[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 205 (Thursday, October 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63444-63446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-25249]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-08; NRC-2011-0085]


Exelon Generation Corporation, LLC; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power 
Plant; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; 
re-issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is re-issuing an 
Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) for the proposed renewal of NRC License SNM-2505 for the 
continued operation of the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation 
(ISFSI) at the Exelon Generation Corporation, LLC (Exelon Generation), 
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant site in Calvert County, Maryland. 
The re-issued EA includes the NRC staff's consideration of the impacts 
of continued storage of spent nuclear fuel (as documented in NUREG-
2157, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Storage of 
Spent Fuel'') as an appendix to the EA. The re-issued EA also includes 
an update to the cumulative impacts assessment to address new 
information about reasonably foreseeable future actions in the vicinity 
of or associated with the ISFSI site.

DATES: The re-issued EA and FONSI are available as of October 23, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2011-0085 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2011-0085. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 each document referenced in this document 
(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: James Park, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6935; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    On September 17, 2010, Exelon Generation submitted an application 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML102650247) to the NRC to renew NRC License SNM-
2505 for the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI in Calvert County, Maryland, for a 
period of 40 years. Exelon Generation supplemented its application by 
submittals dated February 10, 2011, March 9, 2011, June 28, 2011, and 
December 15, 2011 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML110620120, ML110730731, 
ML11180A270, and ML11364A024). The NRC staff prepared an EA in 
accordance with Sec.  51.30(a) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), publishing a notice of issuance for the EA and a 
FONSI in the Federal Register on June 8, 2012 (77 FR 34093).
    The NRC's licensing proceedings for nuclear reactors and ISFSIs 
have historically relied upon a generic determination codified in the 
NRC's regulations (10 CFR Part 51) to satisfy the agency's obligations 
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), 
with respect to the narrow area of the environmental impacts of storage 
of spent nuclear fuel (spent fuel) beyond a reactor's licensed life for 
operation and prior to ultimate disposal (continued storage). The Court 
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in New York v. NRC, 
681 F. 3d 471 (D.C. Cir. 2012), vacated the NRC's 2010 update to that 
rule (75 FR 81031; December 23, 2010) and remanded it to the NRC. 
Thereafter, the Commission determined on August 7, 2012, that the NRC 
would not issue licenses dependent upon the formerly known Waste 
Confidence Decision and Temporary Storage Rule until the Court of 
Appeals' was appropriately addressed (Commission Order CLI-12-16, ADAMS 
Accession No. ML12220A199).
    On September 19, 2014 (79 FR 56238), the NRC published a final rule 
at 10 CFR 51.23, ``Environmental impacts of continued storage of spent 
nuclear fuel beyond the licensed life for operations of a reactor'' 
(RIN 3150-AJ20; NRC-2012-0246). That rule, effective October 20, 2014, 
codifies the NRC's generic determinations in NUREG-2157 (ADAMS 
Accession Nos. ML14196A105 and ML14196A107) regarding the environmental 
impacts of the continued storage of spent fuel. In CLI-14-08 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML14238A213), the Commission held that the revised 10 CFR 
51.23 and associated NUREG-2157 cure the deficiencies identified by the 
court in New York v. NRC, 681 F.3d 471 (D.C. Cir. 2012) and stated that 
the rule satisfies the NRC's NEPA obligations with respect to continued 
storage. The rule, however, does not authorize the storage of spent 
fuel.
    In EAs prepared for future relevant licensing actions related to a 
reactor's spent nuclear fuel, 10 CFR 51.23(b) now requires the NRC to 
consider the environmental impacts of continued storage, if the impacts 
of continued storage of spent fuel are relevant to the proposed action. 
An appendix to the re-issued EA (ADAMS Accession No. ML14282A278) 
prepared for the proposed renewal of the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI license 
provides the NRC staff's consideration of the impact determinations in 
NUREG-2157 regarding continued storage.
    The NRC staff has also updated its assessment of cumulative impacts 
to include new information about reasonably foreseeable future actions 
(RFFAs) in the vicinity of or associated with the ISFSI site. These 
RFFAs include Exelon Generation's proposed expansion of the ISFSI and 
updates to the Cove Point liquefied natural gas

[[Page 63445]]

(LNG) export project in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland.
    The NRC staff also updated the EA to reflect Exelon Generation's 
additional supplements to its license renewal application as submitted 
by letters dated July 27, 2012, April 24, 2013, and September 18, 2014 
(ADAMS Accession Nos. ML12212A216, ML13119A242, ML13119A243, 
ML13119A244, and ML14267A065).

II. Summary of the Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    Exelon Generation is requesting that NRC License SNM-2505 for the 
Calvert Cliffs site-specific ISFSI be renewed for 40 years. Under its 
current license, Exelon Generation is authorized to receive, acquire, 
and possess the spent fuel from the Calvert Cliffs, Units 1 and 2, 
nuclear generating units on the Calvert Cliffs site, and other 
radioactive materials associated with spent fuel storage at the ISFSI 
located in Calvert County, Maryland, in accordance with the 
requirements of 10 CFR Part 72.

