[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 19 (Thursday, January 29, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 4949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01713]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 52-017; NRC-2008-0149]


Virginia Electric and Power Company D/B/A Dominion Virginia 
Power, North Anna Power Station, Unit 3

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing 
the intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement 
(SEIS) published in the Federal Register on February 7, 2011. The 
purpose of the SEIS the NRC had intended to prepare was to address any 
impacts that would have resulted from a change in the reactor 
technology referenced in the North Anna Power Station (NAPS) Unit 3 
Combined License (COL) application. The intent to prepare a SEIS is 
being withdrawn because of the applicant's decision to return to the 
original reactor design, as referenced and evaluated in an earlier SEIS 
for the NAPS.

DATES: The effective date of the withdrawal of the intent to prepare a 
supplemental environmental impact statement is January 29, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0149 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 Web Site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2008-0149. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual 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 http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then 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, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document 
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time 
that a document is referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
     Project Web Site: In addition, project documents can be 
accessed online at the North Anna Unit 3 COL specific Web page at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/north-anna.html.
     Other: The following libraries have agreed to maintain 
documents related to the North Anna Unit 3 Combined License Review for 
public inspection: Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in Mineral, 
Virginia; Salem Church Library in Fredericksburg, Virginia; Pamunke 
Regional Library in Hanover, Virginia; C. Melvin Snow Memorial Library 
in Spotsylvania, Virginia; and Orange County Library in Orange, 
Virginia.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamsen Dozier, Office of New Reactors, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-415-2272, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The decision to prepare a SEIS was based on 
Dominion's decision to change the referenced reactor technology from 
the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) design, to the 
U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (US-APWR). This change in 
reactor technology by Dominion occurred after the NRC staff completed 
its environmental review of the COL application, which is documented in 
NUREG-1917, ``Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Combined License for North Anna Power Station, Unit 3'' (COL SEIS). On 
February 7, 2011 (76 FR 6638), the NRC published a notice of intent to 
prepare a supplemental EIS and conduct scoping in conjunction with its 
review of a revised application submitted by Virginia Electric Power 
Company d/b/a Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion) for a COL to build and 
operate a new reactor at its NAPS site located in Louisa County, 
Virginia. The purpose of the February 2011 notice was to inform the 
public that the NRC staff intended to prepare a supplement to the COL 
SEIS pertaining to the change in the reactor design. In the proposed 
SEIS for the US-APWR technology, the staff intended to identify any 
significant changes to the previous evaluation of environmental impacts 
that could arise from the applicant's switch to this reactor design.
    By letter dated April 25, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13120A016), 
Dominion notified the NRC that it planned to revert to the ESBWR 
technology for its North Anna COL application. As the purpose for 
preparing the US-APWR SEIS no longer exists, this notice is to inform 
the public that the staff will not be preparing a SEIS to evaluate the 
change in impacts that could occur from a different reactor design.
    Dominion completed revisions to its COL application, including the 
necessary revisions to its environmental report (ER), to once again 
reference the ESBWR and submitted the revised application to the NRC by 
letter dated December 18, 2013. The revised ER is available in ADAMS 
under Accession No. ML14007A643. The ESBWR was certified by the NRC on 
September 16, 2014. The final rule for the design certification was 
published on October 15, 2014 (79 FR 61943).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of January 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Frank Akstulewicz,
Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2015-01713 Filed 1-28-15; 8:45 am]
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