[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 186 (Monday, September 29, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46661-46663]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18817]
[[Page 46661]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-302 and 72-1035; CEQ ID AXX-429-00-000-1753260507; NRC-
2025-0181]
Accelerated Decommissioning Partners Crystal River, Unit 3, LLC;
Crystal River Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3; 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 considering a
partial site release of property under License No. DPR-72, issued in
December 1976 and held by Accelerated Decommissioning Partners Crystal
River, Unit 3, LLC (ADP) for the operation of Crystal River Nuclear
Power Station, Unit 3 (Crystal River Unit 3). If approved, the license
amendment would release property from the NRC license and thus render
it no longer under NRC jurisdiction. Based on staff's environmental
review, the NRC staff is issuing this environmental assessment (EA) and
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) associated with the proposed
action.
DATES: The EA and FONSI are available in this document.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-0181 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-2025-0181. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran;
telephone: 301-415-1003; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual(s) 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 ADAMS Public 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.
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: Amy Minor, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 817-200-1454; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC received, by letter dated February 10, 2025, as
supplemented by letter dated June 18, 2025, a request from ADP to
approve a partial site release of approximately 250 hectares (ha) (618
acres (ac)) of land for unrestricted use, and to amend License No. DPR-
72 to reduce the site acreage identified in the Crystal River Unit 3
Operating License accordingly. Therefore, in compliance with section
50.83 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
``Release of part of a power reactor facility or site for unrestricted
use,'' the NRC performed an EA. Based on the results of the EA that
follows, the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) for the partial site release and is issuing a FONSI
regarding ADP's request for a partial site release for License No. DPR-
72.
II. Environmental Assessment
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action is the review of the release of approximately
250 ha (618 ac) of land for unrestricted use and to remove another
1,560 ha (3,854 ac) of property, classified as radiologically non-
impacted, from the Crystal River Unit 3 Operating License as approved
on January 2, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19339G509). If the proposed
action is approved, an additional 250 ha (618 ac) would no longer be
part of the licensed site and thus, no longer under NRC jurisdiction.
The licensee plans to release the 250 ha (618 ac) as soon as approval
is received from the NRC and indicates that the property will then be
returned to Duke Energy, the original license holder.
Purpose and Need
The licensee has requested the release of 250 ha (618 ac) of land
that is entirely within the NRC-licensed area, or controlled area, and
remove another 1,560 ha (3,854 ac) of property, from the Crystal River
Unit 3 Operating License. The purpose and need for the proposed agency
action is to release 250 ha (618 ac) of the licensed site for which the
licensee has no further operational need and reduce the site acreage
identified in the Crystal River Unit 3 Operating License accordingly.
Prior Environmental Reviews
The NRC staff evaluated the environmental impacts of the proposed
action for the unrestricted release of approximately 250 ha (618 ac) of
land and amending License No. DPR-72 to reflect the description of the
property released and reduce the site acreage identified in the Crystal
River Unit 3 Operating License. Maps of the parcels proposed to be
released are included in the licensee's application dated February 10,
2025, as supplemented by letter dated June 18, 2025.
Several environmental reviews have been completed for Crystal River
Unit 3, most recently in 2024. A final environmental statement for
Crystal River Unit 3 was completed in 1973 as required for the issuance
of a license to the Florida Power Corporation for the startup and
operation of Crystal River Unit 3. Florida Power Corporation, doing
business as Progress Energy Florida, Inc., submitted a license renewal
request to NRC in November 2008. The NRC staff completed a May 2011
draft report for comment, NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 44,
Regarding Crystal River Unit 3 Nuclear Generating Plant,'' that
evaluated environmental impacts from a renewed operating license for an
additional 20-year period.
On December 2, 2013, Duke Energy Florida (DEF) submitted a post-
shutdown decommissioning activities report (PSDAR) to the NRC that
includes a discussion providing the basis for concluding that the
environmental impacts associated with decommissioning activities were
bounded by appropriate, previously issued, EISs including
aforementioned NUREG-1437 and NUREG-0586, ``Final Generic Environmental
Impact Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities: Supplement
1, Regarding the Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors''
(Decommissioning GEIS), and that no unique site-specific features or
unique aspects of the planned decommissioning were identified. The
scope of the Decommissioning GEIS is based on
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decommissioning activities undertaken from the time a licensee
certifies it has permanently ceased power operations until the
operating license is terminated.
