[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 117 (Friday, June 20, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26333-26334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-11307]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-613; NRC-2024-0078]
US SFR Owner, LLC; Kemmerer Power Station, Unit 1; Draft
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in cooperation
with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is issuing for public comment
a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The draft EIS is in
response to an application submitted by TerraPower, LLC (TerraPower) on
behalf of US SFR Owner, LLC (USO), a wholly owned subsidiary of
TerraPower, for a construction permit (CP) for a Natrium advanced
reactor at a site in Lincoln County, Wyoming, designated as Kemmerer
Power Station, Unit 1 (Kemmerer Unit 1). USO plans to build and operate
Kemmerer Unit 1 to demonstrate the Natrium advanced reactor while
ultimately replacing electricity generation capacity in the PacifiCorp
service area following planned retirement of existing coal-fired
facilities. The draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of the
proposed action of issuing a CP that would allow the construction of
Kemmerer Unit 1, as well as the environmental impacts of the following
alternatives to the proposed action: (1) the no-action alternative
(i.e., denying the CP application) and (2) building the proposed
Natrium advanced reactor at a different location.
DATES: Submit comments on the draft EIS by August 4, 2025. 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.
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-2024-0078. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER
IINFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
Email: Comments may be submitted to the NRC electronically
using the email address [email protected].
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: Patricia Vokoun, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3470; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0078 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-2024-0078.
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 draft EIS is available in
ADAMS under Accession No. ML25154A651.
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
[[Page 26334]]
time (ET), Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Public Library: A copy of the draft EIS will be available
for public review at the Lincoln County Library, 519 Emerald Street,
Kemmerer, WY 83101.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal Rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2024-0078 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 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
By letter dated March 28, 2024 (ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML24088A059), TerraPower on behalf of USO, a wholly owned subsidiary of
TerraPower, submitted to the NRC pursuant to section 103 of the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and part 50 of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities,'' an application for a CP that would allow the
construction of Kemmerer Unit 1 in Lincoln County, Wyoming, as part of
participation in DOE's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. The
proposed facilities would house one 840-megawatt thermal, pool-type,
sodium-cooled fast reactor connected to a molten salt energy storage
system that enables variable energy supply up to 500 megawatts electric
net. This submission initiated the proposed Federal action of
determining whether to issue the requested CP. The CP application was
supplemented on May 2, 2024 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML24123A242 and
ML24123A243) and on May 9, 2024 (ADAMS Accession No. ML24130A181). A
notice of receipt and availability of the CP application was published
in the Federal Register on May 14, 2024 (89 FR 42004). A notice of
intent to prepare an EIS and to conduct a scoping process was published
on June 12, 2024 (89 FR 49917).
As set forth in 10 CFR 51.20(b), issuance of a CP to construct a
nuclear power reactor is an action that requires an EIS. This notice is
being published in accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the NRC's regulations implementing
NEPA at 10 CFR part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for
Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.'' In addition,
pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC is using the process and
documentation for the preparation of the draft EIS to comply with
section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as
amended, in lieu of the procedures set forth in 36 CFR 800.3 through
800.6.
III. Discussion
The NRC is issuing the draft EIS for public comment. The draft EIS
includes the evaluation of the environmental impacts of the proposed
action of issuing a CP that would allow the construction of Kemmerer
Unit 1, as well as the environmental impacts of the no-action
alternative and the alternative of building the proposed Natrium
advanced reactor at a different location. In the draft EIS, after
weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits
against environmental and other costs, and considering reasonable
alternatives, the preliminary recommendation is, unless safety issues
mandate otherwise, that the NRC issue the requested CP to USO. This
preliminary recommendation is based on the CP application, information
gathered during the environmental audit, and responses to requests for
clarifying information; consideration of public comments received
during the scoping process; consultation with Federal, State, Tribal,
and local agencies; and the independent environmental review and
assessment summarized in the draft EIS.
Dated: June 16, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jacob Zimmerman,
Acting Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial
Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2025-11307 Filed 6-18-25; 8:45 am]
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