[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 130 (Thursday, July 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 39284]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16631]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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


Southern Nuclear Operating Company et al.; 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: Terri Spicher, 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) 415-1670; fax number: (301) 415-6323; 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 on August 
26, 2009, 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 license amendment request (LAR) 
was submitted by letter dated May 24, 2010, and was supplemented by a 
letter dated June 2, 2010. In particular, pursuant to Title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 52.39(e), the request 
seeks to amend the ESP Site Safety Analysis Report (SSAR) to change the 
classification of backfill over the slopes of the Units 3 and 4 
excavations from Category 1 and 2 backfill to engineered granular 
backfill (EGB).
    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 NRC staff's review of the safety 
aspects of the amendment request will be documented in a separate 
safety evaluation report (SER); if warranted by the results of that 
evaluation, the amendment would 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 SSAR to change the classification of backfill over the slopes of 
the Units 3 and 4 excavations from Category 1 and 2 backfill to EGB.
    The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of its review of the 
proposed action. On the basis of this EA, the NRC finds that there are 
no significant environmental impacts from the proposed action. The LAR 
would not change the total quantity or locations of backfill material 
to be obtained from onsite sources, and the impacts of acquiring EGB 
from the specified areas located within the VEGP site would remain 
within the scope of environmental impacts previously analyzed in the 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the VEGP ESP and in the 
EAs for Amendments 1 and 2 to the VEGP ESP and LWA, and found not to be 
significant. Accordingly, the NRC staff has determined that there would 
be no significant environmental impacts associated with granting the 
LAR request.

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

    The ESP amendment request is available electronically at the NRC's 
Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 
From this site, persons can access the NRC's Agency-wide Documents 
Access and Management System (ADAMS). The ADAMS accession number for 
the May 24, 2010, amendment request is ML101470213 and the accession 
number for the June 2 supplement is ML101550510. The ADAMS accession 
number for the EA is ML101660076. The ADAMS accession numbers for the 
ESP FEIS are ML082240145 and ML082240165, ML082260203, and ML082550040. 
The ADAMS accession numbers for the EAs for Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 
to the ESP are ML101380114 and ML101670592, respectively. If persons do 
not have access to ADAMS or have problems accessing the documents 
located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room Reference staff 
at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or via 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 28th day of June 2010.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Jeffrey Cruz,
Chief, AP1000 Branch 1, Division of New Reactors Licensing, Office of 
New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2010-16631 Filed 7-7-10; 8:45 am]
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