[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 166 (Monday, August 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51832-51833]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21005]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 52-029-COL, 52-030-COL; ASLBP No. 09-879-04-COL-BD01]
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board; In the Matter of Progress
Energy Florida, Inc. (Levy County Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2)
August 21, 2012.
Before Administrative Judges: Alex S. Karlin, Chairman, Dr. Anthony
J. Baratta and Dr. Randall J. Charbeneau
Notice of Hearing
This Atomic Safety and Licensing Board gives notice that it will
convene an evidentiary hearing with regard to a challenge by the
Nuclear Information and Resource Service and the Ecology Party of
Florida (Intervenors) \1\ to an application by Progress Energy Florida,
Inc. (PEF) to construct and operate two new nuclear power reactors in
Levy County, Florida.\2\ The evidentiary hearing will be held in
Bronson, Florida and will commence on October 31, 2012. The hearing
will concern the one admitted contention in this proceeding, Contention
4A, which is described more fully below.\3\
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\1\ The Green Party of Florida was one of the original
intervenors herein, but it subsequently withdrew. See Notice of
Withdrawal (May 17, 2012).
\2\ See Progress Energy Florida, Inc.; Application for the Levy
County Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2; Notice of Order, Hearing,
and Opportunity To Petition for Leave To Intervene, 73 FR 74,532,
74,532 (Dec. 8, 2008).
\3\ A motion to admit another contention was filed on July 9,
2012 and is currently pending. Pursuant to an order of the
Commission, CLI-12-16, the Board has placed this proposed new
contention in abeyance. Order (Holding Proposed New Contention in
Abeyance) (Aug. 16, 2012) (unpublished).
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The evidentiary hearing will be held under the authority of the
Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. 2231, 2239, and 2241. It will be conducted
pursuant to the NRC hearing procedures set forth in 10 CFR Part 2,
Subpart L, 10 CFR 2.1200-2.1213. During the course of this adjudicatory
proceeding the Board may also hear oral arguments as provided in 10 CFR
2.331 and may hold various prehearing conferences pursuant to 10 CFR
2.329. These may be held via teleconference, video-conference, and/or
in person. Except where certain legally privileged documents or
testimony are being heard, all of the proceedings will be open to the
public. See 10 CFR 2.328.
A. Matters To Be Considered
Contention 4A, as it will be litigated during the October 31, 2012
evidentiary hearing,\4\ reads as follows:
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\4\ This contention has evolved during the course of this
proceeding. First, the contention challenged the adequacy of the
Environmental Report, a document submitted by PEF. See LBP-09-10, 70
NRC 51, 106 (2009). Next, the Intervenors interposed substantially
the same contention challenging the adequacy of the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement issued by the NRC Staff. See
Memorandum and Order (Admitting Contention 4A) (Feb. 2, 2011)
(unpublished). Finally, when the NRC Staff issued the Final
Environmental Impact Statement, this same contention migrated and
continued to be admitted as a challenge to the FEIS. Tr. at 856.
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The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) fails to comply
with 10 CFR Part 51 and the National Environmental Policy Act because
it fails to specifically and adequately address, and inappropriately
characterizes as SMALL, certain direct, indirect, and cumulative
impacts, onsite and offsite, of constructing and operating the proposed
LNP facility:
A. Impacts to wetlands, floodplains, special aquatic sites, and
other waters, associated with dewatering, specifically:
1. Impacts resulting from active and passive dewatering;
2. Impacts resulting from the connection of the site to the
underlying Floridan aquifer system;
3. Impacts on Outstanding Florida Waters such as the Withlacoochee
and Waccasassa Rivers;
4. Impacts on water quality and the aquatic environment due to
alterations and increases in nutrient concentrations caused by the
removal of water; and
5. Impacts on water quality and the aquatic environment due to
increased nutrients resulting from destructive wildfires resulting from
dewatering.
B. Impacts to wetlands, floodplains, special aquatic sites, and
other waters, associated with salt drift and salt deposition resulting
from cooling towers (that use salt water) being situated in an inland,
freshwater wetland area of the LNP site.
