[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 26 (Monday, February 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7036-7037]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02571]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2014-0256]


Aquatic Environmental Studies for Nuclear Power Stations

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft regulatory guide; request for comment and extension of 
comment period.

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SUMMARY: On December 11, 2014, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC) solicited comments on draft regulatory guide (DG), DG-4023, 
``Aquatic Environmental Studies for Nuclear Power Stations.'' The 
public

[[Page 7037]]

comment period was originally scheduled to close on February 9, 2015. 
The NRC has decided to extend the public comment period to allow more 
time for members of the public to develop and submit their comments.

DATES: The due date of comments requested in the document published on 
December 11, 2014 (79 FR 73646) is extended. Comments should be filed 
no later than March 11, 2015. Comments received after this date will be 
considered, if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to 
ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comment 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-2014-0256. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: OWFN-12 H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Whited, Office of New Reactors, 
telephone: 301-415-1154, email: [email protected] and Edward 
O'Donnell, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, telephone: 301-251-
7455, email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0256 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available information related to this action by the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0256.
     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 
DG is electronically available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML13186A085.
     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-2014-0256 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 posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the 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. Discussion

    On December 11, 2014, the NRC solicited comments on draft 
regulatory guide, DG-4023, ``Aquatic Environmental Studies for Nuclear 
Power Stations.'' It is a proposed new regulatory guide, and it is 
temporarily identified by its task number, DG-4023. The draft guide 
provides technical guidance for aquatic environmental studies and 
analyses supporting decisions related to nuclear power stations by the 
NRC. For purposes of DG-4023, the term ``aquatic'' encompasses 
freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments. The draft guide 
addresses wetlands containing submerged aquatic vegetation but does not 
address wetlands also containing emergent vegetation. Instead, NRC's 
Regulatory Guide 4.11, ``Terrestrial Environmental Studies for Nuclear 
Power Stations,'' addresses such wetland features, along with the 
terrestrial environment. Although the NRC is issuing separate 
regulatory guides addressing terrestrial and aquatic environmental 
studies, it recognizes that aquatic and terrestrial ecological issues 
often overlap and are often interrelated.
    The public comment period was originally scheduled to close on 
February 9, 2015. The NRC has decided to extend the public comment 
period on this document until March 11, 2015, to allow more time for 
members of the public to submit their comments.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of February, 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas H. Boyce,
Chief, Regulatory Guidance and Generic Issues Branch, Division of 
Engineering, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. 2015-02571 Filed 2-6-15; 8:45 am]
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