[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 105-107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28815]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-285; NRC-2022-0127]


Omaha Public Power District; Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a 
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) and accompanying environmental 
assessment (EA) regarding the NRC's consideration of a license 
amendment request by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) to approve the 
License Termination Plan (LTP) for the Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 
(FCS), located in Washington County, Nebraska. If approved, the 
amendment would add a license condition to the FCS license reflecting 
the NRC's approval of its LTP and establishing criteria for determining 
when changes to the LTP require prior NRC approval. OPPD would use the 
LTP to meet the requirements for terminating the license and releasing 
the site for unrestricted use. Based on the EA, the NRC staff has 
concluded that there will be no significant impacts to environmental 
resources from the requested license amendment, and therefore, a FONSI 
is appropriate.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document is available on 
January 2, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2022-0127 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2022-0127. 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.
     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, at 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 of this document.
     NRC's PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies 
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. 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 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marla Morales, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0715; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of a license amendment request to 
approve the LTP for the FCS, located in Washington County, Nebraska, as 
part of OPPD's part 50 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization 
Facilities,'' Facility Operating License No. DPR-40. If granted, the 
license amendment would add a condition to FCS's license reflecting the 
NRC's approval of FCS's LTP and establishing criteria for determining 
when changes to the LTP require prior NRC approval. As required by 10 
CFR part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic 
Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' the NRC prepared an 
environmental assessment (EA). Based on the results of the EA, the NRC 
has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) 
for the license amendment request and is issuing a finding of no 
significant impact (FONSI).
    Construction of FCS began in 1968, and the NRC issued an operating 
license to the OPPD in 1973. The FCS began commercial operation in 
September 1973. The OPPD submitted the Certification of Permanent 
Cessation of Power Operations in August 2016 in accordance with 10 CFR 
50.82 (a)(1)(i) and shutdown on October 24, 2016. Pursuant to 10 CFR 
50.82(a)(1)(ii), on November 13, 2016, the OPPD certified to the NRC 
that as of November 2016, all fuel had been removed from the FCS 
reactor vessel and placed into the FCS spent fuel pool.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(4)(i), the OPPD submitted its initial 
Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) on March 30, 
2017, and supplemented it by letter dated December 14, 2017. The PSDAR 
described OPPD's selection of the SAFSTOR method for decommissioning 
the FCS. The FCS reactor remained in SAFSTOR until December 16, 2019.

[[Page 106]]

    On December 16, 2019, as supplemented by letter dated July 16, 
2020, the OPPD submitted a revised PSDAR to the NRC to reflect schedule 
changes and select a new method for decommissioning the FCS pursuant to 
10 CFR 50.82(a)(7). The revised PSDAR described OPPD's selection of the 
DECON method for decommissioning the FCS.
    By letter dated May 18, 2020, the OPPD certified to the NRC that as 
of May 13, 2020, all spent fuel assemblies had been permanently 
transferred out of the FCS spent fuel pool and placed in storage within 
the independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). The OPPD 
submitted the LTP on August 3, 2021, in accordance with 10 CFR 
50.82(a)(9).

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is the review and subsequent approval, if 
appropriate, of a license amendment to OPPD to approve the LTP for the 
FCS. If approved, the amendment would add a license condition to the 
FCS license reflecting the NRC's approval of the LTP and establishing 
criteria for determining when changes to the LTP require prior NRC 
approval.
    The proposed action is described in the OPPD's 2021 LTP application 
and responses to requests for additional information dated June 15, 
2022, and February 27, 2023.

Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action

    The purpose of and need for the proposed action is to allow for 
completion of decommissioning of the FCS site by the OPPD, termination 
of the FCS operating license by the NRC, and subsequent release of the 
FCS site for unrestricted use. The NRC regulation at 10 CFR 50.82 sets 
forth the process for the licensee to decommission its nuclear power 
plant, including submission of the LTP. The NRC will approve the LTP, 
provided that the LTP meets the criteria in 10 CFR 50.82(a)(10).

