[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69460-69462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-27730]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2013-0251]


Proposed License Renewal of the Prairie Island Independent Spent 
Fuel Storage Installation

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no 
significant impact; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: On October 20, 2011, Northern States Power Company, a 
Minnesota Corporation, (NSPM) (doing business as Xcel Energy), 
submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC) requesting renewal of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) license 
number SNM-2506 for the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant (PINGP) 
site-specific Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) 
located in Red Wing, Goodhue County, Minnesota, for an additional 40 
years. The NRC staff is conducting an environmental review of the 
proposed license renewal and has prepared a draft environmental 
assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact (FONSI) in 
accordance with NRC regulations. The NRC is requesting public comments 
on the draft EA and the draft FONSI.

DATES: Submit comments by December 19, 2013. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to assure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0251. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, 
Announcements, and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: 3WFN-06-44M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean Trefethen, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC, 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-
7000; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0251 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
access publicly-available information related to this document by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0251.
     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 draft EA is available in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML13205A120. The draft FONSI is included in 
the Draft EA.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0251 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your 
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the

[[Page 69461]]

comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment 
submissions to remove identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No 
Significant Impact

    The NRC staff has prepared a draft EA and draft FONSI (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML13205A120) under the NRC's regulations in part 51 of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental 
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory 
Functions,'' which implement the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq), for NSPM's application 
to renew license SNM-2506 for the Prairie Island (PI) site-specific 
ISFSI for up to an additional 40 years. In 1993, the NRC issued a 20-
year license to NSPM to receive, possess, store, and transfer spent 
nuclear fuel generated at the PINGP, Units 1 and 2, in the PI ISFSI. 
License SNM-2506 currently allows NSPM to store up to 48 transnuclear-
40 casks (TN-40) and TN-40 high thermal (TN-40HT) casks at the ISFSI. 
The PI ISFSI is located within the facility boundary of the PINGP, 
which is located within the city limits of Red Wing in Goodhue County, 
Minnesota, approximately 45 kilometers (km) [28 miles (mi)] southeast 
of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
    The proposed action is whether to renew the license for up to an 
additional 40 years. If approved, NSPM would continue to possess and 
store the PINGP, Units 1 and 2, spent fuel at the PI ISFSI under the 
requirements in 10 CFR part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for the 
Independent Storage of Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and 
Reactor-Related Greater than Class C Waste.'' The NRC's regulations at 
10 CFR 72.42 authorize the renewal of ISFSI-specific licenses for a 
period not to exceed 40 years. The NRC issued this provision, allowing 
for renewals of up to 40 years, in a final rule published in the 
Federal Register on February 16, 2011 (76 FR 8890).
    The NRC staff's environmental review of the proposed license 
renewal is documented in the draft EA and draft FONSI, which was 
prepared in accordance with the NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 51 and 
NRC staff guidance in NUREG-1748, ``Environmental Review Guidance for 
Licensing Actions Associated with NMSS programs'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML032450279). An EA (1) briefly provides sufficient evidence and 
analysis for determining whether to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) or a FONSI, (2) facilitates creation of an EIS when one 
is necessary, and (3) aids the NRC's compliance with NEPA when an EIS 
is not necessary. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.33, the NRC staff is making the 
draft EA and the draft FONSI available for public review and comment.
    In October 2012, the NRC and the Prairie Island Indian Community 
(PIIC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML12284A456). The MOU acknowledges the PIIC's special 
expertise in the areas of historic and cultural resources, 
socioeconomics, land use, and environmental justice as they relate to 
license renewal for the PI ISFSI, and establishes a cooperating agency 
relationship between the NRC and the PIIC. The MOU also defines the 
roles and responsibilities of both entities and the process they will 
use to prepare an EA that incorporates and reflects the PIIC's views in 
the areas of special expertise.
    In the draft EA, the NRC staff describes the affected environment 
and evaluates the potential environmental impacts from the proposed 40-
year renewal of license SNM-2506 on land use; transportation; 
socioeconomics; climatology, meteorology and air quality; geology and 
soils; water resources; ecology and threatened and endangered species; 
visual and scenic resources; noise; historic and cultural resources; 
public and occupational health and safety; waste management; and 
environmental justice. The draft EA also discusses the alternatives to 
the proposed action. The staff also evaluated the potential 
environmental impacts from decommissioning of the PI ISFSI, taking into 
consideration an additional 40 years of operation. Additionally, NRC 
staff analyzed the cumulative impacts from past, present, and 
reasonably foreseeable future actions when combined with the potential 
environmental impacts of the proposed action.
    The NRC staff evaluated potential environmental impacts and 
categorized the impacts as follows:
     SMALL--environmental effects are not detectable or are so 
minor that they will neither destabilize nor noticeably alter any 
important attribute of the resource.
     MODERATE--environmental effects are sufficient to alter 
noticeably, but not to destabilize important attributes of the 
resource.
     LARGE--environmental effects are clearly noticeable and 
are sufficient to destabilize important attributes of the resource.
    The NRC staff preliminarily finds that the impacts from the 
proposed action would be SMALL and, thus, not significant for all 
environmental resource areas. In addition, the NRC staff preliminarily 
concludes that there would be no disproportionately high and adverse 
impacts to minority and low-income populations, historical and cultural 
resources, and that Federally-listed threatened and endangered species 
are not likely to be adversely affected by the continued operation of 
the PI ISFSI during the proposed license renewal period.
    The NRC staff is also performing a detailed safety analysis of the 
NSPM's license renewal application to assess compliance with 10 CFR 
part 20, ``Standards for Protection Against Radiation,'' and 10 CFR 
part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of Spent 
Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater 
Than Class C Waste.'' The NRC staff's analysis will be documented in a 
separate safety evaluation report (SER). The NRC staff's decision 
whether to renew the NSPM's PI ISFSI license as proposed will be based 
on the results of the NRC staff's review as documented in the final EA, 
the final FONSI, and in the SER.
    On June 8, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia Circuit [New York v. NRC, 681 F.3d 471 (D.C. Cir. 
2012)], in response to a legal challenge to the NRC's Waste Confidence 
(WC) Decision and Rule Update, vacated the NRC's WC Decision and Rule 
Update (75 FR 81032 and 75 FR 81037). The Court held that the WC 
Decision and Rule Update is a major Federal action necessitating either 
an EIS or a FONSI, and the Commission's evaluation of the risks 
associated with the storage of spent nuclear fuel for at least 60 years 
beyond the licensed life of a reactor is deficient. In response to the 
Court's ruling, the Commission, in CLI-12-16 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML12220A100), determined that it would not issue licenses dependent 
upon the WC Decision and Rule until the issues identified in the 
Court's decision are