C. As a result of the omissions and inadequacies described above,
the Draft Environmental Impact Statement also failed to adequately
identify, and inappropriately characterizes as SMALL, the proposed
project's zone of:
1. Environmental impacts;
2. Impact on Federally listed species;
3. Irreversible and irretrievable environmental impacts; and
4. Appropriate mitigation measures.
B. Date, Time, and Location of Evidentiary Hearing
The Board will convene the evidentiary hearing on Wednesday,
October 31, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. e.d.t., in the Levy County Courthouse.
The courthouse is located at 355 South Court Street, Bronson, Florida.
If the evidentiary hearing lasts longer than one day, we will adjourn
at approximately 5:00 p.m. on October 31 and will reconvene and
continue at 9:00 a.m. e.d.t. on Thursday, November 1, 2012. We
anticipate that the evidentiary hearing will not take more than two
days.
Members of the public and media are welcome to attend and observe
the evidentiary hearing. Actual participation in the hearing will be
limited to the parties and their lawyers and witnesses.\5\ Please be
aware that security measures may be employed at the entrance to the
facility, including searches of hand-carried items such as briefcases
or backpacks. No signs will be permitted in the courtroom.
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\5\ The parties consist of the Nuclear Information and Resource
Service, the Ecology Party of Florida, Progress Energy Florida,
Inc., and the Staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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C. Limited Appearance Statements
The purpose of limited appearance statements is to allow members of
the public who are not parties to the adjudication to provide the Board
with statements setting forth their positions or concerns on matters
relating to the admitted contentions. This Board already conducted two
oral limited appearance statement sessions regarding Contention 4A in
Crystal River, Florida, on Thursday, January 12, 2012. See Tr. at 698-
827, 876-927. Thus, we will not hear further oral limited appearance
[[Page 51833]]
statements. However, the Board will continue to accept written limited
appearance statements until October 24, 2012. Such written statements
should be submitted in one of the following methods:
Mail: Office of the Secretary, Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Fax: (301) 415-1101 (verification (301) 415-1966).
Email: [email protected],
In addition, using the same method of service, a copy of the
written limited appearance statement should be sent to the Chairman of
this Licensing Board as follows:
Mail: Alex S. Karlin, Chairman, c/o: Matthew E. Flyntz, Law Clerk,
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, Mail Stop T-3 E2C, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Fax: (301) 415-5599 (verification (301) 415-7405).
Email: [email protected].
D. Availability of Documentary Information Regarding the Proceeding
Documents relating to this Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
adjudicatory proceeding such as the parties' statements of position,
pre-filed testimony, pre-filed evidentiary exhibits, transcripts of
prior conferences and oral arguments, and copies or prior orders and
rulings issued by this Board in this case, are available for public
inspection at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's ``Electronic Hearing
Docket'' (EHD). The EHD is located at http://adams.nrc.gov/ehd/.
Interested persons should access that Web page and click on the tab
identified as ``Levy--County--52-029 & 52-030-COL.'' The documents in
that portion of the EHD will be the primary focus of the evidentiary
hearing. The public should be aware that new documents are regularly
added to the EHD as the parties file pleadings and the Board issues
orders or notices. Therefore this Web site should be monitored
regularly by interested members of the public.
In addition, the broader category of all of NRC's public documents
related to PEF's application and the responses, questions, and other
documents generated by the NRC Staff (such as PEF's Combined License
Application and the NRC's Environmental Impact Statements) may be
accessed via the publicly available records component of NRC's document
system (ADAMS). ADAMS can be accessed via the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/ and then clicking on the link specified as: ``ADAMS Public
Documents.'' Once on that page, click on the link identified as ``Begin
Web-Based ADAMS Search.''
Persons who have difficulty in conducting useful searches in ADAMS
or who otherwise encounter problems in accessing the documents located
in ADAMS may contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff
by telephone at (800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail at
[email protected].
In addition, hard copies of Board orders, notices and/or memoranda
are also available at the NRC PDR, located at One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
Finally, the public is advised that the Secretary of the Commission
will give notice of filings and other events in this proceeding to any
member of the public who requests it.\6\ See 10 CFR 2.315(b).
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\6\ Any such request may be directed to the Secretary of the
Commission by electronic mail at [email protected] or by
telephone at (301) 415-1677.
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Dated: Rockville, Maryland, August 21, 2012.
For the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.
Alex S. Karlin,
Chairman, Administrative Judge.
[FR Doc. 2012-21005 Filed 8-24-12; 8:45 am]
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