[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 115 (Friday, June 14, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35989-35990]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-14088]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-391; NRC-2008-0369]
Tennessee Valley Authority; Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Final environmental statement; issuance.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) has published the final version of Supplement 2 to
NUREG-0498, ``Final Environmental Statement, Related to the Operation
of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Unit 2'' (SFES).
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0369 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may access information related to this document, which the NRC
possesses and is publicly available, using any of the following
methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2008-0369. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may access publicly-available documents online in the NRC
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number
for Supplement 2 to NUREG-0498 is ML13144A202. The ADAMS accession
number for each document referenced in this notice (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine N. Keegan, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-8517; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA or the
applicant) submitted its Final Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement for the Completion and Operation of WBN Unit 2 (June 2007),
(FSEIS) by letter dated February 15, 2008 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML080510469), pursuant to Part 51 of Title 10 of the Code of the
Federal Regulations (10 CFR).
On June 30, 1976, TVA submitted an application for an operating
license for WBN Unit 2, pursuant to 10 CFR Part 50. An updated
operating license application was submitted on March 4, 2009. The
proposed action in response to the updated application is the issuance
of an operating license that would authorize TVA to possess, use, and
operate a second light-water nuclear reactor (the facility), WBN Unit
2, located on the applicant's site in Rhea County, Tennessee. The WBN
Unit 2 would operate at a steady-state power level of 3411 megawatts
thermal.
A notice of receipt and availability of the updated application,
which included the FSEIS, was published in the Federal Register on May
1, 2009 (74 FR 20350). A notice of intent to prepare a supplement to
the final environmental statement, which was prepared and published in
1978 and to conduct the scoping process was published in the Federal
Register on September 11, 2009 (74 FR 46799). On October 6, 2009, the
NRC held two scoping meetings in Sweetwater, Tennessee, to obtain
public input on the scope of the environmental review. The NRC also
solicited comments from Federal, State, Tribal, regional, and local
agencies.
The draft SFES was published in October 2011 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML112980199). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Notice of Filing
in the Federal Register (76 FR 70130) indicated a 75-day comment
period, commencing on November 10, 2011, to allow members of the public
to comment on the results of the NRC staff's review. This was amended
in the Federal Register on November 18, 2011, to a 45-day comment
period (76 FR 71560). On December 8, 2011, two public meetings were
held in Sweetwater, Tennessee. At the meetings, the NRC staff described
the results of the NRC environmental review, answered questions related
to the review, and provided members of the public with information to
assist them in formulating their comments. Based on comments received
at the public meetings, the comment period was extended by the NRC to
January 24, 2012 (76 FR 80409). When the comment period ended on
January 24, 2012, the NRC staff considered and addressed all the
comments received.
As discussed in the Section 9.6 of the supplement, the NRC staff's
recommendation to the Commission related to the environmental aspects
of the proposed action is that environmental impacts are not great
enough to deny the option of issuing the operating license for Watts
Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2. This recommendation is based on (1) the
application, including the February 15, 2008, final Environmental
Impact Statement submitted by TVA as the Environmental Report, and
responses to staff requests for additional information submitted by
TVA; (2) the NRC staff's review conducted for the 1978 Final
Environmental Statement to support the Operating License (FES-OL); (3)
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consultation with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies; (4) the
NRC staff's own independent review of information available since the
preparation and publication of the 1978 FES-OL; and (5) the assessments
summarized in this SFES, including consideration of public comments
received during scoping and on the draft SFES.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of June 2013.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert J. Pascarelli,
Chief, Plant Licensing Branch II-1, Division of Operating Reactor
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2013-14088 Filed 6-13-13; 8:45 am]
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