[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 192 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46541-46543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-21498]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-331; NRC-2017-0200]


NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC.; Duane Arnold Energy Center, 
Unit No. 1

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is making a 
finding of no significant impact for a proposed issuance of an 
amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-49 held by 
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC. (NextEra, the licensee) for the 
operation of Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC), located in Linn County, 
Iowa. The proposed amendment would modify the DAEC Plume Exposure 
Pathway emergency planning zone (EPZ) boundary and revise the DAEC 
evacuation time estimate (ETE) study to account for the EPZ boundary 
changes.

DATES: The environmental assessment (EA) referenced in this document is 
available on October 5, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0200 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain 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-2017-0200. 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.
     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]. For 
the convenience of the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided 
in a table in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this 
document.
     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: Mahesh L. Chawla, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-8371; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of amendments pursuant to Sec.  
50.54 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
``Conditions of licenses,'' paragraph (q), to Renewed Facility 
Operating License No. DPR-49, held by NextEra Duane Arnold, LLC. 
(NextEra, the licensee) for the operation of Duane Arnold Energy Center 
(DAEC), located in Linn County, Iowa.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC has prepared an EA that 
analyzes the environmental effects of the proposed licensing action. 
Based on the results of the EA, and in accordance with 10 CFR 51.31(a), 
the NRC has prepared a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the 
proposed amendments.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would revise the DAEC Renewed Facility 
Operating License in order to set the DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway 
emergency planning zone (EPZ) boundary for an area beyond the 10-mile 
required EPZ pathway. The proposed action is in accordance with the 
licensee's application dated March 31, 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML17102B183 and ML17102B184) and with current NRC's regulations in 10 
CFR 50.47, and 10 CFR part 50, appendix E.
    Notable proposed changes are (a) modification of Subarea 24 of the 
DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway EPZ by designating U.S. Highway 30 as its 
southern boundary, which will slightly decrease the total size of the 
EPZ, and (b) revision of the DAEC evacuation

[[Page 46542]]

time estimate (ETE) study to account for the EPZ boundary changes.

Need for the Proposed Action

    Nuclear power plant owners, government agencies, and State and 
local officials work together to create a system for emergency 
preparedness and response that will serve the public in the unlikely 
event of an emergency. An effective emergency preparedness program 
helps decrease the consequences of an initiating event at a nuclear 
power reactor that proceeds to a severe accident. Emergency 
preparedness cannot affect the probability of the initiating event, but 
a high level of emergency preparedness increases the probability of 
accident mitigation if the initiating event proceeds beyond the need 
for initial operator actions.
    Each licensee is required to establish emergency plans to be 
implemented in the event of an accident. These emergency plans cover 
preparations for evacuation, sheltering, and other actions to protect 
residents near plants in the event of a serious incident.
    The NRC, as well as other Federal and state regulatory agencies 
review the subject plans to ensure that the condition of emergency 
preparedness provides reasonable assurance that adequate protective 
measures can and will be taken in the event of a radiological 
emergency.
    Separate from this EA, the NRC staff is evaluating NextEra's 
proposed changes to the EPZ boundary for DAEC. This review will be 
documented in the safety evaluation report for the proposed license 
amendment. The staff's review will determine whether there is 
reasonable assurance that adequate protective measures can and will be 
taken in the event of a radiological emergency in accordance with 10 
CFR 50.47 and the requirements in appendix E to 10 CFR part 50.
    The proposed action is needed to make DAEC's EPZ boundary more 
consistent with the existing roads and easier to implement more 
effectively. While changing the southern boundary to Highway 30 will 
decrease the size of the EPZ slightly, it will enhance local law 
enforcement's ability to evacuate the affected population as well as 
improve their ability to control access back into the evacuated areas. 
The licensee states in its application (Adams Accession No. 
ML171028184) that the changes to the EPZ were approved by both the 
State of Iowa and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of environmental effects of 
the proposed action. The proposed action consists of a modification to 
the DAEC EPZ boundary and revision to the DAEC ETE study to account for 
the EPZ boundary changes. Notable proposed changes are: (a) 
Modification of Subarea 24 of the DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway EPZ by 
designating U.S. Highway 30 as its southern boundary, which will 
slightly decrease the total size of the EPZ, and (b) revision of the 
DAEC ETE study to account for the EPZ boundary changes.
    The proposed changes would have no direct impacts on land use or 
water resources, including terrestrial and aquatic biota as the 
proposed action involves no new construction or modification of plant 
operational systems. There would be no changes to the quality or 
quantity of non-radiological effluents. No changes to the plant's 
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit are needed. 
Changes to the Southern boundary of the EPZ to Highway 30, a four-lane 
highway, could result in minor changes in vehicular traffic and 
associated air pollutant emissions, but no significant changes in 
ambient air quality would be expected. In addition, there would be no 
noticeable effect on socioeconomic conditions in the region, no 
environment justice impacts, and no impacts to historic and cultural 
resources. Therefore, there would be no significant non-radiological 
impacts associated with the proposed action.
    The NRC has concluded that the proposed action would not 
significantly affect plant safety and would not have a significant 
adverse effect on the probability of an accident occurring. There would 
be no change to radioactive effluents that affect radiation exposures 
to plant workers and members of the public. No changes would be made to 
plant buildings or the site property. Changing the southern boundary of 
the EPZ to Highway 30 will slightly decrease the size of the EPZ; 
therefore, some residents that are located within the original EPZ 
boundary would no longer be subject to actions under the DAEC emergency 
plan. In the event of an accident, those residents not located in the 
EPZ could potentially receive a slightly higher radiation dose than 
those remaining within the modified EPZ, as they would no longer get 
mandated instructions from local law enforcement or other first 
responders pertaining to sheltering, evacuation, or other actions DAEC 
deems necessary to take under its emergency plan. However, as stated 
above, the NRC would only approve a reduction in the overall size of 
the DAEC EPZ if there is reasonable assurance that adequate protective 
measures can and will be taken in the event of a radiological emergency 
in accordance with NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 50. As a result, 
the potential radiological dose increase to the residents located 
outside of the EPZ would not be significant, and in any event, 
residents located outside of the EPZ would be evaluated on an ad-hoc 
basis based on specific conditions. Therefore, the proposed action 
would not result in a significant change to the radiation exposures to 
the public or radiation exposure to plant workers.
    Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there would be no significant 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC considered denial 
of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of 
the license amendment request would result in no change in current 
environmental impacts. Therefore, the environmental impacts of the 
proposed action and the denial of the exemption request would be 
similar.

