[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77643-77645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27447]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, and 50-287; NRC-2021-0146]


Notice of Intent To Conduct a Supplemental Scoping Process and 
Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Duke Energy Carolinas, 
LLC; Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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

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SUMMARY: In response to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) 
Memorandum and Order, CLI-22-03 (February 24, 2022), the NRC received 
Subsequent License Renewal--Appendix E Environmental Report Supplement 
2 (ER Supplement), dated November 7, 2022, related to the subsequent 
renewal of Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and 
DPR-55, which authorizes Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (Duke Energy, the 
applicant) to operate Oconee Nuclear Station (Oconee), Units 1, 2, and 
3. The ER Supplement addresses certain environmental impacts of 
operating Oconee for an additional period of 20 years beyond the 
current license expiration dates. The NRC will conduct a limited 
scoping process to gather additional information necessary to prepare 
an environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental 
impacts for the subsequent license renewal (SLR) of the operating 
licenses for Oconee. The NRC is seeking public comment on the proper 
scope of the EIS to be prepared for this action.

DATES: Submit comments on the scope of the EIS by January 18, 2023. 
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.
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2021-0146. Address 
questions about Docket IDs 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 and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lance Rakovan, Office of Nuclear 
Materials Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2589, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0146 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-2021-0146.
     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 ER Supplement is available 
for public review at the Oconee County Public Library, 300 E South 2nd 
St., Seneca, SC 29678.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2021-0146 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. Discussion

    By letter dated June 7, 2021, Duke Energy submitted to the NRC an 
application for subsequent license renewal of Renewed Facility 
Operating License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and DPR-55 for Oconee, Units 1, 
2, and 3, respectively, for an additional 20 years of operation. That 
submission initiated the NRC's proposed action of determining whether 
to grant the SLR application. The Oconee units are pressurized water 
reactors designed by Babcock & Wilcox and are located in Seneca, South 
Carolina, approximately 30 miles west of Greenville, SC. The current 
renewed facility operating license for Unit 1 expires at midnight on 
February 6, 2033, the current renewed facility operating license for 
Unit 2 expires at midnight on October 6, 2033, and the current renewed 
facility operating license for Unit 3 expires at midnight on July 19, 
2034. The SLR application was submitted pursuant to section 103 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and part 54 of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations

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(10 CFR), ``Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear 
Power Plants,'' and seeks to extend the renewed facility operating 
license for Unit 1 to midnight on February 6, 2053, the renewed 
facility operating license for Unit 2 to midnight on October 6, 2053, 
and the renewed facility operating license for Unit 3 to midnight on 
July 19, 2054. A notice of receipt and availability of the application 
was published in the Federal Register on June 25, 2021 (86 FR 33784). A 
notice of acceptance for docketing of the application and of 
opportunity to request a hearing was published in the Federal Register 
on July 28, 2021 (86 FR 40662). A public scoping meeting was held on 
August 21, 2021.
    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 [NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement 
for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants''] 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 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 the ER 
Supplement from Duke Energy, dated November 7, 2022, related to the 
subsequent renewal of the operating licenses for Oconee.
    Given recent circumstances that require including, within the scope 
of the EIS for subsequent license renewal for Oconee, an evaluation of 
the issues treated as Category 1 in the 2013 GEIS, 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 Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for SLR of 
Oconee Units 1, 2 and 3 (DSEIS) for public comment, in which it will 
review all applicable ``Category 1'' (generic) issues listed in the 
2013 GEIS for the purpose of making site-specific findings (e.g., 
SMALL, MODERATE, LARGE) on those issues. The NRC staff also intends to 
review all applicable ``Category 2'' (site-specific) issues listed in 
the 2013 GEIS, including any significant new information that may have 
arisen following the original August 10, 2021, to September 9, 2021, 
scoping period and will update the site-specific analysis, as 
appropriate, to address the new information. 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 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 DSEIS will be used to accomplish the 
following:
    a. Define the proposed action, which is to be the subject of the 
DSEIS;
    b. Determine the scope of 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 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 DSEIS to 
the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and
    h. Describe how 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, Duke Energy;
    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 Oconee subsequent 
license renewal DSEIS does not entitle participants to become parties 
to the proceeding to which 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.

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            Document description                 ADAMS accession No.
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Subsequent License Renewal--Appendix E       ML22311A036.
 Environmental Report Supplement 2, dated
 November 7, 2022.
Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3,   ML21158A193 (package).
 Application for Subsequent Renewed
 Operating License, dated June 7, 2021.
Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-22-02,   ML22055A496.
 dated February 24, 2022.
Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-22-03,   ML22055A554.
 dated February 24, 2022.

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NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact   ML13106A241, ML13106A242,
 Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear     and ML13106A244.
 Plants'' Rev. 1 (June 2013), Vols. 1-3.
NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact   ML003670518.
 Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear
 Plants,'' Supplement 2, Regarding Oconee
 Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2 & 3, dated
 December 1999.
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    Dated: December 14, 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. 2022-27447 Filed 12-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P