[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 147 (Monday, August 3, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48951-48953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-15629]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-331; EAXX-429-00-000-1778044870; NRC-2026-1719]
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC; Duane Arnold Energy Center;
Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant
Impact
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; request for comment.
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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) regarding the evaluation of the
reasonably foreseeable environmental effects from proposed Federal
actions related to reauthorizing power operations at Duane Arnold
Energy Center (DAEC). Specifically, the NRC is considering issuance of
an exemption and three license amendments, which were requested by
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC (NEDA) to support the potential
reauthorization of power operations at DAEC. The U.S. Department of
Energy Office of Energy Dominance Financing is a cooperating agency on
the draft EA.
DATES: Submit comments by September 2, 2026. 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-2026-1719. 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.
Email: Comments may be submitted to the NRC electronically
using the email address [email protected].
Mail comments to: Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards, Mail
[[Page 48952]]
Stop: TWFN-5-A85, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, ATTN: Guidance and Publications Branch.
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: Kim Conway, telephone: 301-415-1335;
email: [email protected], or Kevin Folk, telephone: 301-415-6944;
email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-1719 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-2026-1719.
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, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
Public Library: A copy of the draft EA and draft FONSI is
available for public review at the following public library location:
Hiawatha Public Library, 150 West Willman Street, Hiawatha, Iowa 52233.
NRC Public Project Website: The draft EA and draft FONSI
along with information regarding DAEC, including licensing, operation,
decommissioning, and potential restart, is available at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/duan.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2026-1719 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. Introduction
DAEC consists of a single boiling water nuclear reactor located in
Linn County, Iowa. Originally licensed for operation on February 22,
1974, the NRC issued a renewed facility license (RFL) for DAEC on
December 10, 2010, with the license term expiring on February 21, 2034.
On August 27, 2020, and October 12, 2020, NEDA submitted
certifications that it had permanently ceased operations at DAEC and
had permanently removed fuel from the reactor vessel, respectively, in
accordance with paragraph 50.82(a)(1) of title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR). Upon the NRC's docketing of these
certifications, the RFL no longer authorized operation of the reactor
or emplacement or retention of fuel into the reactor vessel, as
provided by 10 CFR 50.82(a)(2).
NEDA is seeking to return DAEC to power operations and has
submitted for NRC approval an exemption request and three license
amendment requests (LARs) in support of allowing the resumption of
power operations through February 21, 2034, the previous expiration
date of the facility's RFL.
A notice of opportunity to request a hearing and petition for leave
to intervene was published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2026,
regarding the three LARs. Consistent with the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended, and the NRC's regulations, the NRC did not publish a
notice of opportunity for hearing on the exemption request.
The NRC staff has prepared a draft EA and draft FONSI documenting
its environmental review of the proposed actions related to
reauthorizing power operations at DAEC. Based on its environmental
review, the NRC staff has made the preliminary determination that the
proposed actions will not have a significant effect on the quality of
the human environment. Therefore, the NRC staff has made the
preliminary determination that it will not prepare an environmental
impact statement (EIS) for the proposed actions and that a FONSI is
warranted.
The NRC staff will consider comments on the draft EA and draft
FONSI received over a 30-day public comment period from Federal, State,
local, and Tribal officials and members of the public. After
consideration of these comments, the NRC staff will make a final
determination regarding whether it will prepare an EIS for the proposed
actions or whether a FONSI is warranted.
The environmental review included fulfillment of the NRC's
obligations related to Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 U.S.C. 300101, et seq.)
(NHPA). The regulation in section 800.8 of title 36 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (36 CFR), ``Coordination with the National
Environmental Policy Act,'' allows agencies to use their National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) process to
fulfill the requirements of Section 106 of the NHPA. Therefore,
pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC used its process for the
preparation of the EA on the proposed actions to comply with Section
106 of the NHPA in lieu of the procedures set forth at 36 CFR 800.3
through 800.6.
III. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment
Description of the Proposed Federal Actions and Need
The NRC's proposed actions are decisions on whether to grant or
deny NEDA's interdependent, connected licensing and regulatory
requests, including any revisions or supplements thereto or other
regulatory or licensing requests submitted to the NRC, that are
necessary to support the reauthorization
[[Page 48953]]
of power operations and refueling of the DAEC reactor.
