[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 214 (Friday, November 7, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50498-50499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19809]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-615; NRC-2024-0146]
Tennessee Valley Authority; Clinch River Nuclear Site, Unit 1;
Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in cooperation
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is issuing for public comment a
draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The draft
SEIS is in response to an application submitted by Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA) for a construction permit (CP) to construct one GE
Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor at a site in Roane County, Tennessee,
designated as Clinch River Nuclear Site, Unit 1 (CRN-1). The draft SEIS
evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed action of issuing a
CP that would allow the construction of CRN-1.
DATES: Submit comments by December 22, 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://regulations.gov
and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0146. Address questions about Docket
IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-415-1003;
email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact the
individuals listed in the For Further Information 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: Madelyn Nagel, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0371; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0146 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://regulations.gov
and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0146.
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 SEIS is available in
ADAMS under Accession No. ML25261A214. 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 Public Project Website: The draft SEIS, along with
information regarding the CRN Site is available at https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced/who-were-working-with/applicant-projects/clinch-river.html.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through any of the
methods outlined in the ADDRESSES section of this document. Please
include Docket ID NRC-2024-0146 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.
[[Page 50499]]
II. Background
By letters dated April 28, 2025 (ADAMS Accession No. ML25118A209)
and May 20, 2025, (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML25140A062), TVA
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 CRN-1 in Roane County, Tennessee. The proposed facility
would house one GE Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor. This submission initiated
the proposed Federal action of determining whether to issue the
requested CP. A notice of receipt and availability of the CP
application was published in the Federal Register (FR) on June 10, 2025
(90 FR 24425). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the complete
application and opportunity to request a hearing was published in the
FR on July 15, 2025 (90 FR 31709). A notice of intent to prepare a SEIS
was published on July 18, 2025 (90 FR 34015).
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 environmental
impact statement. 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 SEIS 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 SEIS for public comment. The draft
SEIS includes the evaluation of the environmental impacts of the
proposed action of issuing a CP that would allow the construction of
CRN-1. In the draft SEIS, after weighing the environmental, economic,
technical, and other benefits against environmental and other costs,
and considering reasonable alternatives, the preliminary recommendation
is that, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, the NRC issue the
requested CP to TVA. This preliminary recommendation is based on: (1)
the CP application environmental report; (2) consultation with Federal,
State, Tribal, and local agencies; (3) the review team's confirmatory
review; and (4) the assessments summarized in the draft SEIS.
Dated: November 5, 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. 2025-19809 Filed 11-6-25; 8:45 am]
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