Combined License Application: South Carolina Electric and Gas Co.

Federal Register: January 5, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 2)

Notices

Page 323-324

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr05ja09-99

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Docket Nos. 52-027 and 52-028

South Carolina Electric and Gas Company Acting for Itself and as

Agent for the South Carolina Public Service Company (Also Referred to as Santee Cooper) Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Units 2 and 3;

Combined License Application; Notice of Intent To Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process

South Carolina Electric and Gas Company (SCE&G) acting for itself and as an agent for South Carolina Public Service Company (also referred to as Santee Cooper) has submitted an application for combined licenses (COLs) to build Units 2 and 3 at its Virgil C. Summer Nuclear

Station (VCSNS) site, located on approximately 3,600 acres in Fairfield

County, South Carolina, on the Broad River, approximately 15 miles west of the county seat of Winnsboro and 26 miles northwest of Columbia,

South Carolina. SCE&G submitted the application for the COLs to the

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by letter dated March 27, 2008, pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR)

Part 52. A notice of receipt and availability of the application, including the environmental report (ER), was published in the Federal

Register on July 9, 2008 (73 FR 39339). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the application for the COLs was published in the Federal

Register on August 6, 2008 (73 FR 45792). A notice of hearing and opportunity to petition for leave to intervene in the proceeding on the application was published in the Federal Register on October 10, 2008

(73 FR 60362). The purposes of this notice are: (1) To inform the public that the NRC staff will be preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) as part of the review of the application for the COLs and (2) to provide the public with an opportunity to participate in the environmental scoping process as defined in 10 CFR 51.29.

In addition, as outlined in 36 CFR 800.8(c), ``Coordination with the National Environmental Policy Act,'' the NRC staff plans to coordinate compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic

Preservation Act (NHPA) with steps taken to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA).

Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC staff intends to use the process and documentation for the preparation of the EIS on the proposed action to comply with section 106 of the NHPA in lieu of the procedures set forth on 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.6.

In accordance with 10 CFR 51.45 and 51.50, SCE&G submitted the ER as part of the application. The ER was prepared pursuant to 10 CFR

Parts 51 and 52 and is available for public inspection at the NRC

Public Document Room (PDR) located at One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852, or from the

Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's Agencywide

Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, which provides access through the NRC's Electronic Reading Room (ERR) link. The accession number in

ADAMS for the environmental report included in the application is

ML081300569. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the

NRC's PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209/301-415-4737 or via e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. The application may also be viewed on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/summer.html. In addition, the Fairfield County Library, 300 Washington Street, Winnsboro, South

Carolina 29180 has agreed to make the ER available for public inspection.

The following key reference documents related to the application and the NRC staff's review processes are available through the NRC's

Web site at http://www.nrc.gov: a. 10 CFR Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for

Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Function; b. 10 CFR Part 52, Licenses, Certifications, and Approvals for

Nuclear Power Plants; c. 10 CFR Part 100, Reactor Site Criteria; d. NUREG-1555, Standard Review Plans for Environmental Reviews for

Nuclear Power Plants; e. NUREG/BR-0298, Brochure on Nuclear Power Plant Licensing

Process; f. Regulatory Guide 4.2, Preparation of Environmental Reports for

Nuclear Power Stations; g. Regulatory Guide 4.7, General Site Suitability Criteria for

Nuclear Power Stations; h. Fact Sheet on Nuclear Power Plant Licensing Process; i. Regulatory 1.206, Combined License Applications for Nuclear

Power Plants, and; j. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Policy Statement on the Treatment of Environmental Justice Matters in NRC Regulatory and Licensing

Actions.

The regulations, NUREG-series documents, regulatory guides, and the fact sheet can be found under Document Collections in the Electronic

Reading Room on the NRC webpage. The environmental justice policy statement can be found in the Federal Register, 69 FR 52040, August 24, 2004.

This notice advises the public that the NRC intends to gather the information necessary to prepare an EIS as part of the review of the application for the COLs at the VCSNS site. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (issuance of the COLs for the VCSNS Units 2 and 3) include no action, reasonable alternative energy sources, and alternate sites. As set forth in 10 CFR 51.20(b)(2), issuance of a COL under 10

CFR Part 52 is an action that requires an EIS. This notice is being published in accordance with NEPA and the NRC's regulations in 10 CFR

Part 51.

