[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42168-42170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-17652]


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

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-443; NRC-2010-0206]


Nextera Energy Seabrook; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct the Scoping Process for 
Seabrook Station, Unit 1

    NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC has submitted an application for 
renewal of Facility Operating License No. NPF-86 for an additional 20 
years of operation at Seabrook Station, Unit 1 (Seabrook Station). 
Seabrook Station is located 13 miles south of Portsmouth, NH.
    The current operating license for Seabrook Station expires on March 
15, 2030. The application for renewal, dated May 25, 2010, was 
submitted pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR) Part 54, which included an environmental report (ER). A separate 
notice of receipt and availability of the application was published in 
the Federal Register on June 16, 2010 (75 FR 34180). A notice of 
acceptance for docketing of the application and opportunity for hearing 
regarding renewal of the facility operating license is also being 
published in the Federal Register. 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.
    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 (NHPA) in meeting 
the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 
(NEPA). Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC intends to use the NEPA 
process and documentation for the preparation of the EIS on the 
proposed action to comply with Section 106 of the NHPA in lieu of the 
procedures set forth at 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.6.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.53(c) and 10 CFR 54.23, NextEra Energy 
Seabrook submitted the ER as part of the application. The ER was 
prepared

[[Page 42169]]

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://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 
From this page, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides 
text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS Accession 
Number for the Seabrook Station ER is ML101590094. 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 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/seabrook.html. In addition, paper copies of the ER are available to the 
public near the site at the Seabrook Library, 25 Liberty Street, 
Seabrook, NH 03874 and at the Amesbury Public Library, 149 Main Street, 
Amesbury, MA 01913. Public comments and supporting materials related to 
this notice can be found at the Federal rulemaking Web site, http://www.regulations.gov, by searching on Docket ID NRC-2010-0206.
    This notice advises the public that the NRC intends to gather the 
information necessary to prepare a plant-specific supplement to the 
NRC'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 Seabrook Station 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 at 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; and
    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, NextEra Energy Seabrook;
    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; and
    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 Seabrook Station license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The 
scoping meetings will be held on August 19, 2010, and there will be two 
sessions to accommodate interested parties. The first session will 
convene at 1:30 p.m. and will continue until 3:30 p.m., as necessary. 
The second session will convene at 7 p.m., with a repeat of the 
overview portions of the first meeting, and will continue until 9 p.m., 
as necessary. Both sessions will be held at the Galley Hatch Conference 
Center, 815 Lafayette Road, Hampton, NH 03842. 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 
Manager, Mr. Jeremy Susco, by telephone at 800-368-5642, extension 
2927, or by e-mail at [email protected] no later than August 12, 
2010. 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. Susco will need to be contacted no later than August 5, 2010, 
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 submit comments by any one of the 
following methods. Please include Docket ID NRC-2010-0206 in the 
subject line of the comments. Comments submitted in writing or in 
electronic form will be posted on the NRC website and on the Federal 
rulemaking website, http://www.regulations.gov. Because comments will 
not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC 
cautions against including any information that the submitter does not 
want to be publicly disclosed. The NRC

[[Page 42170]]

requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments received 
from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those persons that 
the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any identifying or 
contact information and, therefore, they should not include any 
information in their comments that they do not want publicly disclosed.
    Submit comments electronically via the Federal rulemaking website: 
Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for documents filed under 
Docket ID NRC-2010-0206. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol 
Gallagher at 301-492-3668 or via e-mail at [email protected].
    Mail comments to: Chief, Rulemaking and Directives Branch (RADB), 
Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001. Fax comments to RADB at 301-492-3446. Comments will be 
available electronically and accessible at http://www.regulations.gov 
and through ADAMS at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. All 
comments must be received by September 21, 2010.
    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. Matters related to 
participation in any hearing are outside the scope of matters to be 
discussed at this public meeting.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of July, 2010.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bo M. Pham,
Chief, Projects Branch 1, Division of License Renewal, Office of 
Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2010-17652 Filed 7-19-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P