[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51522-51523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-24153]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 193 / Wednesday, October 7, 2009 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 51522]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 51

[NRC-2008-0608]
RIN 3150-AI42


Revisions to Environmental Review for Renewal of Nuclear Power 
Plant Operating Licenses

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule: Extension of comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On July 31, 2009, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
published a proposed rule for public comment that would amend its 
environmental protection regulations by updating the NRC's 1996 
findings on the environmental impacts related to the renewal of 
operating licenses for nuclear power plants. The NRC stated that it 
intends to review the assessment of impacts and update it on a 10-year 
cycle, if necessary. The proposed rule redefines the number and scope 
of the environmental impact issues that must be addressed by the NRC in 
conjunction with the review of applications for nuclear power facility 
license renewal. As part of this 10-year update, the NRC revised the 
1996 Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal 
of Nuclear Plants. Concurrent with the amendments described in this 
proposed rule, the NRC published for comment the revised GEIS and a 
revised Environmental Standard Review Plan (ESRP), Standard Review 
Plans for Environmental Reviews for Nuclear Power Plants, Supplement 1: 
Operating License Renewal, (74 FR 38239), and a revised Regulatory 
Guide (RG) 4.2, Supplement 1 Preparation of Environmental Reports for 
Nuclear Power Plant License Renewal Applications (74 FR 38238). A 75-
day comment period was provided for the proposed rule, associated 
guidance documents, and information collection analysis that would have 
expired on October 14, 2009.
    The proposed rule, regulatory analysis, related guidance documents 
(including the GEIS, ESRP, and Regulatory Guide), and the information 
collection analysis comment submittal deadline is extended from the 
original October 14, 2009 deadline to January 12, 2010.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule, regulatory analysis, 
related guidance documents, and information collection analysis has 
been extended by 90 days and now expires on January 12, 2010. Comments 
received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do 
so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for 
comments received before this date.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by letter or electronic mail and 
will be made available for public inspection. Because comments will not 
be edited to remove any identification or contact information, such as 
name, addresses, telephone number, e-mail address, etc., the NRC 
cautions against including any personal information in your submissions 
that you do not want to be publicly disclosed. The NRC requests that 
any party soliciting on aggregating comments received from other 
persons for submission to the NRC inform these persons that the NRC 
will not edit their comments to remove any identifying or comment 
information, and therefore, they should not include any information in 
their comments that they do not want publicly disclosed.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID [NRC-2008-0608]. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher (301)-492-3668; e-mail 
[email protected].
    Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
    E-mail comments to: [email protected]. If you do not 
receive a reply e-mail confirming that we have received your comments; 
contact us directly at (301)-415-1677.
    Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 
(301)-415-1101.
    Publicly available documents related to this rulemaking may be 
accessed using the following methods:
    NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): Publicly available documents may 
be examined at the NRC's PDR, Public File Area O1-F21, One White Flint 
North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The PDR reproduction 
contractor will copy documents for a fee.
    NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS): 
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are 
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this link, the public can gain 
entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public 
documents. If problems are encountered accessing documents in ADAMS, 
contact the NRC's PDR reference staff at (800)-397-4209, or (301)-415-
4737, or by e-mail to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jason Lising, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone (301)-415-3220; e-mail: [email protected]; or 
Mr. Jeffrey Rikhoff, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone (301)-415-
1090; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During the period of July 31-September 11, 
2009, the NRC received three letters requesting that the comment period 
for the proposed rulemaking be extended. One of the requests was for an 
extension of 61 days for a total of 136 days. The other two requests 
were for an extension of 90 days for a total of 165 days. The 
requestors stated various reasons to support their request (listed 
below):
    (1) The related documents are voluminous (over 1,400 pages). 
Stakeholders should be given a more reasonable amount of time to 
properly analyze and develop meaningful comments.
    (2) The proposed amendments and guidance documents cover many 
significant legal, regulatory, and policy issues related to a well-
established licensing process that will require extensive review.
    (3) The proposed rule attempts to update 13-year old findings 
related to

[[Page 51523]]

environmental reviews for nuclear power plant license renewals. 
Therefore, ample time is needed to thoroughly review the NRC's update 
to determine whether the proposed modifications accurately reflect the 
new environmental landscape that has developed over the last 13 years.
    (4) After the first 10-year review cycle ended in 2006, the NRC has 
had three years to formulate the proposed changes. A 75-day comment 
period is not sufficient to review and comment on these proposed 
amendments to regulations and voluminous associated guidance documents.
    (5) The NRC has scheduled a series of four public meetings that 
will occur throughout the second half of September, as well as an 
additional public meeting on October 1, 2009. Extending the comment 
period will allow stakeholders to use information presented at these 
public meetings to provide the agency with more comprehensive and 
meaningful comments.
    (6) Additional meetings are requested for the public to provide 
comments.
    The NRC wants the public to have sufficient time to provide the 
agency with constructive comments that will improve the quality of 
these regulations as well as the license renewal process. The NRC 
recognizes the quantity of information to be reviewed and is extending 
the comment period for the proposed rulemaking, related guidance 
documents, and information collection analysis for an additional 90 
days. Based on feedback from stakeholders, the NRC believes that a 90-
day extension will allow sufficient time for all stakeholders to 
develop and provide meaningful comments on these documents.
    The proposed rule, regulatory analysis, related guidance documents 
(including the GEIS, ESRP, and Regulatory Guide), and information 
collection analysis comment submittal deadline is extended from the 
original October 14, 2009, deadline to January 12, 2010.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of October 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. E9-24153 Filed 10-6-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P