The need for the NRC's proposed actions, which would collectively
support the reauthorization of power operations and refueling of the
DAEC reactor under the existing RFL, is to provide 610 megawatts-
electric of baseload power generation capability through February 21,
2034. In support of its decision to pursue the resumption of power
operations at DAEC, NEDA cites a 25-year power purchase agreement
signed in 2025 with Google to supply carbon-free energy from DAEC to
Google's cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Iowa.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Federal Actions
In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential reasonably
foreseeable environmental effects (impacts) from the proposed actions
associated with the following relevant resource areas: land use and
visual resources; meteorology, air quality, and noise; surface water
resources; groundwater resources, ecological resources (terrestrial and
aquatic); Federally protected ecological resources, historic and
cultural resources; socioeconomic conditions; radiological and
nonradiological human health; waste management; uranium fuel cycle and
transportation; and postulated accidents. The NRC staff also considered
decommissioning impacts as well as greenhouse gas emissions and climate
change effects. The NRC staff determined that the environmental impacts
of the proposed actions would be NOT SIGNIFICANT for each potentially
affected environmental resource area. In addition, the NRC staff
determined that the projected effects of climate change would not alter
any of the impact determinations described in the EA.
Environmental Impacts of Alternatives to the Proposed Federal Actions
The NRC staff considered a reasonable range of alternatives to the
proposed actions, including an analysis of any environmental impacts of
not implementing the proposed actions (i.e., the no-action
alternative). The NRC staff determined that there are no alternatives
that meet the need for the proposed actions. For the no-action
alternative, the NRC staff determined that the environmental impacts
could potentially be SIGNIFICANT. In contrast, the potential
environmental impacts from the proposed actions of reauthorizing power
operations at the existing DAEC would be NOT SIGNIFICANT for each
potentially affected environmental resource area. Therefore, the NRC
staff concluded that there are no environmentally preferrable
alternatives to the proposed actions.
IV. Draft Finding of No Significant Impact
The proposed Federal actions before the NRC are whether to grant
requests for an exemption and license amendments to support
reauthorizing power operations at DAEC through the remainder of its RFL
term (to February 21, 2034). The NRC staff has conducted an
environmental review of these actions and prepared a draft EA. This
draft FONSI incorporates by reference the draft EA summarized in
Section III of this notice and referenced in Section V of this notice.
Based on its preliminary determination in the draft EA that the
environmental impacts of the proposed actions would be NOT SIGNIFICANT
for each potentially affected resource area, the NRC staff is issuing a
draft determination that the proposed Federal actions will not have a
significant effect on the quality of the human environment.
Accordingly, the NRC staff has made a draft determination not to
prepare an EIS for the proposed Federal actions and that a FONSI is
warranted.
This draft FONSI and the related environmental documents are
available for public inspection as discussed in the draft EA and
Section I of this notice. Before making its final determination, the
NRC staff will consider comments on the draft EA and draft FONSI
received over a 30-day public comment period from Federal, State,
Tribal, and local officials and members of the public. Once the NRC
staff makes its final determination, the NRC will publish the final EA
and final FONSI or proceed to prepare an EIS.
V. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested parties through ADAMS, as indicated.
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Adams accession No./
Document description Federal Register
notice
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Draft Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding ML26159A001.
of No Significant Impact for the Duane Arnold
Energy Center Reauthorization of Power
Operations Project, dated July 27, 2026.
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC; Duane Arnold ML26091A203; 91 FR
Energy Center; Applications for Amendments to 21514.
Renewed Facility License Involving Proposed No
Significant Hazards Consideration Determination
and Containing Safeguards Information and Order
Imposing Procedures for Access to Safeguards
Information; License amendment request; notice
of opportunity to comment, request a hearing,
and petition for leave to intervene; order
imposing procedures, dated April 22, 2026.
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Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.
Dated: July 28, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen Koenick,
Chief, License Renewal Environmental Branch, Division of Licensing
Projects II, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2026-15629 Filed 7-31-26; 8:45 am]
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