[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9333-9335]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-4749]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-335 and 50-389]


Florida Power and Light Company, Saint Lucie Plant, Units 1 and 
2; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and 
Conduct Scoping Process

    Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) has submitted an application 
for renewal of Operating Licenses Nos. DRP-67 and NPF-16 for an 
additional 20 years of operation at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant 
(St. Lucie), Units 1 and 2. St. Lucie is located on Huchinson Island in 
St. Lucie County, Florida. The application for renewal was submitted by 
letter dated November 29, 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 December 27, 2001 (66 FR 66946). A 
notice of acceptance for docketing of the application for renewal of 
the facility operating license was published in the Federal Register on 
January 29, 2002 (67 FR 4288). 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), FPL 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 Indian River 
Community College library located at 3209 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, 
Florida has been provided a reference copy of the ER and has 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 St. Lucie 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

[[Page 9334]]

(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 schedules.
    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.
    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in the 
scoping process:
    a. The applicant, Florida Power and Light Company.
    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.
    f. 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 St. Lucie license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping 
meetings will be held at the Council Chambers, Port St. Lucie City 
Hall, 121 SW Port St. Lucie Boulevard, Port St. Lucie, Florida, on 
Wednesday, April 3, 2002. 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 FPL of the proposed action, St. Lucie 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 in the Port St. Lucie Council 
Chambers. 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 Dr. Michael T. Masnik, by telephone at (800) 368-
5642, extension 1191, or by Internet to the NRC at [email protected] no 
later than March 27, 2002. 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 Dr. Masnik's attention no later than March 27, 
2002, 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 April 30, 3002. Electronic comments may be sent 
by the Internet to the NRC at St._Lucie [email protected]. Electronic 
submissions should be sent no later than April 30, 2002, 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 Dr. Masnik at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.


[[Page 9335]]


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of February 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Pao-Tsin Kuo,
Acting Program Director, License Renewal and Environmental Impacts, 
Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs,Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-4749 Filed 2-27-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P