[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 15 (Monday, January 26, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4476-4477]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-1563]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-298; NRC-2008-0617]
Nebraska Public Power District: Cooper Nuclear Station; Notice of
Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping
Process
Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) has submitted an application
for renewal of Facility Operating License No. DPR-46 for an additional
20 years of operation at the Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS). CNS is
located near Brownville, NE.
The operating license for CNS expires on January 18, 2014. The
application for renewal, dated September 24, 2008, was submitted
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 November 17, 2008 (73 FR 67896). A notice of acceptance for
docketing of the application for renewal of the facility operating
license was also published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2008
(73 FR 79921). 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) related to 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 addition, as outlined in 36 CFR 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, NPPD submitted
the ER as part of the application. The ER was prepared pursuant to 10
CFR Part 51 and is publicly available at the NRC Public Document Room
(PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland 20852, or from the NRC's Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System (ADAMS). The ADAMS Public Electronic
Reading Room is accessible at http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm. The Accession Number for the ER is ML083030246. 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]. The ER may also be viewed on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/cooper.html. In addition, the ER is available for public inspection
near CNS at the Auburn Memorial Library, 1810 Courthouse Ave., Auburn,
NE 68305, telephone (402) 274-4023.
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 CNS 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 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, Nebraska Public Power District.
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.
[[Page 4477]]
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 CNS license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping meetings
will be held on February 25, 2009. There will be two sessions, an
afternoon and evening session, to accommodate interested parties. The
first session will be held at the Brownville Concert Hall at 126
Atlantic St., Brownville, NE 68321, telephone (402) 825-3331, and will
convene at 1:30 p.m. and will continue until 4:30 p.m., as necessary.
The second session will be held at the Auburn Senior Center at 1101 J
St., Auburn, NE 68305, telephone, (402) 274-3420, and 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 session 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 Project Managers, Mr.
Tam Tran, telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 3617, or by e-mail to
the NRC at [email protected] or Mr. Emmanuel Sayoc, by telephone at 1-
800-368-5642, extension 1924, or by e-mail to the NRC at
[email protected], no later than February 18, 2009. 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.
Tam Tran or Mr. Sayoc will need to be contacted no later than February
18, 2009, 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 KPS license renewal review to: Chief,
Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative
Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite the
publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. To be
considered in the scoping process, written comments should be
postmarked by March 23, 2009. Electronic comments may be sent by e-mail
to the NRC at [email protected], and should be sent no later than March
23, 2009, to be considered in the scoping process. Comments will be
available electronically and accessible through ADAMS at http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm.
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 previously included in
the Federal Register dated December 30, 2008 (73 FR 79921). 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 ADAMS at http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm. 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 the Project Managers Mr.
Sayoc and Mr. Tran at the aforementioned telephone number or e-mail
addresses.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 15th day of January 2009.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David L. Pelton,
Chief, Projects Branch 1, Division of License Renewal, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E9-1563 Filed 1-23-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P