[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47994-47996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12129]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-0320; NRC-2024-0099]
TMI-2SOLUTIONS, LLC.; Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit No.
2; Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant
Impact
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment; issuance of
programmatic agreement.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding
of no significant impact (FONSI) for a proposed amendment of NRC
Possession Only License (POL) No. DPR-73 for the Three Mile Island
Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2 (TMI-2), located in Londonderry Township,
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The proposed amendment would ensure that
TMI-2 Energy Solutions (TMI-2Solutions) can continue decommissioning
the facility in accordance with NRC regulations. TMI-2Solutions will be
engaging in certain major decommissioning activities, including the
physical demolition of buildings previously deemed eligible for the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The draft EA,
``Environmental Assessment for Specific Decommissioning Activities at
Three Mile Island, Unit 2 in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania,'' documents
the NRC staff's environmental review of the license amendment
application. The
[[Page 47995]]
NRC is also issuing a final Programmatic Agreement (PA) under section
106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
DATES: Submit comments on the draft EA by July 5, 2024. Comments
received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do
so, but the Commission 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-2024-0099. 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.
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.
Email comments to: [email protected].
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: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-0867; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0099 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding this action. You may
obtain publicly available information related to this action by the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0099.
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]. 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: 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.
NRC's Public Project Website: Information related to the
TMI-2 project can be accessed on NRC's TMI-2 public website at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/decommissioning/power-reactor/three-mile-island-unit-2.html, under the section titled ``2.0 Site Status
Summary,'' scroll down to ``Environmental Review of Cultural and
Historic Resource Impacts from Decommissioning Activities'' and click
on Environmental Assessment (EA), Draft Report for Comment.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2024-0099 in the subject line of 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. Background
The Three Mile Island Nuclear Station (TMINS) is approximately 16
kilometers (10 miles) southeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The TMINS
site includes Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 (TMl-1) and
TMl-2. It encompasses approximately 178 hectares (440 acres), including
the adjacent islands on the north end, a strip of land on the mainland
along the eastern shore of the river, and an area on the eastern shore
of Shelley Island. The TMINS site has significance in U.S. history
because it is the site of the nation's most serious commercial nuclear
power plant accident, occurring at TMI-2. On March 28, 1979, TMI-2
experienced an accident initiated by interruption of secondary
feedwater flow which led to a core heat up that caused fuel damage. The
partial meltdown of the reactor core led to a very small offsite
release of radioactivity. In response to this accident many changes
occurred at nuclear power plants including emergency response planning,
reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation
protection, and heightened NRC regulatory oversight.
III. Introduction
By letter dated February 22, 2023 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML23058A064), TMI-2Solutions requested an amendment to POL No. DPR-73.
TMI-2Solutions will be engaging in certain major decommissioning
activities, including the physical demolition of buildings previously
deemed eligible for the NRHP. Because the impacts on the historic
properties from these decommissioning activities have not been
previously evaluated and are not bounded by the impact's discussion in
NUREG-0586, ``Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on
Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities,'' TMI-2Solutions requested an
amendment that would require evaluation of the impacts of the
decommissioning activities on the NRHP-eligible properties, in
compliance with paragraph 50.82(a)(6)(ii) of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR).
Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8, the NRC is using its National
Environmental Policy Act process for developing the environmental
assessment (EA) to facilitate consultation pursuant to section 106 of
the NHPA.
Adverse effects to historic properties would result from
decommissioning activities at TMI-2. Therefore, the NRC and consulting
parties proceeded with development of a PA to resolve adverse effects.
On March 6, 2024 (89 FR 16037)
[[Page 47996]]
the draft PA was issued for public review and comment. One comment was
received and considered before finalizing the PA. The final PA (ADAMS
Accession No. ML24117A258) addresses the potential direct and indirect
adverse effects from the decommissioning activities and ensures that
appropriate mitigation measures are implemented. The NRC is issuing the
final PA, which therefore, concludes NHPA Section 106 consultation.
In accordance with NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 51,
``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and
Related Regulatory Functions,'' that implement the National Environment
Protection Agency (NEPA), the NRC staff has prepared a draft EA
documenting its environmental review of the license amendment
application. Based on the environmental review, the NRC has made a
preliminary determination that the proposed action will not
significantly affect the quality of the human environment and that a
FONSI is therefore appropriate. By this notice, the NRC is requesting
public comment on the draft FONSI and supporting draft EA.