Alternative Use of Resources

    There are no unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of 
available resources under the proposed action.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On September 8, 2017, the NRC staff consulted with the Iowa State 
official regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The 
state official had no comments.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The licensee has requested a license amendment pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.54(q) to modify the DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway Emergency Planning 
Zone boundary. The NRC is considering issuing the requested amendments. 
The proposed action would not significantly affect plant safety, would 
not have a significant adverse effect on the probability of an accident 
occurring, and would not have any significant radiological and non-
radiological impacts. The reason the environment would not be 
significantly affected is because the proposed changes would only 
result in minor changes in associated vehicular traffic, along with 
resulting air pollutant emissions and would not result in a significant 
change

[[Page 46543]]

to radiation exposures to the public or plant workers. This FONSI 
incorporates by reference the EA in Section II of this notice. 
Therefore, the NRC concludes that the proposed action will not have a 
significant effect on the quality of the human environment. 
Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental 
impact statement for the proposed action.
    The related environmental document is the ``Generic Environmental 
Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants: Regarding Duane 
Arnold Energy Center, Final Report,'' NUREG-1437, Supplement 42. The 
NUREG-1437, Supplement 42, provides the latest environmental review of 
current operations and description of environmental conditions at DAEC.
    The finding and other related environmental documents may be 
examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room 
(PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852. Publicly-available records will be 
accessible electronically from ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room on 
the Internet at the NRC's Web site: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
    Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems 
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC's 
PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or 
send an email to [email protected].

IV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as 
indicated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               ADAMS
                                                          Accession No./
                                                             web link/
                        Document                              Federal
                                                             Register
                                                             citation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, License Amendment          ML17102B183
 Request (TSCR-165) for Revision to Emergency Planning
 Zone in the Duane Arnold Energy Center Emergency Plan,
 Dated March 31, 2017...................................
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, Evaluation of Proposed     ML17102B184
 Amendment for License Amendment Request (TSCR-165) for
 Revision to Emergency Planning Zone in the Duane Arnold
 Energy Center Emergency Plan, Dated March 31, 2017.....
NUREG-1437, Supplement 42, Generic Environmental Impact      ML102790308
 Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants:
 Regarding Duane Arnold Energy Center, Final Report,
 Dated October 2010.....................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mahesh L. Chawla,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch LPL3, Division of Operating 
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-21498 Filed 10-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P