[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]
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