[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11127-11129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03856]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0051]
Environmental Considerations Associated With Micro-Reactors
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft interim staff guidance; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting
public comment on its draft Interim Staff Guidance (ISG),
``Environmental Considerations Associated with Micro-reactors.'' The
NRC staff is preparing for the environmental reviews of prospective
design, license, and permit applications for advanced nuclear power
reactors (advanced reactors), including micro-reactors. The purpose of
this ISG is to modify existing guidance and provide supplemental
guidance to assist the NRC staff in determining the scope and scale of
environmental reviews of micro-reactor applications.
DATES: Submit comments by May 11, 2020. 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 before this
date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0051. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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.
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop:
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
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: Jack Cushing, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-1424, email:
[email protected] and Mallecia Sutton, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation, telephone: 301-415-0673, 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-2020-0051 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0051.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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 documents entitled, ``Micro-
Reactor License Application COL-ISG-029, `Environmental Considerations
Associated with Micro-reactors,' '' and ``Regulatory Analysis for Draft
Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) 029,'' are available in ADAMS under
Accession No. ML20054B832.
[[Page 11128]]
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-2020-0051 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 at https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter 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 into ADAMS.
II. Background
The purpose of this ISG is to modify existing guidance and provide
supplemental guidance to assist the NRC staff in determining the scope
and scale of environmental reviews of micro-reactor applications. The
guidance highlights unique considerations for micro-reactors in each
resource area typically covered in the staff's environmental review.
The ISG also offers guidance on identifying considerations and
approaches to simplify and shorten the environmental reviews for micro-
reactors relative to the environmental reviews that the NRC has
previously performed for other nuclear facilities, such as large light-
water reactors (LWRs). The ISG outlines what the NRC staff considers to
be an appropriate scope and level of detail for the specific aspects of
an environmental review needed to document a micro-reactor licensing
action. A micro-reactor may have some, but not necessarily all, of the
following characteristics:
Occupies only a small area of land, disturbs only
previously disturbed lands, or both.
Uses zero or only small quantities of resources, such as
water or fuel.
Releases zero or only small quantities of emissions to the
environment.
Avoids environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands
and floodplains.
Avoids areas with cultural, historic, or environmental
justice significance.
Avoids habitat for threatened or endangered species.
Uses mitigation to reduce impacts.
Involves only low levels of employment for both
construction and operation.
Uses simpler designs than those for large LWRs, with
limited interfaces with the exterior environment.
While the ISG is designed to aid the NRC staff in developing a
micro-reactor environmental impact statement, the staff recognizes the
value of the guidance as a supplemental source of insight into the
NRC's environmental review process that can inform the development of
an applicant's environmental report. Applicants should scale their
level of effort appropriately when preparing Environmental Reports
(ERs), commensurate with the significance of the impact on the resource
area being addressed.
The scope of the ISG is limited to environmental review
considerations specific to micro-reactors, such as the following:
Pre-application interactions
purpose and need for the proposed project
size of the proposed project and resources used
land use
water resources
terrestrial and aquatic ecology
socioeconomics and environmental justice
historic and cultural resources
need for power and alternatives
meteorology and air quality
radiological and nonradiological health
postulated accidents
severe accident mitigation alternatives (SAMAs);
acts of terrorism
fuel cycle impacts, transportation of fuel and waste, and
continued storage of spent fuel
cumulative impact analysis
consistency with safety licensing documents
incorporation by reference
The NRC staff will continue to look for other opportunities to
effectively streamline environmental reviews and work with prospective
applicants to identify opportunities to streamline ERs and still meet
the NRC's regulations.
III. Backfitting, Issue Finality, and Forward Fitting Discussion
The guidance in this draft ISG-029 clarifies how the NRC will
approach environmental reviews for a micro-reactor application for
combined license, early site permit, construction permit, operating
license and limited work authorization. Issuance of this draft ISG, if
finalized, would not constitute backfitting as defined in section
50.109 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) (the
Backfit Rule) and as described in NRC Management Directive 8.4,
``Management of Backfitting, Forward Fitting, Issue Finality, and
Information Requests;'' would not affect the issue finality of an
approval under 10 CFR part 52; and would not constitute forward fitting
as that term is defined and described in Management Directive 8.4. The
staff's position is based upon the following considerations:
1. The draft ISG positions, if finalized, would not constitute
backfitting or forward fitting or affect issue finality, inasmuch as
the ISG would be internal guidance to NRC staff.
The ISG provides interim guidance to the staff on how to review an
application for NRC regulatory approval in the form of licensing.
Changes in internal staff guidance, without further NRC action, are not
matters that meet the definition of backfitting or forward fitting or
affect the issue finality of a part 52 approval.
2. Current or future applicants are not-with limited exceptions not
applicable here-within the scope of the backfitting and issue finality
regulations and forward fitting policy.
Applicants are not, with certain exceptions, covered by either the
Backfit Rule or any issue finality provisions under 10 CFR part 52.
This is because neither the Backfit Rule nor the issue finality
provisions under 10 CFR part 52--with certain exclusions discussed
below--were intended to apply to every NRC action which substantially
changes the expectations of current and future applicants.
The exceptions to the general principle are applicable whenever an
applicant references a 10 CFR part 52 license (e.g., an early site
permit) and/or NRC regulatory approval (e.g., a design certification
rule) with specified issue finality provisions or a construction permit
under 10 CFR part 50. The staff does not, at this time, intend to
impose the positions represented in the draft ISG section (if
finalized) in a manner that would constitute backfitting or affect the
issue finality of a part 52 approval. If, in the future, the staff
seeks to impose a position in the draft ISG (if finalized) in a manner
that constitutes backfitting or does not provide issue finality as
described in the applicable issue finality
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provision, then the staff would need to address the Backfit Rule or the
criteria for avoiding issue finality as described in the applicable
issue finality provision.
The Commission's forward fitting policy generally does not apply
when an applicant files an initial licensing action for a new facility.
Nevertheless, the staff does not, at this time, intend to impose the
positions represented in the draft ISG section (if finalized) in a
manner that would constitute forward fitting. If, in the future, the
staff seeks to impose a position in the draft ISG (if finalized) in a
manner that constitutes forward fitting, then the staff would need to
address the forward fitting criteria in Management Directive 8.4.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of February 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Joseph P. Doub,
Acting Chief, Environmental Review New Reactors Branch, Division of
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2020-03856 Filed 2-25-20; 8:45 am]
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