sought 20-year license extension from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by month�s end.

NRC notification comes after important recommendations and positive reviews over the past four weeks on both the plant's application to extend its operating license to 2050, as well as its request to amend that license to accommodate how it will address its unique concrete problem of alkali-silica reaction as the plant ages. The notice comes 8� years after NextEra began its bid for a license extension.

Seabrook Station passed the last NRC staff requirement to obtain an operating license extension last week. In a 939-page document, NRC staff issued a positive finding in the Final Safety Evaluation Report of its review of Seabrook Station�s application to extend its original 40-year operating license 20 years. According to NRC Region I spokesman Neil Sheehan, the report is the technical basis upon which NRC�s decision will be made on a license extension for NextEra.

According to the report, after reviewing Seabrook Station�s license extension application in accordance with agency standards, NRC staffers concluded all is in compliance with regulations. The document details commitments NextEra made in relation �to managing the effects of aging structures and components� at Seabrook Station. According to Sheehan, such commitments are often part of final safety evaluation reports for license extensions.

The report�s positive conclusion, in addition to recent recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, opens the door for the issuance of a license extension. Sheehan expects the license will be issued by month�s end. He said NRC regulations allow for the issuance of the extension before this summer�s expected hearing on a contention filed by C-10, the Newburyport, Mass.-based nuclear watchdog, regarding the plant's concrete degradation.

�For the NRC to grant the license amendment- and then approve a license extension out to 2050- before the public hearing that the ASLB granted on the concrete- is just crazy,� said Natalie Hildt Treat, executive director of C-10. �What�s the hurry? Seabrook still has 11 more years on its current operating license. We believe this action could undermine the safety of the American citizens that NRC is charged with protecting.�

As allowed by NRC regulations, NextEra filed its license extension application in June 2010, after successfully operating the plant for 20 years, since it went online in 1990.

License extension requests are not rare, according to Sheehan, with the majority of the nation�s 98 nuclear plants applying for and receiving one so far.

Initially, all nuclear power plants receive 40-year-long operating licenses. Congress set the original 40-year term for reactor licenses based on economic and antitrust issues, not due to the limitations of nuclear technology, he said. However, since some parts of a reactor may have been engineered based on an expected 40-year service life, according to Sheehan, NRC established a license renewal process to ensure these parts are maintained and monitored during any additional period of extended operation.

In reviewing license extension requests, NRC�s process has two tracks, according to Sheehan, safety and environmental. If all goes without a hitch, license extension reviews customarily take two to four years.

In the environmental portion, NRC investigates to ensure extension of the license will not negatively impact the environment surrounding the plant. In July 2015, NRC�s Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement concluded environmental concerns "would not preclude renewing the plant's license for an additional 20 years."

The safety evaluation review relates to the management and programs for key safety systems, structures and components to ensure they can be and will be maintained and operated properly during the extended life of the plant, Sheehan said. An important factor in the safety evaluation is a review of how every part of the plant can be managed as they age.

Aging management was the major factor holding up the Final Safety Evaluation Report for more than eight years after a concrete problem was discovered at Seabrook Station and reported by NextEra in 2009. Known as alkali-silica reaction, the phenomenon occurs in concrete in the presence of moisture. ASR is not uncommon in dams and bridges, but so far Seabrook Station is the only United States nuclear power plant to report its presence, although it has been reported in plants outside the U.S.

ASR can take up to 15 years to show its characteristics, which are micro-cracking, staining and deformation of the concrete, as exhibited in walls at Seabrook Station.

NRC took measures to intensify its inspections at Seabrook Station due to ASR. NRC inspectors repeatedly concluded there are no immediate safety concerns regarding ASR at Seabrook Station. In part, that�s due to existing safety margins � such as 2-foot thick, steel-reinforced concrete walls � as well as ASR�s slow progression and ongoing monitoring.

But NRC made it clear to NextEra there would be no license extension issued until it�s sure the company can manage ASR in Seabrook Station�s walls as the plant ages through the requested additional 20 years. To do that, NextEra embarked on a large-scale, years-long research program at the University of Texas� Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory. Two new aging management programs that monitor for ASR and building deformation were also created.

As a result of the testing, NextEra filed a license amendment request with NRC to incorporate the methodology it will use to monitor and manage ASR. A month ago, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards issued letters recommending approval of NextEra�s license amendment request to NRC, as well as its license extension application. The ACRS is an independent body of experts advising the commissioners on nuclear safety matters.

In its Dec. 14 letter, ASRS concluded while the plant�s structures are degraded due to ASR, �they are fully capable of performing their credited function through the requested (period of extended operation) under the committed enhanced monitoring and evaluations.�

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