The NRC will first conduct a scoping process for the EIS and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft EIS for public comment. Participation in this scoping process by members of the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal government agencies is encouraged. The scoping process for the draft EIS will be used to accomplish the following: a. Define the proposed action that is to be the subject of the EIS; b. Determine the scope of the EIS and identify the significant issues to be analyzed in-depth; c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are peripheral or that are not significant; 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 EIS being considered;

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e. Identify other environmental review and consultation requirements related to the proposed action; f. Identify parties consulting with the NRC under the NHPA, as set forth in 36 CFR 800.8(c)(1)(i); g. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation of the environmental analyses and the Commission's tentative planning and decision-making schedule; h. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the EIS to the

NRC and any cooperating agencies; and i. Describe how the EIS will be prepared, including any contractor assistance to be used.

The NRC invites the following entities to participate in the scoping process: a. The applicant, South Carolina Electric & Gas; 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 intends to petition for leave to intervene in the proceeding, or who has submitted such a petition, or who is admitted as a party.

In accordance with 10 CFR 51.26, the scoping process for an EIS may include a public scoping meeting to help identify significant issues related to a proposed activity and to determine the scope of issues to be addressed in an EIS. The NRC staff has elected to hold two identical public scoping meetings for the EIS regarding the SCE&G COL application. The first meeting will be held at the Fairfield Central

High School, 836 U.S. Highway 321 Bypass S, Winnsboro, SC 29180 on

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 7 p.m., and will continue until approximately 10 p.m. The second meeting will be held at the McCrorey-

Liston Elementary School, 1978 State Highway 215 South, Blair, SC 29015 on Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 7 p.m., with a repetition of the overview portions of the first meeting, and will continue until approximately 10 p.m. The meetings will be transcribed and will include the following: (1) An overview by the NRC staff of the NEPA environmental review process, the proposed scope of the EIS, and the proposed review schedule; and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and individuals to submit comments on the environmental issues or the proposed scope of the EIS.

Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions for one hour prior to the start of each public meeting. No formal comments on the proposed scope of the EIS will be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meeting or in writing, as discussed below. Persons may register to attend or present oral comments at the meeting on the scope of the NEPA review by contacting Ms. Patricia Vokoun or Mr. Mark

Notich at 1-800-368-5642, extension 3470 or 3053, respectively. In addition, persons can register via e-mail to the NRC at

Summer.COLEIS@nrc.gov no later than January 20, 2009.

Members of the public may also register to speak at the meeting prior to the start of the session. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. Members of the public who have not registered may also have an opportunity to speak, if time permits. Public comments will be considered in the scoping process for the EIS. If special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to Ms. Vokoun's attention no later than January 13, 2009, so that the NRC staff can determine whether the request can be accommodated.

Members of the public may send written comments on the scope of the

VCSNS COLs environmental review to the Chief, Rules and Directives

Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration,

Mailstop TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,

DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. Comments may be hand-delivered to the NRC at 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on federal workdays. To ensure that comments will be considered in the scoping process, written comments must be postmarked or delivered by March 6, 2009. Electronic comments may be sent by e- mail to the NRC at Summer.COLEIS@nrc.gov. Electronic submissions must be sent no later than March 6, 2009, to ensure that they will be considered in the scoping process. Comments will be made available electronically and will be accessible through the NRC's ERR link http:/

/www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.

Participation in the scoping process for the EIS does not entitle participants to become parties to the proceeding to which the EIS relates. The notice of hearing and opportunity to petition for leave to intervene in the proceeding on the application for the COLs was published in the Federal Register on October 10, 2008.

At the conclusion of the scoping process, the NRC staff will prepare a concise summary of the determination and conclusions reached on the scope of the environmental review, including the significant issues identified, will make this summary publicly available and will send the summary to each participant in the scoping process for whom the staff has an address. The staff will then prepare and issue for comment the draft EIS, which will be the subject of a separate Federal

Register notice and a separate public meeting. Copies of the draft EIS will be available for public inspection at the PDR through the above- mentioned address and one copy per request will be provided free of charge. After receipt and consideration of the comments, the NRC will prepare a final EIS, which will also be available to the public.

Information about the proposed action, the EIS, and the scoping process may be obtained from Ms. Patricia Vokoun or Mr. Mark Notich at 1-800-368-5642, extensions 3470 or 3053, respectively; at the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, mailstop T-6D32 or T-7E30, Washington,

DC 20555-0001; or via e-mail at Patricia.Vokoun@nrc.gov or

Mark.Notich@nrc.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th day of December 2008.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Scott C. Flanders,

Director, Division of Site and Environmental Reviews, Office of New

Reactors.

FR Doc. E8-31280 Filed 1-2-09; 8:45 am

BILLING CODE 7590-01-P