[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