[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 185 (Monday, September 24, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48892-48893]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-23789]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-277 and 50-278]


Exelon Generation Company, LLC, PSEG Nuclear, LLC, Atlantic City 
Electric Company; Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 and 3; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and 
Conduct Scoping Process

    Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Exelon) has submitted an 
application for renewal of Operating Licenses Nos. DRP-44 and DRP-56 
for an additional 20 years of operation at the Peach Bottom Atomic 
Power Station (PBAPS), Units 2 and 3. PBAPS is located partly in York 
County and partly in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The application 
for renewal was submitted by letter dated July 2, 2001, pursuant to 10 
CFR part 54. A notice of receipt of application, including the 
environmental report (ER), was published in the Federal Register on 
July 25, 2001 (66 FR 38753). A notice of acceptance for docketing of 
the application for renewal of the facility operating license was 
published in the Federal Register on August 31, 2001 (66 FR 46036). The 
purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be preparing an environmental impact 
statement in support of the review of the license renewal application 
and to provide the public an opportunity to participate in the 
environmental scoping process as defined in 10 CFR 51.29.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 54.23 and 10 CFR 51.53(c), Exelon 
submitted the ER as part of the application. The ER was prepared 
pursuant to 10 CFR part 51 and is available for public inspection at 
the NRC Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, or from the Publicly 
Available Records component of NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is 
accessible at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html, (the NRC Public 
Electronic Reading Room (PERR)). 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 Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 
or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected]. In addition, the 
Whiteford Branch Library, located at 2407 Whiteford Road, Whiteford, MD 
and the Collinsville Community Library, located at 2632 Delta Road, 
Brogue, PA, have each been provided a reference copy of the ER and have 
agreed to make it available for public inspection.
    This notice advises the public that the NRC intends to gather the 
information necessary to prepare a plant-specific supplement to the 
Commission's ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for 
License Renewal of Nuclear Plants,'' (NUREG-1437) in support of the 
review of the application for renewal of the PBAPS operating licenses 
for an additional 20 years. Possible alternatives to the proposed 
action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative 
energy sources. 10 CFR 51.95 requires that the NRC prepare a supplement 
to the GEIS in connection with the renewal of an operating license. 
This notice is being published in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the NRC's regulations found in 10 
CFR part 51.
    The NRC will first conduct a scoping process for the supplement to 
the GEIS and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft 
supplement to the GEIS for public comment. Participation in this 
scoping process by members of the public and local, State, and Federal 
government agencies is encouraged. The scoping process for the 
supplement to the GEIS will be used to accomplish the following:
    a. Define the proposed action which is to be the subject of the 
supplement to the GEIS.
    b. Determine the scope of the supplement to the GEIS and identify 
the significant issues to be analyzed in depth.
    c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are 
peripheral or that are not significant.
    d. Identify any environmental assessments and other environmental 
impact statements (EISs) that are being or will be prepared that are 
related to but are not part of the scope of the supplement to the GEIS 
being considered.
    e. Identify other environmental review and consultation 
requirements related to the proposed action.
    f. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation 
of environmental analyses and the Commission's tentative planning and 
decision-making schedule.
    g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate 
assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the supplement 
to the GEIS, to the NRC, and any cooperating agencies.
    h. Describe how the supplement to the GEIS will be prepared, 
including any contractor assistance to be used.

[[Page 48893]]

    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in the 
scoping process:
    a. The applicant, Exelon Generation Company, LLC.
    b. Any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special 
expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved, or that is 
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards.
    c. Affected State and local government agencies, including those 
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards.
    d. Any affected Indian tribe.
    e. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to 
participate in the scoping process.
    a. Any person who intends to petition for leave to intervene.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.26, the scoping process for an EIS may 
include a public scoping meeting to help identify significant issues 
related to a proposed activity and to determine the scope of issues to 
be addressed in an EIS. The NRC has decided to hold public meetings for 
the PBAPS license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping meetings 
will be held at the Peach Bottom Inn, 6085 Delta Road, Delta, PA on 
Wednesday, November 7, 2001. There will be two sessions to accommodate 
interested parties. The first session will convene at 1:30 p.m. and 
will continue until 4:30 p.m. The second session will convene at 7 p.m. 
with a repeat of the overview portions of the meeting and will continue 
until 10 p.m. Both sessions will be transcribed and will include (1) an 
overview by the NRC staff of the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) environmental review process, the proposed scope of the 
supplement to the GEIS, and the proposed review schedule; (2) an 
overview by Exelon of the proposed action, PBAPS license renewal, and 
the environmental impacts as outlined in the ER; and (3) the 
opportunity for interested Government agencies, organizations, and 
individuals to submit comments or suggestions on the environmental 
issues or the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS. 
Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour 
prior to the start of each session at the Peach Bottom Inn. No comments 
on the proposed scope of the 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, as 
discussed below. Persons may register to attend or present oral 
comments at the meetings on the NEPA scoping process by contacting Mr. 
Duke Wheeler by telephone at (800) 368-5642, extension 1444, or by 
Internet to the NRC at [email protected] no later than November 1, 2001. 
Members of the public may also register to speak at the meeting 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. Members of the public who have not registered may also 
have an opportunity to speak, if time permits. Public comments will be 
considered in the scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS. If 
special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present 
information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to Mr. 
Wheeler's attention no later than November 1, 2001, so that the NRC 
staff can determine whether the request can be accommodated.
    Members of the public may send written comments on the 
environmental scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS to:
    Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative 
Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop T-6 D 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. To be considered in the scoping process, written comments 
should be postmarked by November 26, 2001. Electronic comments may be 
sent by the Internet to the NRC at [email protected]. Electronic 
submissions should be sent no later than November 26, 2001, to be 
considered in the scoping process. Comments will be available 
electronically and accessible through the NRC's Public Electronic 
Reading Room link http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html at the NRC 
Homepage.
    Participation in the scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS 
does not entitle participants to become parties to the proceeding to 
which the supplement to the GEIS relates. Notice of opportunity for a 
hearing regarding the renewal application was the subject of the 
aforementioned Federal Register notice of acceptance for docketing. 
Matters related to participation in any hearing are outside the scope 
of matters to be discussed at this public meeting.
    At the conclusion of the scoping process, the NRC will prepare a 
concise summary of the determinations and conclusions reached, 
including the significant issues identified, and will send a copy of 
the summary to each participant in the scoping process. The summary 
will also be available for inspection through the PERR link. The staff 
will then prepare and issue for comment the draft supplement to the 
GEIS, which will be the subject of separate notices and a separate 
public meeting. Copies will be available for public inspection at the 
above-mentioned addresses, and one copy per request will be provided 
free of charge. After receipt and consideration of the comments, the 
NRC will prepare a final supplement to the GEIS, which will also be 
available for public inspection.
    Information about the proposed action, the supplement to the GEIS, 
and the scoping process may be obtained from Mr. Wheeler at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of September 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cynthia A. Carpenter,
 Chief, Risk Informed Initiatives, Environmental, Decommissioning and 
Rulemaking Branch, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-23789 Filed 9-21-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P