On January 22, 2019, DEF submitted a partial site release request
to NRC and stated that the environmental impacts associated with the
proposed release of the property were considered compared to the 1973
final environmental statement. DEF confirmed that their evaluation did
not identify any significant new environmental impacts or any
significant changes from the environmental impacts that NRC previously
assessed, and therefore they concluded that previous NRC reviews
bounded the potential environmental impacts of the partial site
release.
DEF's January 2019 partial site release request to the NRC sought
to reduce the licensed footprint by releasing 1,560 ha (3,854 ac) of
non-impacted parcels. The NRC approved the release of the parcels in
2020 and stated that the environmental impacts associated with the
proposed release of the property are bounded by previously issued EISs.
NRC License No. DPR-72 changed ownership to ADP in 2019, and in 2019
APD submitted a revised PSDAR to NRC that again concluded that the
environmental impacts associated with decommissioning activities were
bounded by appropriate, previously issued, EISs.
ADP submitted a revised license termination plan to the NRC on June
9, 2023. The NRC staff completed an EA in 2024 that evaluated the
potential impacts of decommissioning and license termination for
Crystal River Unit 3. During its review, the NRC staff concluded that
the impacts for most resource areas at the Crystal River Unit 3 were
still bounded by the Decommissioning GEIS. NRC's 2024 EA also evaluated
the potential impacts of decommissioning and license termination for
the Crystal River Unit 3 that cannot be determined generically in the
Decommissioning GEIS. The NRC staff concluded that there are no
significant environmental impacts from decommissioning and license
termination and issued the EA and FONSI published on July 17, 2024.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
ADP's application states that the June 2023 revised license
termination plan included a ``Supplement to the Environmental Report''
that provided updated information to the November 2008 environmental
report submitted to the NRC as part of a 2008 license renewal
application for Crystal River Unit 3. The licensee's evaluation of the
proposed site release does not identify any significant new
environmental impacts or any significant changes from the environmental
impacts previously assessed. ADP concludes that the environmental
impacts associated with the proposed release of the subject property
are bound by the NRC' s previous reviews and no increases in effects
are anticipated.
The NRC staff reviewed ADP's application for the proposed partial
site release of 250 ha (618 ac) of land and amending the license to
reflect the description of the property released. The licensee notes
that approximately 248 ha (614 ac) proposed for unrestricted release
are considered non-impacted by a historical site assessment as
supplemented by surveys provided in the license application request
(LAR). Two of the parcels proposed for unrestricted release (North
Shipping Yard and Seal and Container Storage Area) were conservatively
deemed as impacted areas in a past site assessment but are now
identified as indistinguishable from background based on final status
surveys provided in this LAR. The NRC has determined that the licensee
has no physical security or emergency preparedness need to retain the
remaining 250 ha (618 ac). In addition, the licensee has performed
surveys adequate to demonstrate compliance with the radiological
criteria for unrestricted use. The NRC staff concludes that the
proposed action of amending the license does not include physical
changes to the site and that the potential environmental impacts
associated with this request remain bounded by the environmental
impacts evaluated in the previous NRC environmental reviews, notably
the NRC's 2024 EA, because the activities and geographic area that were
evaluated in those previous NRC environmental reviews are consistent
with the proposed partial site release. A Safety Evaluation Report is
being prepared in parallel with this EA to assess the licensee's
compliance with the radiological criteria for unrestricted use.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, The NRC staff considered
denial of the proposed release of the approximate 250 ha (618 ac) of
land (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of the request would
result in the 250 ha (618 ac) of land to remain as part of the licensed
site and subject to NRC jurisdiction, even though the licensee has no
operational need for the land. This alternative would not result in
additional environmental impacts. However the NRC staff have determined
that the proposed action does not include physical changes to the site
and there is no policy or regulatory reason here for the NRC to require
this licensee to retain the 250 ha (618 ac) of land for which the
licensee has no further operational need. As such, the NRC staff
concludes that the proposed action is the preferred alternative and the
no-action alternative is not further considered.
