Notice To Conduct Scoping and Prepare an Advanced Nuclear Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement
| Published date | 30 April 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 24040 |
| Record Number | 2020-08798 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 84 (Thursday, April 30, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 84 (Thursday, April 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24040-24042]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08798]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2020-0101]
Notice To Conduct Scoping and Prepare an Advanced Nuclear Reactor
Generic Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Intent to conduct scoping process and prepare an Advanced
Nuclear Reactor Generic Environmental
[[Page 24041]]
Impact Statement (ANR GEIS); public meeting webinar; request for
comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will conduct a
scoping process to gather information necessary to prepare an ANR GEIS
for small-scale advanced nuclear reactors. The NRC is seeking
stakeholder input and comments on this action and has scheduled a
public meeting webinar.
DATES: The NRC will hold a webinar on May 28, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to
4:00 p.m. Members of the public are invited to submit comments on the
scope of the ANR GEIS by June 30, 2020. Scoping 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 before this
date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2020-0101. Address
questions about docket IDs on Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301-287-9127; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
Email comments to: [email protected].
Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001. 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: Jack Cushing, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1424 email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0101 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information regarding 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-2020-0101.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the NRC
Library 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 reference staff at
1-800-397-4209 or 1-301-415-4737 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays, or by email to
[email protected]. 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.
Project web page: Information related to the ANR GEIS
project can be accessed on the NRC's web page at: https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced.html.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2020-0101 in the subject line of your
comment submission in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make your
comment submission available to the public in this docket.
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 and will 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 submissions into ADAMS.
II. Discussion
The NRC intends to develop a GEIS for advanced nuclear reactors
with a small generating output and correspondingly small environmental
footprint in order to streamline the environmental review process for
future small-scale advanced nuclear reactor environmental reviews. The
purpose of an ANR GEIS is to determine which environmental impacts
could result in essentially the same (generic) impact for different
advanced nuclear reactor designs that fit within the parameters set in
the GEIS, and which environmental impacts could result in different
levels of impacts requiring a plant-specific analysis. Environmental
reviews for small-scale advanced nuclear reactor license applications
could incorporate the ANR GEIS by reference and provide site-specific
information and analyses in a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (SEIS), thereby streamlining the environmental review
process. In SECY-20-0020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20052D175), the staff
informed the Commission that it plans to use a technology-neutral plant
parameter envelope (or PPE) approach to bound small-scale ANR projects.
For the purposes of the ANR GEIS, the staff considers a ``small-scale''
ANR as having the potential to generate up to approximately 30
megawatts thermal per reactor with a correspondingly small
environmental footprint. The actual bounding thermal power level of the
ANR and the environmental footprint used in the ANR GEIS are topics to
be determined during the scoping process.
Because small-scale advanced reactors are not specific to only one
reactor design and could be sited anywhere in the United States that
meets NRC siting requirements, the NRC decided to pursue a technology
neutral approach using a PPE. The PPE will consist of a table of
bounding values or parameters for different reactor designs located on
a site. In addition, a table of values representing the site parameter
envelope (e.g., size of site, quantity of water used, demographics)
will be developed to describe the affected environment. The ANR GEIS
will evaluate the impacts of a reactor that fits within the bounds of
the PPE on a site that fits within the bounds of the site parameter
envelope to determine the environmental impact.
An application that references the ANR GEIS will need to
demonstrate that its project is bounded by the analysis in the ANR GEIS
and that there is no significant new information affecting the
evaluation. The application will also need to analyze the site-specific
resources not resolved generically in the ANR GEIS. If the project is
bounded by the ANR GEIS and there is no significant new information,
the NRC will incorporate by reference the ANR GEIS and no further
analysis would be needed for a resource that was resolved generically.
If impacts to a resource have not been resolved generically by the ANR
GEIS, the site-specific SEIS will evaluate the impacts to the resource.
The NRC will not authorize construction or operation of any
advanced nuclear reactors through the
[[Page 24042]]
ANR GEIS. Consultation required by Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act and Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act will be
conducted and included in the SEIS for each application and will not be
part of the ANR GEIS.
III. Request for Comments
This document informs the public of the NRC's intention to conduct
scoping and prepare an ANR GEIS for small-scale advanced nuclear
reactors. The NRC is seeking input from the public and stakeholders
regarding the parameters that the NRC should use to bound the small-
scale advanced reactors in the plant parameter envelope (including
power level and size of the site) and the parameters that should be
used to bound the affected environment in the site parameter envelope.
In addition, the NRC is seeking input on resources or issues that can
be resolved generically and ones that cannot.
This document is being published in accordance with National
Environmental Policy Act and the NRC's regulations found at part 51 of
title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). The NRC will
first conduct scoping for the ANR GEIS and, as soon as practicable
thereafter, will prepare a draft ANR GEIS for public comment.
Participation in the scoping process by members of the public and
local, State, Tribal, and Federal government agencies is encouraged. In
accordance with 10 CFR 51.29 the scoping process will be used to
accomplish the following:
a. Define the proposed action;
b. Determine the scope of the ANR GEIS 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 Environmental
Impact Statements (ElSs) that are being or will be prepared that are
related to, but are not part of, the ANR GEIS 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 ANR GEIS and the Commission's tentative planning and decision-
making schedule;
g. Identify any cooperating agencies and, as appropriate, allocate
assignments for preparation and schedules for completing the ANR GEIS
to the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and
h. Describe how the ANR GEIS will be prepared, including any
contractor assistance to be used.
The NRC invites the following entities to participate in scoping:
a. 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;
b. Affected State and local government agencies, including those
authorized to develop and enforce relevant environmental standards;
c. Any affected Indian Tribe; and
d. Any person who requests or has requested an opportunity to
participate in the scoping process.
IV. Public Scoping Webinar
In accordance with 10 CFR 51.26(b), the scoping process for an EIS
may include a public scoping meeting, which may help identify
significant issues related to a proposed activity and to determine the
scope of issues to be addressed in an EIS.
The NRC is announcing that it will hold the public meeting as a
webinar. The webinar will be held online and will offer a telephone
line for members of the public to submit comments. A court reporter
will be recording all comments received during the webinar. To be
considered, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public
meeting or in writing, as discussed in the ADDRESSES section of this
document. The date and time for the public webinar are as follows:
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Meeting Date Time Location
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Public Webinar........................ 5/28/2020 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM (EDT). Webinar Information:
https://usnrc.webex.com.
Event number: 905642855.
Telephone Bridge Line: 1-888-
622-9844.
Participant Passcode:
5484985.
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Persons interested in attending this webinar should monitor the
NRC's Public Meeting Schedule web page at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg
for additional information, agendas for the meeting, and access
information for the webinar. Participants should register in advance of
the meeting by visiting the website (https://usnrc.webex.com) and using
the event number provided above. A confirmation email will be generated
providing additional details and a link to the webinar.
Dated: April 21, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kenneth T. Erwin,
Chief, Environmental Review New Reactor Branch, Division of Rulemaking,
Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2020-08798 Filed 4-29-20; 8:45 am]
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