[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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