[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 98 (Friday, May 21, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28664-28665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-12365]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 [Docket No. 52-011; NRC-2008-0252]


Southern Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Availability of 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for 
License Amendment to Early Site Permit Issued to Southern Nuclear 
Operating Company et al., for Vogtle Electric Generating Plant ESP Site 
Located in Burke County, GA

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chandu Patel, Project Manager, AP1000 
Branch 1, Division of New Reactors Licensing, Office of New Reactors, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. 
Telephone: (301) 415-3025; fax number: (301) 415-6350; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of 
an amendment to Early Site Permit (ESP) No. ESP-004, issued to Southern 
Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) and several co-applicants (Georgia 
Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation, Municipal Electric 
Authority of Georgia, and the City of Dalton, Georgia), for the Vogtle 
Electric Generating Plant (VEGP) ESP site located in Burke County, 
Georgia. The proposed amendment would modify the Vogtle Electric 
Generating Plant ESP site safety analysis report (SSAR) to allow the 
use of Category 1 and 2 backfill obtained from onsite borrow areas not 
specifically identified in the VEGP ESP SSAR.
    NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of 
this amendment in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. 
Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant 
Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following 
the publication of this Notice.

II. EA Summary

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to authorize a change to 
the early site permit issued to SNC for the Vogtle Electric Generating 
Plant ESP site located in Burke County, Georgia. Specifically, the 
proposed amendment would modify the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant 
ESP site safety analysis report (SSAR) to allow the use of Category 1 
and 2 backfill obtained from onsite borrow areas that were not 
specifically identified in the VEGP ESP SSAR. On April 20, 2010, as 
supplemented on April 23 and 28, and May 5, 10, and 13, 2010, SNC 
requested that NRC approve the proposed amendment. By letter dated May 
13, 2010, the applicant requested that the NRC consider issuing a 
limited scope approval (LSA) of a subset of the requested onsite borrow 
locations pending the NRC determination on the remainder of the borrow 
sources identified in the license amendment request (LAR). The LSA 
request proposed NRC approval of SNC's use of borrow material from 
certain onsite locations where impacts from site preparation activities 
were already anticipated and previously evaluated in NUREG-1872, 
``Final Environmental Impact Statement for an Early Site Permit (ESP) 
at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant Site.'' SNC's request for the 
proposed change was previously noticed in the Federal Register on May 
6, 2010 (75 FR 24993), with a notice of an opportunity to request a 
hearing.
    The staff has prepared the EA in support of its review of the 
proposed license amendment. Because the LSA requests separate approval 
of a subset of the locations described by the LAR, this EA separately 
evaluates the activities associated with acquiring additional backfill 
from those onsite borrow sources and summarizes the radiological and 
non-radiological environmental impacts that may result from granting 
the LSA portion of the amendment request. The staff has determined that 
granting the proposed amendment would not result in significant non-
radiological impacts to land use, surface and groundwater resources, 
terrestrial and aquatic resources, threatened and

[[Page 28665]]

endangered species, socioeconomic factors and environmental justice, 
cultural and historical resources, air quality, non-radiological human 
health and nonradioactive waste. In addition, the staff has determined 
that there are no significant radiological health impacts associated 
with the proposed action.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that there are no 
significant environmental impacts from the proposed amendment and has 
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at 
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. The NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System 
(ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents, 
may be accessed from this site. The ADAMS accession numbers for the 
documents related to this notice are: The application dated April 20, 
2010, as supplemented by letters dated April 23, 28, May 5, 10, and 13, 
2010 is available at ML101120089, ML101160531, ML101230337, 
ML101270283, ML101330141, and ML101340649 respectively. The 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact 
evaluation is available at ML101380114. Persons who do not have access 
to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located 
in ADAMS should contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference 
staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to 
[email protected].
    These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public 
computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O 1 F21, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR 
reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 18th day of May, 2010.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jeffrey Cruz,
Branch Chief, AP1000 Branch1, Division of New Reactors Licensing, 
Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2010-12365 Filed 5-20-10; 8:45 am]
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