Need for the Proposed Action

    Exelon Generation is requesting renewal of the ISFSI operating 
license to provide the option of continued temporary dry storage of 
spent nuclear fuel assemblies generated by operation of Calvert Cliffs, 
Units 1 and 2.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In its 2012 EA for the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI license renewal, the 
NRC staff determined that impacts from the proposed renewal for 40 
years would be SMALL and not significant for all environmental resource 
areas. This is due to the passive nature of the ISFSI in that it emits 
no gaseous or liquid effluents during operation. Also, the ISFSI is 
designed to minimize radiological doses to workers and members of the 
public. Finally, the ISFSI is located at a distance sufficient from 
both the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland State Route 2/4, in wooded, 
rolling topography, so as to minimize its impact on air quality, noise 
levels, federally-listed threatened and endangered species, and scenic/
visual resources.
    In addition, as discussed in the 2012 EA, archaeological 
investigations conducted in association with the proposed Calvert 
Cliffs Unit 3 project identified previously surveyed, inventoried, and 
recorded cultural resources within a 16-kilometer (10-mile) radius of 
the existing Calvert Cliffs site. As part of these archeological 
investigations, five architectural resources on the Calvert Cliffs site 
and one archaeological site were identified as eligible for listing on 
the National Register of Historic Places. These sites, however, are 
located outside the ISFSI facility footprint and areas of ISFSI 
operations. Therefore, the NRC staff concluded in the 2012 EA that the 
impacts to historic and cultural resources were not significant.
    The NRC staff also evaluated whether cumulative environmental 
impacts could result from the incremental impact of the proposed action 
when added to the past, present, or reasonably foreseeable future 
actions in the area. The NRC staff concluded that the proposed action 
would have a SMALL incremental contribution to cumulative impacts on 
environmental resources that would not be significant.

Updates From the 2012 Environmental Assessment

    The NRC staff has added an appendix to the re-issued EA that 
provides the NRC's consideration of the impact determinations in NUREG-
2157 regarding continued storage. The NRC staff's evaluation of the 
potential environmental impacts of continued storage of spent fuel 
presented in NUREG-2157 identifies an impact level, or a range of 
impacts, for each resource area for a range of site conditions and 
timeframes. The timeframes analyzed in NUREG-2157 include the short-
term timeframe (60 years beyond the licensed life of a reactor), the 
long-term timeframe (an additional 100 years after the short-term 
timeframe), and an indefinite timeframe. Taking into account the SMALL 
impacts from at-reactor continued storage in the short-term timeframe, 
which the NRC considers most likely, the greater uncertainty reflected 
in the ranges in the long-term and indefinite timeframes compared to 
the greater certainty in the SMALL findings as discussed in NUREG-2157, 
and the relative likelihood of the timeframes, the NRC staff finds that 
the impact determinations for at-reactor storage from NUREG-2157 do not 
change the NRC staff's evaluation of the potential environmental 
impacts from the proposed renewal of the Calvert Cliffs site-specific 
ISFSI license.
    Additionally, the NRC staff has updated the cumulative impacts 
analysis in the re-issued EA to reflect new information about (1) the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) authorization of the 
Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP proposal to construct and operate 
facilities to liquefy and export domestically produced natural gas from 
its existing liquefied natural gas import terminal located in Lusby, 
Maryland; and (2) Exelon Generation's license amendment request to 
change the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI Technical Specifications to allow the 
storage of approved Westinghouse and AREVA Combustion Engineering 14x14 
fuel designs in the Nutech Horizontal Modular Storage (NUHOMS)-32PHB 
dry shielded canister and expand the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI's capacity to 
continue to support operation of the Calvert Cliffs, Units 1 and 2, 
through the end of the currently licensed life of the plant.
    The FERC performed a cumulative impacts analysis from the 
construction and operation of the proposed Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP 
project as part of its NEPA environmental review. In its EA, FERC 
concluded that the proposed project, in association with other projects 
in the area, would not result in significant cumulative impacts.
    For the purposes of the cumulative impacts analysis in the re-
issued EA, the NRC staff expects that the construction activities 
associated with the proposed expansion of the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI 
would continue to occur on an as-needed basis. Therefore, although 
construction activities associated with the expansion of the ISFSI 
could overlap with the construction activities for the other projects 
discussed in the cumulative impact analysis, construction of the 
horizontal storage modules would be staggered and only conducted when 
more storage is needed. Therefore, potential environmental impacts from 
the construction of the additional horizontal storage modules would not 
all be experienced at the same time. In addition, operation of the 
ISFSI with an increased capacity is required to be conducted in a 
manner that meets occupational and public annual radiological dose 
regulatory limits in 10 CFR Parts 20 and 72. The NRC staff determined 
in the 2012 EA that the proposed ISFSI license renewal would not have a 
significant impact on environmental resources. Therefore, the NRC staff 
concluded that the proposed action would not have a significant 
incremental contribution to cumulative impacts.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    In the 2012 EA, the NRC staff evaluated two alternatives to the 
proposed action: (1) The no-action alternative, and (2) renewing the 
ISFSI license for 20 years. The NRC staff concluded that the potential 
impacts

[[Page 63446]]

from these two alternatives did not differ significantly from the 
impacts associated with the proposed action, and the NRC staff has 
determined that the information in this update does not change that 
conclusion.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In preparing the 2012 EA, the NRC staff consulted with other 
agencies regarding the proposed action. These consultations are 
intended to (1) ensure that the requirements of Section 7 of the 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act (NHPA) are met; (2) fulfill the NRC's requirements in 
meeting the provisions of Section 307 of the Coastal Zone Management 
Act of 1972, as amended; and (3) provide the designated state liaison 
agencies the opportunity to comment on the proposed action.
    Based on that consultation, none of the agencies identified 
concerns with the proposed action. Because the proposed action is 
unchanged from the 2012 EA and consultation, the NRC staff has not 
reinitiated consultation with these agencies and persons for this 
update.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    After considering the impacts from continued storage presented in 
NUREG-2157 and the updated information concerning reasonably 
foreseeable future actions, the NRC staff concludes that these do not 
change the NRC staff's finding of no significant impact for the 
proposed renewal for Exelon Generation's Calvert Cliffs ISFSI license, 
as published. Therefore, preparation of an Environmental Impact 
Statement is not warranted.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this __-- day of October 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marissa Bailey,
Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards and Environmental 
Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2014-25249 Filed 10-22-14; 8:45 am]
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