[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44004-44006]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-19984]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-458; NRC-2017-0141]


River Bend Station, Unit 1

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Intent to conduct scoping process and prepare environmental 
impact statement; public meeting and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a scoping 
process to gather the information necessary to prepare an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental impacts for 
renewal of the operating license for River Bend Station, Unit 1 (River 
Bend). The NRC is seeking stakeholder input on this action and has 
scheduled a public meeting.

DATES: Submit comments by October 23, 2017. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance 
of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. 
Meeting date: September 19, 2017, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., St. 
Francisville, LA.

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-2017-0141. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop TWFN-8-D36M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
    For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine Keegan, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-8517, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0141 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain 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-2017-0141.
     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 (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned. The 
application for renewal of the River Bend license is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML17153A285. The supplemental information which the 
NRC staff requested in order to complete the acceptance review is 
available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML17213A064.
     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-2017-0141 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

[[Page 44005]]

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

    By letter dated May 25, 2017, Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy) 
submitted to the NRC an application for renewal of Facility Operating 
License NPF-47 for an additional 20 years of operation at River Bend, 
further supplemented by letter dated August 1, 2017. River Bend is 
located in St. Francisville, LA. The current operating license for 
River Bend expires on August 29, 2025. The application for renewal was 
submitted pursuant to part 54 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR) and included an environmental report (ER), which 
was also supplemented. A separate notice of receipt and availability of 
the application was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2017 
(82 FR 29344). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the supplemented 
application and opportunity for hearing regarding renewal of the 
facility operating license was published in the Federal Register on 
August 14, 2017 (82 FR 37908). A revised notice of acceptance for 
docketing was published in the Federal Register on September 6, 2017 
(82 FR 42126) to correct the name of the local library where members of 
the public can review the LRA and ER.

III. Request for Comments

    This notice informs the public of the NRC's intention to prepare an 
EIS related the license renewal application and to provide the public 
an opportunity to participate in the environmental scoping process, as 
defined in 10 CFR 51.29.
    The regulations in 36 CFR 800.8, ``Coordination with the National 
Environmental Policy Act,'' allows agencies to use their National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) process to fulfill the 
requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(NHPA). Therefore, pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC intends to use 
its process and documentation for the preparation of the EIS on the 
proposed action to comply with Section 106 of the NHPA in lieu of the 
procedures set forth at 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.6.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.53(c) and 10 CFR 54.23, Entergy 
submitted the ER as part of the application. To complete the acceptance 
review of the license renewal application, the applicant provided 
additional supplemental information needed to support the staff's 
technical review of the proposed action (license renewal). The ER and 
supplemental information were prepared pursuant to 10 CFR part 51 and 
are publicly available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML17156A093 and 
ML17213A064, respectively. The ER may also be viewed on the Internet at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications.html. In addition, a paper copy of the license renewal 
application, including the ER, is available to the public near the site 
at the West Feliciana Parish Library, 5114 Burnett Road, St. 
Francisville, Louisiana 70775.
    The NRC intends to gather the information necessary to prepare a 
plant-specific supplement to the NRC's ``Generic Environmental Impact 
Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants,'' (NUREG-1437) 
related to the application for renewal of the River Bend operating 
license for an additional 20 years.
    Possible alternatives to the proposed action include no action and 
reasonable alternative energy sources. The NRC is required by 10 CFR 
51.95 to prepare a supplement to the GEIS in connection with the 
renewal of an operating license. This notice is being published in 
accordance with NEPA and the NRC's regulations found at 10 CFR part 51.
    The NRC will first conduct a scoping process for the supplement to 
the GEIS and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft 
supplement to the GEIS for public comment. Participation in the scoping 
process by members of the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal 
government agencies is encouraged. The scoping process for the 
supplement to the GEIS will be used to accomplish the following:
    a. Define the proposed action, which is to be the subject of the 
supplement to the GEIS;
    b. Determine the scope of the supplement to the GEIS and identify 
the significant issues to be analyzed in depth;
    c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are 
peripheral, are not significant, or were covered by a prior 
environmental review;
    d. Identify any environmental assessments and other ElSs that are 
being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the 
scope of the supplement to the GEIS being considered;
    e. Identify other environmental review and consultation 
requirements related to the proposed action;
    f. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation 
of the environmental analyses and the Commission's tentative planning 
and decision-making schedule;
    g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate 
assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the supplement 
to the GEIS to the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and
    h. Describe how the supplement to the GEIS will be prepared, 
including any contractor assistance to be used.
    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in scoping:
    a. The applicant, Entergy;
    b. Any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special 
expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved or that is 
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
    c. Affected State and local government agencies, including those 
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
    d. Any affected Indian tribe;
    e. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to 
participate in the scoping process; and
    f. Any person who has petitioned or intends to petition for leave 
to intervene.

IV. Public Scoping Meeting

    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.26, the scoping process for an EIS may 
include a public scoping meeting to help identify significant issues 
related to a proposed activity and to determine the scope of issues to 
be addressed in an EIS. The NRC has decided to hold a public meeting 
for the River Bend license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping 
meeting will be held on September 19, 2017. The meeting will be held 
from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Town Hall Meeting Room of the St. 
Francisville Town Hall, 11936 Ferdinand Street, St. Francisville, 
Louisiana 70775. There will be a registration period from 6:30 p.m. to 
7:00 p.m. for members of the public to sign in to speak.
    The meeting will be transcribed and will include: (1) An overview 
by the NRC staff of the NEPA environmental review process, the proposed 
scope of the supplement to the GEIS, and the

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proposed review schedule; and (2) the opportunity for interested 
government agencies, organizations, and individuals to submit comments 
or suggestions on the environmental issues or the proposed scope of the 
supplement to the GEIS. To be considered, comments must be provided 
either at the transcribed public meeting or in writing, as discussed in 
the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
    Members of the public may register to speak during the registration 
period prior to the start of the meeting. Individual oral comments may 
be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons 
who register. Public comments will be considered in the scoping process 
for the supplement to the GEIS.
    Participation in the scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS 
does not entitle participants to become parties to the proceeding to 
which the supplement to the GEIS relates. Matters related to 
participation in any hearing are outside the scope of matters to be 
discussed at this public meeting.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of September 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Benjamin G. Beasley,
Chief, Environmental Review and Project Management Branch, Division of 
License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-19984 Filed 9-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P