[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 242 (Monday, December 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77643-77645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27447]
[[Page 77643]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270, and 50-287; NRC-2021-0146]
Notice of Intent To Conduct a Supplemental Scoping Process and
Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Duke Energy Carolinas,
LLC; Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Subsequent license renewal environmental report supplement;
intent to conduct a supplemental scoping process and prepare a draft
environmental impact statement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: In response to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC)
Memorandum and Order, CLI-22-03 (February 24, 2022), the NRC received
Subsequent License Renewal--Appendix E Environmental Report Supplement
2 (ER Supplement), dated November 7, 2022, related to the subsequent
renewal of Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and
DPR-55, which authorizes Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (Duke Energy, the
applicant) to operate Oconee Nuclear Station (Oconee), Units 1, 2, and
3. The ER Supplement addresses certain environmental impacts of
operating Oconee for an additional period of 20 years beyond the
current license expiration dates. The NRC will conduct a limited
scoping process to gather additional information necessary to prepare
an environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental
impacts for the subsequent license renewal (SLR) of the operating
licenses for Oconee. The NRC is seeking public comment on the proper
scope of the EIS to be prepared for this action.
DATES: Submit comments on the scope of the EIS by January 18, 2023.
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-2021-0146. Address
questions about Docket IDs to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624;
email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact the
individual 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: Lance Rakovan, Office of Nuclear
Materials Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2589, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0146 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly available information related to this action using any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2021-0146.
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, 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: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents, by appointment, at the NRC's PDR, Room P1 B35, One White
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 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
8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
Public Library: A copy of the ER Supplement is available
for public review at the Oconee County Public Library, 300 E South 2nd
St., Seneca, SC 29678.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2021-0146 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.
II. Discussion
By letter dated June 7, 2021, Duke Energy submitted to the NRC an
application for subsequent license renewal of Renewed Facility
Operating License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47, and DPR-55 for Oconee, Units 1,
2, and 3, respectively, for an additional 20 years of operation. That
submission initiated the NRC's proposed action of determining whether
to grant the SLR application. The Oconee units are pressurized water
reactors designed by Babcock & Wilcox and are located in Seneca, South
Carolina, approximately 30 miles west of Greenville, SC. The current
renewed facility operating license for Unit 1 expires at midnight on
February 6, 2033, the current renewed facility operating license for
Unit 2 expires at midnight on October 6, 2033, and the current renewed
facility operating license for Unit 3 expires at midnight on July 19,
2034. The SLR application was submitted pursuant to section 103 of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and part 54 of title 10 of the
Code of Federal Regulations
[[Page 77644]]
(10 CFR), ``Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear
Power Plants,'' and seeks to extend the renewed facility operating
license for Unit 1 to midnight on February 6, 2053, the renewed
facility operating license for Unit 2 to midnight on October 6, 2053,
and the renewed facility operating license for Unit 3 to midnight on
July 19, 2054. A notice of receipt and availability of the application
was published in the Federal Register on June 25, 2021 (86 FR 33784). A
notice of acceptance for docketing of the application and of
opportunity to request a hearing was published in the Federal Register
on July 28, 2021 (86 FR 40662). A public scoping meeting was held on
August 21, 2021.
On February 24, 2022, the Commission issued several decisions,
including CLI-22-02 and CLI-22-03, in which the Commission held that
``the 2013 GEIS [NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement
for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants''] did not consider the impacts
from operations during the subsequent license renewal period and
applicants for subsequent license renewal must evaluate Category 1
impacts in their environmental reports. Accordingly, these impacts must
be addressed on a site-specific basis in the Staff's site-specific
environmental impact statements.'' In addition, the Commission held
that 10 CFR 51.53(c)(3) only applies to an initial license renewal
applicant's preparation of an environmental report. As a result, the
Commission determined, among other things, that the NRC staff's
environmental reviews of pending subsequent license renewal
applications are incomplete and directed the staff to prepare an update
to the 2013 GEIS. In CLI-22-03, the Commission further stated that if
an applicant does not wish to wait for the completion of the generic
analysis and associated rulemaking, ``the applicant may submit a
revised environmental report providing information on environmental
impacts during the subsequent license renewal period.''