[[Page 69462]]

appropriately addressed. In CLI-12-16, the Commission also noted that 
this determination extends only to final license issuance; all current 
licensing reviews and proceedings should continue to move forward. The 
Commission directed the NRC staff to proceed with a rulemaking that 
includes the development of an EIS to support an updated WC Decision 
and Rule within 24 months (by September 2014).
    The updated rule and supporting Generic EIS (GEIS) will provide the 
necessary NEPA analyses of waste-confidence-related environmental 
issues. As directed by the Commission, the NRC will not issue a renewed 
license for the PI ISFSI before waste-confidence-related issues are 
resolved. This will ensure the NRC's consideration of any resource 
commitments or potential harm to the environment before WC impacts have 
been addressed. If the results of the WC GEIS identify information that 
requires a supplement to this draft EA and draft FONSI, the NRC staff 
will perform any appropriate additional NEPA review for those issues 
before the NRC makes a final licensing decision.
    Based on its review of the proposed action in the draft EA relative 
to the requirements set forth in 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has 
preliminarily determined that renewal of NRC license SNM-2506, which 
would authorize continued operation of the PI ISFSI in Goodhue County, 
Minnesota, for a period of up to 40 years, will not significantly 
affect the quality of the human environment. No significant changes in 
NSPM's authorized operations for the PI ISFSI were requested as part of 
the license renewal application. Approval of the proposed action would 
not result in any new construction or expansion of the existing ISFSI 
footprint beyond that previously approved. The ISFSI is a passive 
facility that produces no liquid or gaseous effluents. No significant 
radiological or nonradiological impacts are expected from continued 
normal operations. Occupational dose estimates from routine monitoring 
activities and transfer of spent fuel for disposal are expected to be 
at as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) levels and are expected to 
be within the limits of 10 CFR 20.1201. The estimated annual dose to 
the nearest potential member of the public from ISFSI activities is 
0.02 millisieverts/year (mSv/yr) [2.20 millirem/year (mrem/yr)], which 
is below the 0.25 mSv/yr [25 mrem/yr] limit specified in 10 CFR 
72.104(a) and the 1 mSv/yr (100 mrem/yr) limit in 10 CFR 20.1301(a)(1). 
Therefore, based on this preliminary assessment, the NRC staff has 
preliminarily determined that an EIS is not warranted and, pursuant to 
10 CFR 51.31, a FONSI is appropriate.
    The draft EA and the draft FONSI for the proposed PI ISFSI license 
renewal will also be available at the following public library: Red 
Wing Public Library, 225 East Avenue, Red Wing, MN 55066.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.33, the NRC staff is making this draft EA and 
this draft FONSI available for public review and comment. In doing so, 
the NRC staff determined that preparation of the draft EA and the draft 
FONSI furthers the purposes of NEPA. Based on the comments received, 
the NRC staff may determine that a final FONSI is appropriate or 
instead find that preparation of an EIS is warranted should significant 
impacts resulting from the proposed action be identified. The NRC 
staff's final determination will be noticed in the Federal Register.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of November 2013.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Aby Mohseni,
Deputy Director, Environmental Protection and Performance Assessment 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. 2013-27730 Filed 11-18-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P