Conclusion
The NRC staff determined that the proposed action does not include
physical changes to the site and is administrative in nature, and that
the potential environmental impacts associated with this request remain
bounded by the environmental impacts evaluated in the previous NRC
environmental review, to include the 2024 EA, because the activities
and geographic area that were evaluated in those previous NRC
environmental reviews are consistent with the proposed partial site
release. As such, the NRC finds that there are no significant
environmental impacts from the proposed action, and that preparation of
an EIS is not warranted.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
A public meeting to obtain comments on the release approval request
was announced on the NRC public meeting website at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg. A notice of ADP's request and the public meeting, including a
request for comment, was also published in the Citrus County Chronicle,
Inverness, Florida, on July 9 and 16, 2025. The NRC staff published a
notice of the receipt of ADP's request, including a request for
comment, in the Federal Register on July 2, 2025. The NRC staff
conducted the public meeting in Crystal River, Florida, on July 23,
2025. A summary of the public meeting, which includes copies of the
presentations made and a copy of the transcript of the meeting, is
available in ADAMS at Accession No. ML25218A083. No comments were made
on the Federal Rulemaking website, or were received by mail or email,
and no questions were asked at the meeting.
The NRC contacted the Florida State officials on August 19, 2025
(ADAMS Accession No. ML25261A016) concerning this request. There were
no comments, concerns or objections from the State officials.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has prepared this EA as part of its review of the
proposed action.
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On the basis of this EA, the NRC finds that there are no significant
environmental impacts from the proposed action, and that preparation of
an EIS is not warranted. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that 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 one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
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ADAMS accession No./ web link/
Document description Federal Register citation
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Partial Site Release Request, ML25041A177 (Package).
dated February 10, 2025.
Partial Site Release Request, ML25170A017 (Package).
dated June 18, 2025.
Final Environmental Statement ML091520178.
Related to the Proposed Crystal
River Unit 3, Florida Power
Corporation, published May 1973.
Crystal River License Termination ML24081A068.
Plan Environmental Assessment,
published July 2024.
Federal Register Notice, 89 FR 58196.
Accelerated Decommissioning
Partners Crystal River Unit 3,
LLC; Crystal River Nuclear Power
Station, Unit 3; Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact, published
July 17, 2024.
Federal Register Notice, 90 FR 29051.
Accelerated Decommissioning
Partners Crystal River Unit 3,
LLC; Crystal River Unit 3 Nuclear
Generating Plant; Partial Site
Release, published July 2, 2025.
NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental ML11139A153.
Impact Statement for License
Renewal of Nuclear Plants,
Supplement 44, Regarding Crystal
River Unit 3 Nuclear Generating
Plant, published May 2011.
Letter--Post-shutdown ML13340A009.
Decommissioning Activities
Report, dated December 2, 2013.
NUREG-0586, Final Generic ML023470304, ML023470323,
Environmental Impact Statement on ML023500187, ML023500211,
Decommissioning of Nuclear ML023500223.
Facilities: Supplement 1,
Regarding the Decommissioning of
Nuclear Power Reactors, Volumes 1
and 2, date published November
2002.
Letter--Partial Site Release ML19022A076.
Request, dated January 22, 2019.
Letter--Revised Post-shutdown ML19177A080.
Decommissioning Activities
Report, dated June 26, 2019.
Letter--NRC Approval of Partial ML19339G509.
Site Release, dated January 2,
2020.
Letter--Revised License ML23160A296.
Termination Plan, dated June 9,
2023.
Crystal River Unit 3 License ML090080731.
Renewal Application, published
November 2008.
Submittal to Florida State ML25261A016.
officials.
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Dated: September 25, 2025.
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. 2025-18817 Filed 9-26-25; 8:45 am]
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