[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80269-80270]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22710]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-237 and 50-249; NRC-2020-0277]
NextEra Energy Point Beach, LLC; Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units
1 and 2; Notice of Intent To Prepare Supplement to the Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff will
prepare a supplement to the 2021 draft Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (SEIS) to evaluate the environmental impacts for the
subsequent license renewal (SLR) of Renewed Facility Operating License
Nos. DPR-24 and DPR-27 for Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2
(Point Beach). The NRC staff will address new information following the
issuance of the 2021 draft SEIS. The draft SEIS supplement will be
issued for public comment.
DATES: October 2, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0277 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-2020-0277.
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 in this document (if it is available in ADAMS)
is provided the first time that it is referenced.
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. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Public Library: A copy of the SLR application for Point
Beach, including the applicant's environmental report, will be
available for public review at the following public library location:
Lester Public Library, 1001 Adams Street, Two Rivers, WI 54241.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Folk, telephone: 301-415-6944;
email: [email protected]; or Karen Loomis, telephone: 301-415-5142;
email: [email protected]. Both are staff in the Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
By letter dated November 16, 2020 (ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML20329A292), NextEra submitted to the NRC an application for the SLR
of Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-24 and DPR-27 for Point
Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, respectively, for an additional 20
years of operation. This submission initiated the NRC's proposed action
of determining whether to issue the subsequent renewed facility
operating licenses. Point Beach is located in northeastern Manitowoc
County, Wisconsin, approximately 29 miles southeast of Green Bay,
Wisconsin.
The current facility operating license for Point Beach, Unit 1,
expires at midnight on October 5, 2030, and the current facility
operating license for Point Beach, Unit 2 expires at midnight on March
8, 2033.
The SLR application was submitted pursuant to part 54 of title 10
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Requirements for Renewal
of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants,'' and included an
environmental report. The applicant seeks to extend the facility
operating license for Unit 1 to midnight on October 5, 2050, and for
Unit 2 to midnight on March 8, 2053. A notice of acceptance for
docketing of the application and of an opportunity to request a hearing
was published in the Federal Register on January 22, 2021 (86 FR 6684).
Thereafter, a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact
statement and conduct a scoping process was published in the Federal
Register on February 1, 2021 (86 FR 7747) and is available on the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov) by searching
for Docket ID NRC-2020-0277.
On November 9, 2021, a notice was published in the Federal Register
(86 FR 62220), stating that the NRC staff had issued its draft SEIS,
documenting its
[[Page 80270]]
preliminary analysis and recommendation on the proposed action
(subsequent license renewal) for Point Beach. The draft SEIS is
available in ADAMS under Package Accession No. ML21306A226.
II. Discussion
On August 6, 2024, the NRC published a final rule (89 FR 64166)
revising its environmental protection regulations in 10 CFR part 51,
``Environmental protection regulations for domestic licensing and
related regulatory functions.'' The final rule updates the potential
environmental impacts associated with the renewal of an operating
license for a nuclear power plant for up to an additional 20 years, for
either an initial license renewal or a single SLR term. Revision 2 to
NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License
Renewal of Nuclear Plants'' (LR GEIS) (ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML24087A133) provides the technical basis for the final rule. The
revised LR GEIS supports the updated list of environmental issues and
associated environmental impact findings contained in Table B-1 in
Appendix B to Subpart A of the revised 10 CFR part 51 for both initial
license renewal and a single term of SLR.
The final rule became effective 30 days after its publication in
the Federal Register, and the NRC staff must consider the new and
modified issues, as applicable, in its license renewal EISs after that
date (i.e., on or after September 5, 2024). Accordingly, the NRC staff
will prepare a supplement to the 2021 draft SEIS for the Point Beach
SLR application in accordance with the NRC's regulations in 10 CFR
51.72, to address new information since the draft SEIS was published.
This new information includes the new and modified environmental issues
associated with the NRC's August 2024 publication of the final rule,
``Renewing Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses--Environmental
Review'' (89 FR 64166) and revised LR GEIS (NUREG-1437, Revision 2).
Dated: September 27, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen Koenick,
Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 1, Division of
Rulemaking, Environment, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-22710 Filed 10-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P