IV. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment
The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS under Accession No.
ML24117A224. A summary description of the proposed action and expected
environmental impacts is provided as follows.
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to amend POL No. DPR-73 so that TMI-
2Solutions can continue with certain major decommissioning activities
planned under Phase 2 of its decommissioning schedule. Phase 2
decommissioning activities include the removal of any radioactive
components in preparation for demolition of structures, decommissioning
and dismantlement of the TMI-2 site to a level that permits the release
of the site, except for an area potentially to be set aside for storage
of fuel-bearing material (small quantities of spent nuclear fuel,
damaged core material, and high-level waste) on the independent spent
fuel storage installation, backfilling of the site, license termination
plan submittal and implementation, and site restoration activities. In
order to comply with 10 CFR 50.82(a)(6)(ii), TMI-2Solutions requested
that NRC evaluate the impacts of certain major decommissioning
activities on historic and cultural resources and NRHP-eligible
properties. The definition of major decommissioning activity is in 10
CFR 50.2, which states ``Major decommissioning activity means, for a
nuclear power reactor facility, any activity that results in permanent
removal of major radioactive components, permanently modifies the
structure of the containment, or results in dismantling components for
shipment containing greater than class C waste in accordance with Sec.
61.55 of this chapter.'' Due to radioactive contamination, the TMI-2
structures must be demolished and removed during decommissioning.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
In the draft EA, the staff assessed the potential environmental
impacts from the proposed license amendment to the following resource
areas: land use; visual and scenic resources; the geologic environment;
surface and groundwater resources; ecological resources; air quality;
noise; historic and cultural resources; socioeconomic conditions;
environmental justice; public and occupational health; transportation;
and waste generation and management. The NRC staff also considered the
cumulative impacts from past, present, and reasonably foreseeable
actions when combined with the proposed action. The TMI-2 Historic
District would be adversely affected by the TMI-2 decommissioning, and
adverse effects cannot be avoided. The mitigation of adverse effects to
the TMI-2 Historic District will be completed in accordance with the
TMI-2 Demolition and Decommissioning Programmatic Agreement (NRC
2024a).
As part of the NRC's consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act, the NRC staff determined that the proposed action may
affect, but is not likely to adversely affect, the Indiana bat (Myotis
sodalis), northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), tricolored
bat (Perimyotis subflavus), monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus),
northeastern bulrush (Scirpus ancistrochaetus), or green floater
(Lasmigona subviridis). The NRC staff transmitted an email to the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service for its review and concurrence on May 24,
2024 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24120A324).
All other potential impacts from the proposed action were
determined to not be significant, as described in the draft EA. The NRC
staff found that there would be no significant negative cumulative
impact to any resource area from the proposed action when added to
other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternative to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative).
Under the no-action alternative, the NRC would deny the licensee's
request for an amendment to allow for the continuation of major
decommissioning activities under Phase 2. In this case, the NRC staff
would not review the historic and cultural resource impacts of the
major decommissioning activities as defined in 10 CFR 50.2 and would
therefore disallow the removal of NRHP-eligible structures and any
impacts to historic and cultural resources. However, due to the
presence of radioactive contamination, TMI-2 structures, including the
NRHP-eligible structures, must be removed during the decommissioning
process. Therefore, the NRC staff concludes that denying the amendment
request is not a reasonable alternative.
V. Draft Finding of No Significant Impact
In accordance with the NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has
conducted an environmental review of a request for an amendment to POL
No. DPR-73. The proposed amendment would revise POL No. DPR-73 to allow
the licensee to conduct decommissioning at TMI-2 covering activities
that were not previously addressed in the staff's environmental
assessments (site-specific historical and cultural resources). Based on
its environmental review of the proposed action, as documented in the
draft EA, the NRC staff has preliminarily determined that granting the
requested license amendment would not significantly affect the quality
of the human environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has preliminarily
determined, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that preparation of an
environmental impact statement is not required for the proposed action
and a FONSI is appropriate. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.33(a), the NRC staff
is making the draft FONSI and draft EA available for public review and
comment.
Dated: May 29, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Sun,
Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 2, Division of
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-12129 Filed 6-3-24; 8:45 am]
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