2014-30756. License Renewal Application for Byron Station Units 1 and 2

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement, issuance, public meetings, request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for public comment a draft plant-specific Supplement 54 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating license NPF-37 and NPF-66 for an additional 20 years of operation for Byron Station, Units 1 and 2 (Byron). Byron is located in Byron, Illinois. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources. The NRC staff plans to hold two public meetings during the public comment period to present an overview of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS and to accept public comments on the document.

DATES:

Submit comments by February 20, 2015. Comments received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff 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 (unless this document describes a different method for submitting comments on a specific subject):

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0178. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 3WFN-06-A44M, 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:

Lois James, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, telephone: [phone], email to [e-mail]; 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-2013-0178 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this document by any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0178.
• NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): You may access 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 [e-mail]. 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. The draft plant-specific Supplement 54 to the GEIS for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, NUREG-1437, is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML14357A042.
• 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.

B. Submitting Comments

Please include Docket ID NRC-2013-0178 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 in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS, and 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, 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

The NRC is issuing for public comment a draft plant-specific Supplement 54 to the GEIS for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating license NPF-37 AND NPF-66 for an additional 20 years of operation for Byron. Supplement 54 to the GEIS includes the preliminary analysis that evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action. The NRC's preliminary recommendation is that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Byron are not great enough to deny the option of license renewal for energy-planning decisionmakers.

III. Public Meetings

The NRC staff will hold public meetings prior to the close of the public comment period to present an overview of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS and to accept public comment on the document. Two meetings will be held at the Byron Forrest Preserve, 7993 North River Road, Byron, Illinois 61010, on Tuesday, February 3, 2015. The first session will convene at 2 p.m. and will continue until 4 p.m., as necessary. The second session will convene at 7 p.m. and will continue until 9 p.m., as necessary. The meetings will be transcribed and will include: (1) A presentation of the contents of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS; and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and individuals to provide comments on the draft report. Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to the start of each session at the same location. No comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS will be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered in the final supplement to the GEIS, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meeting or submitted in writing by the comment deadline identified above. Persons may pre-register to attend or present oral comments at the meeting by contacting Mr. Lois James, the NRC project manager, at 1-800-368-5642, extension 3306, or by email at [e-mail] no later than Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Members of the public may also register to provide oral comments within 15 minutes of the start of each session. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. If special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to Ms. James' attention no later than Tuesday, January 20, 2015, to provide the NRC staff adequate notice to determine whether the request can be accommodated.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23 day of December, 2014.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Elaine Keegan,

Acting Chief, Projects Branch 2, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.