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC staff considered the potential impacts of the proposed 
action on land use, historical and cultural resources; visual and 
scenic resources; meteorology, climatology, and air quality; noise; 
geology and soils; water resources; ecological resources; 
socioeconomics; public and occupation health; transportation and 
traffic; environmental justice; and waste management. The 
Decommissioning Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) (NUREG-
0586) generically addressed many of the potential environmental impacts 
of decommissioning at the FCS. During its review of the FCS LTP, the 
NRC concluded that the impacts for most resource areas--onsite land 
use; water resources; air quality; ecology, not including threatened 
and endangered species or outside the operational area; socioeconomics; 
historic and cultural resources within the operational area; 
aesthetics; noise; transportation; and nonradioactive waste 
management--were still bounded by the Decommissioning GEIS. Therefore, 
the NRC does not expect impacts associated with these issues beyond 
those discussed in the GEIS, which concluded that the impact level for 
these issues was SMALL.
    In the Decommissioning GEIS, the NRC staff concluded that it could 
not necessarily determine the environmental impacts of decommissioning 
generically for six environmental resource areas (offsite land use, 
threatened and endangered species, aquatic ecology beyond the 
operational area, terrestrial ecology beyond the operational area, 
environmental justice, and historic and cultural resources beyond the 
operational area). The Decommissioning GEIS determined that for these 
six resource areas a site-specific analysis would be required as was 
done in the FCS EA. In addition, topics not included in the 
Decommissioning GEIS that the NRC staff evaluated in the FCS EA include 
the affected environment, climate change, cumulative impacts, 
contamination of groundwater from decommissioning activities, and 
nonradioactive waste management.
    In the FCS EA, the NRC staff evaluated the potential environmental 
impacts on the six site-specific environmental resource areas as well 
as the five resource areas not evaluated in the Decommissioning GEIS 
and did not identify any significant impacts. For the proposed action 
there are no planned activities outside of the operational area, and 
the OPPD commits to using best management practices and obtaining all 
necessary licenses from Federal or State agencies to protect the 
surrounding lands. Therefore, the proposed action would result in no 
significant impacts and there would be no significant cumulative 
effects when added to the past, present, or reasonably foreseeable 
future actions at the FCS site.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered 
the ``no-action'' alternative. Under the no-action alternative, the NRC 
would not approve the LTP or the license amendment request because 
regulatory requirements have not been met. If the NRC was unable to 
approve the LTP because the regulatory requirements were not met, the 
OPPD would need to take additional actions to prepare an LTP that meets 
the requirements in 10 CFR 50.82(a)(10). Under this scenario, until the 
OPPD resubmits the LTP, activities at FCS would likely continue and the 
environmental impacts would neither increase nor decrease as a result 
of the additional time required for the LTP resubmission.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On August 18, 2023, the NRC staff provided a copy of the draft EA 
to the State of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for 
its review and comment. In a letter dated October 12, 2023, the State 
provided comments on the State's applicable regulations for air 
quality, stormwater, water quality, and waste management. The comments 
were incorporated into the EA, as applicable.
    The NRC completed consultation under section 106 of the National 
Historic Preservation Act by consulting with the Nebraska State 
Historic Preservation Office and 12 Federally recognized Indian Tribes 
in correspondence dated August 3, 2022. In addition, the NRC staff, 
consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and determined 
that the proposed action ``may affect, but not likely to adversely 
affect'' the Northern Long-eared Bat, Tricolored Bat, Piping Plover, 
Monarch Butterfly, and the Pallid Sturgeon, and would have ``no 
effect'' on critical habitat. The NRC staff provided its effect 
determinations to FWS on August 18, 2023, and FWS concurred with those 
findings on November 5, 2023, and provided no additional comments. 
Therefore, consultation has been completed under section 7 of the 
Endangered Species Act.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    Based on its review of the license amendment request, in accordance 
with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has determined 
that issuing the requested amendment, if appropriate, of a license 
termination to OPPD's DPR-40 license would not significantly affect the 
quality of human environment. No significant radiological or non-
radiological impacts are

[[Page 107]]

expected from the proposed action. Therefore, the NRC staff has 
determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, ``Determinations based on 
environmental assessment,'' preparation of an EIS is not required for 
the proposed action, and pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, ``Finding of no 
significant impact,'' a FONSI is appropriate. In accordance with 10 CFR 
51.32(a)(4), this FONSI incorporates the EA set forth in this notice by 
reference.

IV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through ADAMS.

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            Document description                 ADAMS accession No.
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Omaha Public Power District Post-Shutdown    ML17089A759, ML17348A623,
 Decommissioning Activities Reports and       ML19351E355 and
 supplemental letters, dated March 30,        ML20202A654.
 2017, December 14, 2017, December 16,
 2019, and July 16, 2020.
Omaha Public Power District Certification    ML16242A127.
 of Permanent Cessation of Power
 Operations, dated August 25, 2016.
Omaha Public Power District Certification    ML16319A254.
 of Permanent Removal of Fuel from the
 Reactor Vessel, dated November 13, 2016.
Omaha Public Power District Certification    ML20139A138.
 of Permanent Removal of all Spent Fuel
 Assemblies from the Spent Fuel Pool, dated
 May 18, 2020.
Omaha Public Power District, License         ML21271A178 (Package).
 Amendment Application, dated August 3,
 2021.
Omaha Public Power District Response to      ML22167A199 and
 Fort Calhoun Station, Unit No. 1 Requests    ML23060A197.
 for Additional Information dated June 15,
 2022, and February 27, 2023.
Final Generic Environmental Impact           ML023470304.
 Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear
 Facilities (NUREG-0586), dated November
 2002.
NRC letter to the Nebraska Department of     ML23234A239.
 Health and Human Services Request for
 Review of Draft EA, dated August 18, 2023.
Nebraska Department of Health and Human      ML23298A097.
 Services email response to NRC Request for
 Review of Draft EA, dated October 12, 2023.
Letter to the Nebraska State Historic        ML22258A273.
 Preservation Office initiating
 consultation under section 106 of the
 National Historic Preservation Act, dated
 September 29, 2022.
NRC letters to Tribal nations initiating     ML22137A126 (Package).
 consultation under section 106 of the
 National Historic Preservation Act, dated
 August 3, 2022.
NRC letter to FWS regarding informal         ML23234A241.
 Section 7 consultation, determinations of
 effect, dated August 18, 2023.
Fish and Wildlife Service concurrence on     ML23311A086.
 NRC's determinations of effect, dated
 November 5, 2023.
Final Environmental Assessment for Fort      ML23333A049.
 Calhoun, Unit 1 License Termination Plan,
 dated December 14, 2023.
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    Dated: December 27, 2023.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jill S. Caverly,
Acting Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 2, Division of 
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2023-28815 Filed 12-29-23; 8:45 am]
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