[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 81 (Thursday, April 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18354-18356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08714]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 52-047; NRC-2016-0119]


Early Site Permit Application: Tennessee Valley Authority; Clinch 
River Nuclear Site

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental impact statement; public meetings and 
request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers (USACE), Nashville

[[Page 18355]]

District, are issuing for public comment NUREG-2226, ``Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Early Site Permit (ESP) for the Clinch River 
Nuclear (CRN) Site: Draft Report for Comment.'' The site is located in 
Roane County, Tennessee, along the Clinch River, approximately 25 miles 
west-southwest of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. The purposes of this 
notice are to inform the public that the NRC staff has issued a draft 
environmental impact statement (DEIS) as part of the review of the 
application for the ESP and to provide the public with an opportunity 
to comment on the DEIS process as defined in the regulations.

DATES: Submit comments by July 10, 2018. 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. The DEIS public meetings will be held on June 5, 2018.

ADDRESSES: In addition to the public meetings for comment (described 
below), you may submit comment by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0119. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     NRC Project Email Address: Electronic comments may be sent 
by email to the NRC at [email protected].
     Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail 
Stop: TWFN-07-A60, 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: Patricia Vokoun, telephone: 301-415-
3470, email: [email protected]; or Tamsen Dozier, telephone: 301-
415-2272, email: [email protected]. Both are staff members of the 
Office of New Reactors, 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-2016-0119 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 website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0119.
     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 in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. In addition, for the convenience of 
the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided in a table in the 
section of this notice entitled Availability of Documents.
     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.
     Project website: Go to https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/esp/clinch-river.html.
     Local Libraries: You may examine copies of public 
documents at the Oak Ridge Public Library, 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak 
Ridge, Tennessee, and the Kingston Public Library, 1004 Bradford Way, 
Kingston, Tennessee.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2016-0119 in your comment submission. 
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 received through 
the Federal Rulemaking website (http://www.regulations.gov) in the 
Regulations.gov docket (NRC-2016-0119), and will also enter the comment 
submissions into ADAMS. Comments submitted through the NRC project 
email address will be processed into ADAMS, and all comments will be 
compiled and addressed in Appendix E of the final EIS. 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. Introduction

    Pursuant to part 52 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR), on May 12, 2016, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) submitted 
an application for an ESP for the Clinch River Nuclear Site, located on 
approximately 935 acres in Roane County, Tennessee, along the Clinch 
River, approximately 25 miles west-southwest of downtown Knoxville, 
Tennessee.

III. Further Information

    A notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 
(EIS) and to conduct scoping process was published in the Federal 
Register on April 13, 2017 (82 FR 17885). A notice of receipt and 
availability of the application, including the environmental report 
(ER), was published in the Federal Register on June 23, 2016 (81 FR 
40929). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the application for the 
ESP was published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2017 (82 FR 
3812). A notice of hearing and opportunity to petition for leave to 
intervene in the proceeding on the application was published in the 
Federal Register on April 4, 2017 (82 FR 16436).
    The purposes of this notice are to inform the public that the NRC 
staff has issued a DEIS as part of the review of the application for 
the ESP and to provide the public with an opportunity to provide 
comments. As set forth in 10 CFR 51.20(b)(1), issuance of an ESP under 
10 CFR part 52 is an action that requires an EIS. This notice is being 
published in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA) and the NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 51.
    In addition, as outlined in 36 CFR 800.8(c), ``Coordination with 
the National Environmental Policy Act,'' the NRC staff has been 
coordinating

[[Page 18356]]

compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(NHPA) with steps taken to meet the requirements of the NEPA. Pursuant 
to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC staff used the 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 on 36 CFR 
800.3 through 800.6.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.45 and 51.50, TVA submitted the 
environmental ER as part of the application; the ER is available in 
ADAMS under Accession No. ML16144A145.