Following the issuance of CLI-22-03, the NRC received the ER
Supplement from Duke Energy, dated November 7, 2022, related to the
subsequent renewal of the operating licenses for Oconee.
Given recent circumstances that require including, within the scope
of the EIS for subsequent license renewal for Oconee, an evaluation of
the issues treated as Category 1 in the 2013 GEIS, the NRC staff will
conduct an additional limited scoping process associated with this
action. Consistent with Commission direction, the NRC staff intends to
prepare a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for SLR of
Oconee Units 1, 2 and 3 (DSEIS) for public comment, in which it will
review all applicable ``Category 1'' (generic) issues listed in the
2013 GEIS for the purpose of making site-specific findings (e.g.,
SMALL, MODERATE, LARGE) on those issues. The NRC staff also intends to
review all applicable ``Category 2'' (site-specific) issues listed in
the 2013 GEIS, including any significant new information that may have
arisen following the original August 10, 2021, to September 9, 2021,
scoping period and will update the site-specific analysis, as
appropriate, to address the new information. Environmental scoping
comments should address matters that fit within these two categories;
comments that do not fit into these two categories will not be
considered.
III. Request for Comment
This notice informs the public of the NRC's intention to prepare a
DSEIS related to the subsequent license renewal application and to
provide the public an opportunity to participate in the environmental
scoping process, as defined in 10 CFR part 51, ``Environmental
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory
Functions.''
Participation in the scoping process by members of the public and
local, State, Tribal, and Federal government agencies is encouraged.
The scoping process for the DSEIS will be used to accomplish the
following:
a. Define the proposed action, which is to be the subject of the
DSEIS;
b. Determine the scope of the DSEIS and identify the significant
issues to be analyzed in depth;
c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are
peripheral or are not significant; or were covered by a prior
environmental review;
d. Identify any environmental assessments and other EISs that are
being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the
scope of the DSEIS being considered;
e. Identify other environmental review and consultation
requirements related to the proposed action;
f. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation
of the environmental analyses and the Commission's tentative planning
and decisionmaking schedule;
g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate
assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the DSEIS to
the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and
h. Describe how the DSEIS will be prepared, including any
contractor assistance to be used.
The NRC invites the following entities to participate in scoping:
a. The applicant, Duke Energy;
b. Any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special
expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved or that is
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
c. Affected State and local government agencies, including those
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
d. Any affected Indian Tribe;
e. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to
participate in the scoping process; and
f. Any person who has petitioned or intends to petition for leave
to intervene.
Participation in the scoping process for the Oconee subsequent
license renewal DSEIS does not entitle participants to become parties
to the proceeding to which the DSEIS relates. Matters related to
participation in any hearing are outside the scope of matters to be
discussed.
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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Document description ADAMS accession No.
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Subsequent License Renewal--Appendix E ML22311A036.
Environmental Report Supplement 2, dated
November 7, 2022.
Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, ML21158A193 (package).
Application for Subsequent Renewed
Operating License, dated June 7, 2021.
Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-22-02, ML22055A496.
dated February 24, 2022.
Commission Memorandum and Order CLI-22-03, ML22055A554.
dated February 24, 2022.
[[Page 77645]]
NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact ML13106A241, ML13106A242,
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear and ML13106A244.
Plants'' Rev. 1 (June 2013), Vols. 1-3.
NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact ML003670518.
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear
Plants,'' Supplement 2, Regarding Oconee
Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2 & 3, dated
December 1999.
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Dated: December 14, 2022.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John M. Moses,
Deputy Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial
Support, Office of Nuclear Materials, Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2022-27447 Filed 12-16-22; 8:45 am]
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