[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 20 (Monday, January 31, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5410-5411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-1904]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Numbers 50-498, 50-499; NRC-2010-0375]


STP Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct the Scoping Process for 
South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2

    STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) has submitted an application 
for renewal of Facility Operating Licenses NPF-76 and NPF-80 for an 
additional 20 years of operation at the South Texas Project (STP), 
Units 1 and 2. STP is located near Wadsworth, TX.
    The current operating license for STP Unit 1 expires on August 20, 
2027, and Unit 2 expires on December 15, 2028. The application for 
renewal, dated October 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 December 9, 2010 (75 FRN 76757). A notice of acceptance for 
docketing of the application and opportunity for hearing regarding 
renewal of the facility operating license was also published in the 
Federal Register on January 13, 2011 (76 FRN 2426). 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 its 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, STPNOC 
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://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 STP ER is ML103010263. 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/south-texas-project.html. In 
addition, paper copies of the ER are available to the public for 
viewing near the site at the Bay City Public Library, 1100 7th Street, 
Bay City, TX 77414.
    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-2010-0375.
    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 STP operating licenses 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 EISs 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, STPNOC;
    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 STP license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The

[[Page 5411]]

scoping meetings will be held on March 2, 2011, and there will be two 
sessions to accommodate interested parties. The first session will 
convene at 1:30 p.m. CST and will continue until 3:30 p.m. The second 
session will convene at 7 p.m. with a repeat of the overview portions 
of the meeting and will continue until 9 p.m., as necessary. Both 
sessions will be held at the Bay City Civic Center, 201 Seventh Street, 
Bay City, Texas 77414.
    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. Tam Tran, by telephone at 800-368-5642, extension 3617, or 
by e-mail at [email protected] no later than February 23, 2011. 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. 
Tran will need to be contacted no later than February 23, 2011, 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-2010-0375 in the 
subject line of your comments. Comments submitted in writing or in 
electronic form will be posted on the NRC Web site and on the Federal 
rulemaking Web site http://www.regulations.gov.
    Because your comments will not be edited to remove any identifying 
or contact information, the NRC cautions you against including any 
information in your submission that you do not want to be publicly 
disclosed.
    The NRC 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.
    Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2010-0375. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Ms. Carol Gallagher 301-492-3668; e-mail 
[email protected].
    Mail comments to: Ms. Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements 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, or by fax to RADB at (301) 492-
3446. To be considered in the scoping process, written comments should 
be postmarked by April 1, 2011. Comments will be available 
electronically and accessible through ADAMS at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
    You can access publicly available documents related to this notice 
using the following methods:
    NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have 
copied for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Public 
File Area O1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
    Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and supporting 
materials related to this notice can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2010-0375.
    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. The notice of acceptance for 
docketing of the application and opportunity for hearing that was 
published in the Federal Register (76 FRN 2426) describes the hearing 
process.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th day of January 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Bo M. Pham,
Chief, Reactor Projects Branch 1, Division of License Renewal, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2011-1904 Filed 1-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P