[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 25 (Monday, February 7, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6638-6639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2599]


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 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 52-017; NRC-2008-0149]


Virginia Electric and Power Company D/B/A/ Dominion Virginia 
Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, North Anna Power Station 
Combined License Application; Notice of Intent To Prepare a 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process

    On June 28, 2010, Virginia Electric Power Company d/b/a Dominion 
Virginia Power and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (jointly referred 
to as Dominion) submitted a revision to its combined license (COL) 
application to build and operate a new reactor at its North Anna Power 
Station (NAPS) site located in Louisa County, Virginia. The NAPS 
property is located on the shore of Lake Anna approximately 64 km (40 
mi) north-west of Richmond. The proposed new reactor, Unit 3, would be 
located adjacent to the existing NAPS Units 1 and 2.
    Dominion's revision to its COL application, which included an 
environmental report (ER), changed the referenced reactor technology 
from the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor Design (ESBWR) to 
the U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (US-APWR). This change in 
reactor technology by Dominion occurred after the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff completed its environmental review, 
which is documented in NUREG-1917, ``Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Combined License (COL) for North Anna Power Station, 
Unit 3.'' A notice of availability of the final supplemental 
environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the COL application (NUREG-
1917) was published in the Federal Register by the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) on March 26, 2010 (75 FR 14594). The 
environmental impacts analyzed within NUREG-1917 are based, in part, on 
the design, construction, and operation of an ESBWR at the North Anna 
site.
    The NUREG-1917 supplemented the final environmental impact 
statement (FEIS) developed for the Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC 
Early Site Permit (ESP), which the NRC issued on November 27, 2007. A 
notice of availability of NUREG-1811, ``Environmental Impact Statement 
for an Early Site Permit at the North Anna ESP Site,'' was published in 
the Federal Register by the EPA on December 22, 2006 (71 FR 77014).
    The purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the NRC 
staff will prepare a supplement to NUREG-1917 pertaining to the change 
in the reactor design. In the supplement, the staff intends to identify 
any significant changes to the previous evaluation of environmental 
impacts arising from the change in referenced reactor design. 
Additionally, the NRC staff is providing the public an opportunity to 
participate in the environmental scoping process for this supplement. 
The scoping opportunity affords the public an occasion to provide 
comments concerning the revisions to the application.
    This notice advises the public that the NRC staff intends to gather 
information pertaining to the June 28, 2010, revisions to Dominion's ER 
and to include this information in the new supplement to be prepared in 
support of the COL review. In accordance with Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 51.45 and 51.50, the revised ER need not 
contain information or analysis submitted in the ER for the ESP stage 
or resolved in the FEIS for the ESP stage. This notice is being 
published in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), and NRC regulations found in 10 CFR Part 51. 
As set forth in 10 CFR 51.92(a), the staff is directed to prepare a 
supplement to an FEIS when a proposed action has not been taken and if: 
(1) There are substantial changes in the proposed action that are 
relevant to environmental concerns, or (2) there is new and significant 
information or circumstances relevant to environmental concerns and 
bearing on the proposed action or its impacts. In addition, 10 CFR 
51.92(c) permits the staff to prepare a supplement to a FEIS when, in 
its opinion, preparation of a supplement will further the purposes of 
NEPA.
    The NRC will conduct a scoping process on the revisions to the ER, 
and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft SEIS 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 opportunity will be used to accomplish the 
following:

[[Page 6639]]

    a. Determine how the information on the change in reactor design 
affects the staff's previous evaluation of environmental impacts 
associated with constructing and operating a new unit at the NAPS site 
and identify the significant issues arising from the change in reactor 
design to be analyzed in depth; including but not limited to, new and 
significant information regarding whether the design of the facility 
falls within the site characteristics and design parameters specified 
in the ESP;
    b. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are 
peripheral or that are not significant as they pertain to the change in 
reactor design; and
    c. Identify other environmental review and consultation 
requirements related to the information on the change in reactor 
design.
    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in the 
scoping process:
    a. The applicant, Dominion;
    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; and
    e. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to 
participate in the scoping process.
    The ESP environmental impact statement (EIS) (NUREG-1811), the COL 
SEIS (NUREG-1917) and Dominion's revised ER are available for public 
inspection at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland or 
from the Publicly Available Records component of the NRC Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, which provides access through 
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room (ERR) link. The ADAMS accession 
number for the ESP EIS, the COL SEIS and the June 28, 2010, revision to 
the ER are, respectively: ML063470314, ML100680117, and ML102040545. 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR 
Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or by sending an e-
mail to [email protected]. These documents may also be viewed on the 
Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/north-anna.html. In addition, the following libraries have agreed to maintain 
these documents for public inspection: Jefferson-Madison Regional 
Library in Mineral, Virginia; Hanover Branch Library in Hanover, 
Virginia; Orange County Library in Orange, Virginia; Salem Church 
Library in Fredericksburg, Virginia; and C. Melvin Snow Memorial Branch 
Library in Spotsylvania, Virginia.
    Members of the public may submit comments on the revisions to the 
ER by one of the following methods:
    Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2008-0149. Comments may 
be submitted electronically through this Web site until the close of 
the comment period March 9, 2011. Please include Docket ID NRC-2008-
0149 in the subject line of your comments.
    Mail comments to: Chief, Rulemaking, Announcements, and Directives 
Branch, 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 301-492-3446. Comments should cite the 
publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. To 
ensure that comments are considered in the scoping process, written 
comments must be post-marked or delivered by the end of the scoping 
comment period, which is March 9, 2011.
    Electronic comments via the Internet to the NRC at 
[email protected]. Electronic submissions must be sent no later 
than March 9, 2011, to ensure that they will be considered in the 
scoping process.
    Comments submitted will be posted on the NRC Web site and on the 
Federal rulemaking Web site, 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 and to remove any identifying or 
contact information in comments they do not want publicly disclosed.
    The NRC staff may consider comments submitted after the end of the 
comment period, as time and resources permit. Participation in the 
scoping process does not entitle participants to become parties to the 
proceeding to which the SEIS relates.
    At the conclusion of the scoping process, the NRC staff will 
prepare a concise summary of the determination and conclusions reached 
on the scope of the environmental review for the revisions to the 
Dominion application, including the significant issues identified, and 
will send a copy of the summary to each participant in the scoping 
process for whom the staff has an address. The summary will also be 
available for inspection through the NRC ERR link. The staff will then 
prepare and issue for comment the draft SEIS, which will be the subject 
of separate Federal Register notices and a public meeting. Copies of 
the draft SEIS will be available for public inspection at the above-
mentioned address, and one copy per request will be provided free of 
charge. After receipt and consideration of the comments on the draft 
SEIS, the NRC staff will prepare a final SEIS, which will also be 
available for public inspection.
    Information about the proposed SEIS and the scoping process may be 
obtained from Ms. Tamsen Dozier, Environmental Project Manager at 1-
800-368-5642, extension 2272 or via e-mail to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of January 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott Flanders,
Director, Division of Site and Environmental Reviews, Office of New 
Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2011-2599 Filed 2-4-11; 8:45 am]
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