[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 72 (Friday, April 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19554-19556]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-5596]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-293]


Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and 
Conduct Scoping Process

    Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy) has submitted an 
application for renewal of Facility Operating License DPR-35 for an 
additional 20 years of operation at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station 
(Pilgrim). Pilgrim is located on the western shore of Cape Cod in the 
Town of Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. It is 38 miles 
southeast of Boston, Massachusetts, and 44 miles east of Providence, 
Rhode Island.
    The operating license for Pilgrim expires on June 8, 2012. The 
application for renewal was received on January 25, 2006, pursuant to 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 54. A notice 
of receipt and availability of the application, which included the 
environmental report (ER), was published in the Federal Register on 
February 6, 2006 (71 FR 6101). A notice of acceptance for docketing of 
the application for renewal of the facility operating license was 
published in the Federal Register on March 27, 2006 (71 FR 15222). 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

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defined in 10 CFR 51.29. In addition, as outlined in Title 36 of the 
Code of the Federal Regulations 800.8, ``Coordination with the National 
Environmental Policy Act,'' the NRC plans to coordinate compliance with 
section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act in meeting the 
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.53(c) and 10 CFR 54.23, Entergy 
submitted the ER as part of the application. The ER was prepared 
pursuant to 10 CFR Part 51 and is publicly available for inspection at 
the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, MD 20852, or from the 
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS 
is accessible from the Public Electronic Reading Room on the NRC's Web 
site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. The 
Accession Number for the ER is ML060830611. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS, or who encounter problems in accessing the documents 
located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC's PDR reference staff by 
telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at 
[email protected]. In addition, the Plymouth Public Library, located at 132 
South Street, Plymouth, MA 02360 and the Duxbury Free Library, located 
at 77 Alden Street, Duxbury, MA 02332 have 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) related to the review 
of the application for renewal of the Pilgrim operating license for an 
additional 20 years. Possible alternatives to the proposed action 
(license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy 
sources. The NRC is required by 10 CFR 51.95 to prepare a supplement to 
the GEIS in connection with the renewal of an operating license. This 
notice is being published in accordance with National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (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, Tribal, 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 ElSs 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 scoping:
    a. The applicant, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy).
    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 has petitioned or 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 Pilgrim license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping 
meetings will be held at the Radisson Hotel Plymouth Harbor Ballroom, 
180 Water Street, Plymouth, MA 02360, on May 17, 2006. 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 prior to the start of each meeting at the same location. No formal 
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 the NRC Environmental Project Manager Mr. Robert Schaaf, by 
telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 1312, or by e-mail to the NRC at 
[email protected] no later than May 12, 2006. 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. 
Schaaf will need to be contacted no later than May 3, 2006, 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 Pilgrim license renewal review to Chief, 
Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, Mailstop T-6D59, 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 the NRC at

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Room T-6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, 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 June 16, 2006. Electronic comments may be sent by e-mail 
to the NRC at [email protected] and should be sent no later than June 
16, 2006, to be considered in the scoping process. Comments will be 
available electronically and accessible through NRC's ADAMS link at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.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 (71 FR 15222). 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 in NRC's ADAMS link at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 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. Schaaf at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of April 2006.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Rani Franovich,
Branch Chief, Environmental Branch B, Division of License Renewal, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E6-5596 Filed 4-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P