[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 163 (Thursday, August 22, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54499-54501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-21413]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-261]


Carolina Power & Light Company, H.B. Robinson Steam Electric 
Plant, Unit No. 2; Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement and Conduct Scoping Process

    Carolina Power & Light Co. (CP&L) has submitted an application for 
renewal of Facility Operating License DPR-23 for an additional 20 years 
of operation at the H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant (Robinson), 
Unit No. 2. Robinson is located in Darlington County, South Carolina, 
approximately 5 miles north-northwest of Hartsville, South Carolina. 
The application for renewal was submitted by letter dated June 17, 
2002, 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 18, 2002 (67 FR 47410). A notice of acceptance for 
docketing of

[[Page 54500]]

the application for renewal of the facility operating license was 
published in the Federal Register on August 16, 2002 (67 FR 53626). 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 (EIS) 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), CP&L 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 Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, which provides access through the NRC's Public Electronic 
Reading Room (PERR) link. 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 (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 
or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to [email protected]. The application may also 
be viewed on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/robinson.html. In addition, the 
Hartsville Memorial Library, located at 147 West College Avenue, 
Hartsville, South Carolina 29550, has agreed to make the ER 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 Robinson operating license 
for an additional 20 years. Possible alternatives to the proposed 
action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative 
energy sources. Section 51.95 of 10 CFR 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 the 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 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 the 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, and 
include any contractor assistance to be used.
    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in the 
scoping process:
    a. The applicant, Carolina Power & Light Co.
    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 Robinson license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping 
meetings will be held in the C.W. Coker Auditorium of Davidson Hall on 
the campus of Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina, on 
Wednesday, September 25, 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., as necessary. 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., as necessary. Both 
meetings will be transcribed and will include (1) an overview by the 
NRC staff of the NEPA environmental review process, the proposed scope 
of the supplement to the GEIS, and the proposed review schedule; and 
(2) 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 
before the start of each session in Davidson Hall. 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 scope of the NEPA review by contacting Mr. Richard L. 
Emch, Jr., by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 1590, or by 
Internet to the NRC at [email protected] no later than September 20, 
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. Mr. Emch will need to be contacted no later than September 20, 
2002, if special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or 
present information at the public meeting, so that the NRC staff can 
determine whether the request can be accommodated.
    Members of the public may send written comments on the 
environmental scope of the Robinson license renewal review to the 
Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative 
Services, Office of

[[Page 54501]]

Administration, Mailstop T-6 D 59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and 
page number of this Federal Register notice. Comments may also be 
delivered to Room 6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. during Federal 
workdays. To be considered in the scoping process, written comments 
should be postmarked by October 25, 2002. Electronic comments may be 
sent by the Internet to the NRC at [email protected]. Electronic 
submissions should be sent no later than October 25, 2002, to be 
considered in the scoping process. Comments will be available 
electronically and accessible through the NRC's PERR link http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
    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 determination 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 separate public meetings. 
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. Emch at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of August, 2002.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Samson S. Lee,
Acting Program Director, License Renewal and Environmental Impacts 
Program, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-21413 Filed 8-21-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P