[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 219 (Tuesday, November 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68522-68524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24746]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-338 and 50-339; NRC-2020-0201]


Notice of Intent To Conduct Scoping Process and Prepare 
Supplement To Draft Environmental Impact Statement Virginia Electric 
and Power Company North Anna Power, Units 1 and 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Subsequent license renewal application supplement; intent to 
conduct scoping process and prepare supplement to draft environmental 
impact statement; and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received 
Environmental Report, Supplement 1, from Virginia Electric and Power 
Company (Dominion, the applicant), dated September 28, 2022, related to 
Dominion's application for subsequent license renewal (SLR) of Renewed 
Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-4 and NPF-7 for North Anna Power 
Station Units 1 and 2 (North Anna).
    The NRC staff will prepare a supplement to its draft supplemental 
environmental impact statement (DSEIS) for North Anna subsequent 
license renewal, i.e., NUREG-1437, Supplement 7, Second Renewal, 
``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear 
Plants, Supplement 7, Second Renewal, Regarding Subsequent License 
Renewal for North Anna Power Station Units 1 and 2, Draft Report'' 
(August 2021). The subsequent renewed operating licenses would 
authorize the applicant to operate North Anna for an additional 20 
years beyond the period specified in each of the current renewed 
licenses. The current renewed operating licenses for North Anna Units 1 
and 2 expire on April 1, 2038, and August 21, 2040, respectively. The 
NRC will conduct a limited scoping process to gather information 
necessary to prepare a supplement to its DSEIS to evaluate the 
environmental impacts of SLR of the operating licenses for North Anna. 
The NRC is seeking public comment on the proper scope of the site-
specific environmental impact statement (EIS) supplement to be prepared 
for this action.

DATES: Submit comments by December 15, 2022. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods; 
however, the NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov).
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0201. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical 
questions, contact the individual listed in the For Further Information 
Contact section of this document.
     Email: Comments may be submitted to the NRC electronically 
using the email address [email protected].
     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, see ``Obtaining 
Information'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tam Tran, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3617; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0201 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly available information related to this action using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0201.
     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]. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make 
an appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to 
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.
     Public Library: A copy of the subsequent license renewal 
Environmental Report, Supplement 1, for North Anna, is available for 
public review at the Louisa County Library, 881 Davis Highway, Mineral, 
VA 23117.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal Rulemaking Website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2020-0201 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

[[Page 68523]]

before making the comment submissions available to the public or 
entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    By letter dated August 24, 2020, the NRC received an application 
from Dominion, filed pursuant to Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954, as amended (the Act), and Part 54 of title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Requirements for Renewal of Operating 
Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to renew the operating licenses 
for North Anna. The North Anna units are pressurized water reactors 
designed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and are located in Louisa 
County, Virginia. Each unit consists of a Westinghouse pressurized-
water reactor nuclear steam supply system. A notice of receipt of the 
SLR application was published in the Federal Register on September 21, 
2020 (85 FR 59334). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the 
application and opportunity for hearing regarding the SLR of the 
facility operating licenses was published in the Federal Register on 
October 15, 2020 (85 FR 65438). A public scoping meeting was held on 
November 4, 2020. In August 2021, the NRC staff issued its draft 
supplemental EIS for North Anna subsequent license renewal, in which it 
relied, in part, on the 2013 Generic Environmental Impact Statement 
(GEIS) and 10 CFR part 51, subpart A, Appendix B, Table B-1, to 
evaluate the environmental impacts of generic ``Category 1'' issues.
    On February 24, 2022, the Commission issued several decisions, 
including CLI-22-02 and CLI-22-03, in which the Commission held that 
``the 2013 GEIS did not consider the impacts from operations during the 
subsequent license renewal period and applicants for subsequent license 
renewal must evaluate Category 1 impacts in their environmental 
reports. Accordingly, these impacts must be addressed on a site-
specific basis in the Staff's site-specific environmental impact 
statements.'' In addition, the Commission held that 10 CFR 51.53(c)(3) 
only applies to an initial license renewal applicant's preparation of 
an environmental report. As a result, the Commission determined, among 
other things, that the NRC staff's environmental reviews of pending 
subsequent license renewal applications are incomplete, and it directed 
the staff to prepare an update to the 2013 GEIS. In CLI-22-03, the 
Commission further stated that if an applicant does not wish to wait 
for the completion of the generic analysis and associated rulemaking, 
``the applicant may submit a revised environmental report providing 
information on environmental impacts during the subsequent license 
renewal period.'' Following the issuance of CLI-22-03, the NRC received 
an Environmental Report, Supplement 1, from Dominion, dated September 
28, 2022, related to the subsequent renewal of the operating licenses 
for North Anna.
    Given recent circumstances requiring the preparation of a 
supplement to the previous DSEIS for subsequent license renewal for 
North Anna Units 1 and 2, the NRC staff will conduct an additional 
limited scoping process associated with this action. Consistent with 
Commission direction, the NRC staff intends to prepare a draft 
supplement to the North Anna DSEIS for public comment, in which it will 
review all applicable ``Category 1'' (generic) issues listed in the 
2021 DSEIS at Table 3-1, for the purpose of making site-specific 
findings (e.g., SMALL, MODERATE, LARGE) on those issues. The NRC staff 
also intends to review ``Category 2'' (site-specific) issues listed in 
the 2021 DSEIS at Table 3-2 for any significant new information that 
may have arisen following the issuance of the DSEIS (i.e., August 2021) 
and will update the site-specific analyses, as appropriate. 
Environmental scoping comments should address matters that fit within 
these two categories; comments that do not fit into these two 
categories will not be considered.

III. Request for Comment

    This notice informs the public of the NRC's intention to prepare a 
DSEIS supplement related to the subsequent license renewal application 
and to provide the public an opportunity to participate in the 
environmental scoping process, as defined in 10 CFR part 51, 
``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and 
Related Regulatory Functions.''
    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 DSEIS will be used to 
accomplish the following:
    a. Define the proposed action, which is to be the subject of the 
supplement to the DSEIS, to the extent not addressed in the DSEIS;
    b. Determine the scope of the supplement to the DSEIS and identify 
the significant issues to be analyzed in depth;
    c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are 
peripheral or are not significant; or were covered by a prior 
environmental review;
    d. Identify any environmental assessments and other EISs that are 
being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the 
scope of the supplement to the DSEIS 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 decisionmaking schedule;
    g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate 
assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the supplement 
to the DSEIS to the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and
    h. Describe how the supplement to the DSEIS will be prepared, 
including any contractor assistance to be used.
    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in scoping:
    a. The applicant, Dominion;
    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.
    Participation in the scoping process for the North Anna subsequent 
license renewal supplement to the DSEIS does not entitle participants 
to become parties to the proceeding to which the supplement to the 
DSEIS relates. Matters related to participation in any hearing are 
outside the scope of matters to be discussed.

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.

[[Page 68524]]



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                    Document description                                     ADAMS accession No.
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Subsequent License Renewal Application--Appendix E           ML22272A041.
 Environmental Report, Supplement 1, dated September 28,
 2022.
NUREG-1437 ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for      ML21228A084.
 License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 7, Second
 Renewal, Regarding Subsequent License Renewal for North
 Anna Power Station Units 1 and 2, Draft Report,'' dated
 August 2021.
North Anna subsequent license renewal application, dated     ML20246G703 (Package).
 August 24, 2020.
Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-22-03, dated February    ML22055A554.
 24, 2022.
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    Dated: November 8, 2022.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John M. Moses,
Deputy Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial 
Support, Office of Nuclear Materials, Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2022-24746 Filed 11-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P