III. Availability of Documents

    The DEIS is available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML18100A220 and 
ML18100A223. The following table indicates how the key reference 
documents related to the application and the NRC staff's review 
processes may be accessed.

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             Document title               ADAMS accession No. or website
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10 CFR part 51, ``Environmental          https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Protection Regulations for Domestic      doc-collections/cfr/part051/.
 Licensing and Related Regulatory
 Function''.
10 CFR part 52, ``Licenses,              https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Certifications, and Approvals for        doc-collections/cfr/part052/.
 Nuclear Power Plants''.
10 CFR part 100, ``Reactor Site          https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Criteria''.                              doc-collections/cfr/part100/.
NUREG-1555, ``Standard Review Plans for  https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Environmental Reviews for Nuclear        doc-collections/nuregs/staff/
 Power Plants''.                          sr1555/.
NUREG/BR-0298, ``Brochure on Nuclear     https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Power Plant Licensing Process''.         doc-collections/nuregs/
                                          brochures/br0298/.
Regulatory Guide 4.2, ``Preparation of   ML13067A354.
 Environmental Reports for Nuclear
 Power Stations (Supplement 1)''.
Regulatory Guide 4.7, ``General Site     ML12188A053.
 Suitability Criteria for Nuclear Power
 Stations''.
Fact Sheet on Nuclear Power Plant        https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 Licensing Process.                       doc-collections/fact-sheets/
                                          licensing-process-fs.html.
Regulatory Guide 1.206, ``Combined       https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
 License Applications for Nuclear Power   doc-collections/reg-guides/
 Plants''.                                power-reactors/rg/01-206/.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Policy     https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/
 Statement on the Treatment of            FR-2004-08-24/pdf/04-
 Environmental Justice Matters in NRC     19305.pdf.
 Regulatory and Licensing Actions.
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    The NRC may post materials related to this document, including 
public comments, on the Federal Rulemaking website at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2016-0119. The Federal 
Rulemaking website allows you to receive alerts when changes or 
additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) Navigate to the 
docket folder (NRC-2016-0119); (2) click the ``Sign up for Email 
Alerts'' link; and (3) enter your email address and select how 
frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or 
monthly).

IV. Public Meetings for Comment

    The NRC and the USACE staff will hold two identical public meetings 
to present a brief overview of the DEIS and to accept public comments 
on the document. The meetings will be held at Noah's Event Venue, 1200 
Ladd Landing Blvd., Kingston, Tennessee, on June 5, 2018. The first 
meeting will convene at 2:00 p.m. and will continue until approximately 
4:00 p.m. The second meeting will convene at 7:00 p.m., with a 
repetition of the overview portions of the first meeting, and will 
continue until approximately 9:00 p.m. The meetings will be transcribed 
and will include the following:
    (1) A brief presentation of the contents of the DEIS; and
    (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, 
organizations, and individuals to submit comments on the draft report.
    Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions for 1 
hour prior to the start of each public meeting. No formal comments will 
be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered, comments 
must be provided either at a transcribed public meeting or in writing, 
as discussed below.
    Persons may register to attend or present oral comments at the 
meeting on the DEIS by contacting Ms. Patricia Vokoun by telephone at 
1-800-368-5642, extension 3470, or by email to the NRC at 
[email protected] no later than May 30, 2018. Members of the 
public may also register to speak at the meeting prior to the start of 
the presentation. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time 
available, depending on the number of persons who register. Members of 
the public who have not registered may also have an opportunity to 
speak, if time permits. Public comments will be considered in the 
preparation of the final EIS. If special equipment or accommodations 
are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, the 
need should be brought to Ms. Vokoun's attention no later than May 29, 
2018, so that the NRC staff can determine whether the request can be 
accommodated.
    After receipt and consideration of comments on the DEIS, the NRC 
will prepare and issue the final EIS, which will also be available to 
the public.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of April 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Anna H. Bradford,
Deputy Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New 
Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2018-08714 Filed 4-25-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P