[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 246 (Friday, December 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79000-79002]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27987]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-18 and 50-185; NRC-2022-0210]


GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC; Vallecitos Boiling Water 
Reactor and the Empire State Atomic Development Agency Vallecitos 
Experimental Superheat Reactor; Limited Post-Shutdown Decommissioning 
Activities Report

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of receipt; availability; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: By letter dated September 21, 2022, as supplemented by letter 
dated November 22, 2022, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas, LLC (GEH, 
the licensee) submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
a ``limited'' post-shutdown decommissioning activities report (LPSDAR) 
for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR) and the Empire State 
Atomic Development Agency Vallecitos Experimental Superheat Reactor 
(EVESR). The LPSDAR provides an overview of GEH's planned activities, 
schedule, projected costs, and environmental impacts for the 
decommissioning of the VBWR and EVESR. Accordingly, the NRC is noticing 
receipt of the LPSDAR and making it available for public comment.

DATES: Submit comments by April 24, 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. See section III, ``Request for Comment,'' of this document 
for additional information.

[[Page 79001]]


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-2022-0210. 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.
     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 D. Parrott, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-6634; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0210 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-2022-0210.
     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 ADAMS accession number for each 
document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first 
time that it is mentioned in this document.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the 
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please 
include Docket ID NRC-2022-0210 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 entering 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 submissions into ADAMS.

II. Discussion

    The VBWR, NRC License No. DPR-1, and EVESR, NRC License No. DR-10, 
are licensed as nuclear power reactors under part 50 of title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of 
Production and Utilization Facilities.'' The reactors are located at 
the GEH Vallecitos Nuclear Center (VNC) in Alameda County, California. 
The VBWR is considered to have permanently ceased operations on 
September 9, 1965, upon issuance of a possession-only license by NRC. 
Likewise, EVESR was considered permanently shut-down upon issuance of 
its possession-only license on April 15, 1970. The spent nuclear fuel 
from each reactor has been permanently removed from the VNC site.
    The regulations in 10 CFR 50.82, ``Termination of license,'' govern 
the decommissioning of nuclear reactor facilities licensed by the NRC. 
Documents equivalent to decommissioning plans for the VBWR and EVESR 
were submitted to the NRC on March 21, 1991 (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML20021A155 and ML20021A144, respectively). Paragraph (a)(4)(i) of 10 
CFR 50.82, ``Termination of license,'' states that a Post-Shutdown 
Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) shall be submitted prior to 
or within 2 years following permanent cessation of operations. However, 
since the decommissioning plans for the VBWR and EVESR were submitted 
before the regulations in 10 CFR 50.82 were first promulgated in 1996, 
the licensee was exempted from submitting PSDARs. The first paragraph 
of 10 CFR 50.82 describes that decommissioning plans submitted before 
the effective date of the rule, August 28, 1996 (61 FR 39278), are 
considered to be the PSDAR submittals for those reactors.
    However, on September 21, 2022, as supplemented on November 22, 
2022 (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML22326A351), GEH submitted a LPSDAR, 
for the VBWR and EVESR. A PSDAR is a description of the planned 
decommissioning activities along with a schedule for their 
accomplishment, a discussion that provides the reasons for concluding 
that the environmental impacts associated with site-specific 
decommissioning activities will be bounded by appropriate previously 
issued environmental impact statements, and a site-specific 
decommissioning cost estimate. Although not required to submit PSDARs 
for the VBWR and EVESR because of the previously submitted 
decommissioning plans, GEH prepared a LPSDAR according to the 
requirements of 10 CFR 50.82(a)(4)(i) and the NRC's guidance for PSDARs 
in Regulatory Guide 1.185, Revision 1, ``Standard Format and Content 
for Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report,'' (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML13140A038) and submitted to the NRC on September 21, 2022. This 
was done to demonstrate how GEH would comply with the requirements of 
10 CFR 50.82(a)(6) and 10 CFR 50.82(a)(7) which do apply to the 
decommissioning of the VBWR and EVESR. The requirements of 10 CFR 
50.82(a)(6) and 10 CFR 50.82(a)(7) restrict the decommissioning 
activities that can be performed and require GEH to notify NRC of any 
changes to the decommissioning activities that are inconsistent with 
those described in the PSDAR.
    While the requirements of a PSDAR submittal do not apply to the 
LPSDAR submittal for the VBWR and EVESR, including the requirements for 
NRC to notice receipt of the PSDAR, make it available for public 
comment, and to hold a public meeting in the vicinity of

[[Page 79002]]

the site, NRC is noticing receipt of the LPSDAR and making it available 
for public comment to enhance transparency and provide for public 
participation in our regulatory activities in accordance with NRC's 
approach to open government. While NRC will not be holding a public 
meeting in conjunction with this LPSDAR submittal, there will be public 
meetings held when GEH submits a License Termination Plan (LTP) for the 
VBWR by September 8, 2023, and by April 15, 2028, for the EVESR in 
accordance with 10 CFR 50.82(a)(9)(i) which requires LTPs to be 
submitted at least 2 years before termination of the license, and 10 
CFR 50.82(a)(3) which requires that power reactor decommissioning be 
complete within 60 years of the permanent cessation of operations. An 
LTP must include a site characterization, identification of remaining 
dismantlement activities, plans for site remediation and the final 
radiation survey, an updated site-specific estimate of remaining 
decommissioning costs, a supplement to the environmental report 
describing any new information or significant environmental change 
associated with the proposed license termination activities, and 
identification of any parts of the site that were released for use 
before approval of the LTP.

III. Request for Comment

    The VBWR and EVESR LPSDAR is available in ADAMS under Package 
Accession No. ML22264A324. The NRC is requesting public comments on the 
LPSDAR for the VBWR and EVESR by April 24, 2023. The NRC will review 
the LPSDAR to the requirements of a PSDAR and send a letter to GEH with 
the results of our evaluation, and the consideration of any public 
comments.

    Dated: December 20, 2022.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Shaun M. Anderson,
Chief, Reactor Decommissioning Branch, Division of Decommissioning, 
Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2022-27987 Filed 12-22-22; 8:45 am]
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