2017-19984. River Bend Station, Unit 1

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Intent to conduct scoping process and prepare environmental impact statement; public meeting and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a scoping process to gather the information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental impacts for renewal of the operating license for River Bend Station, Unit 1 (River Bend). The NRC is seeking stakeholder input on this action and has scheduled a public meeting.

DATES:

Submit comments by October 23, 2017. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. Meeting date: September 19, 2017, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., St. Francisville, LA.

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-2017-0141. 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 TWFN-8-D36M, 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:

Elaine Keegan, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: [phone], email: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0141 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-2017-0141.
• 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 [e-mail]. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned. The application for renewal of the River Bend license is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML17153A285. The supplemental information which the NRC staff requested in order to complete the acceptance review is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML17213A064.
• 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-2017-0141 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 posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering 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

By letter dated May 25, 2017, Entergy Operations, Inc. (Entergy) submitted to the NRC an application for renewal of Facility Operating License NPF-47 for an additional 20 years of operation at River Bend, further supplemented by letter dated August 1, 2017. River Bend is located in St. Francisville, LA. The current operating license for River Bend expires on August 29, 2025. The application for renewal was submitted pursuant to part 54 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) and included an environmental report (ER), which was also supplemented. A separate notice of receipt and availability of the application was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2017 (82 FR 29344). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the supplemented application and opportunity for hearing regarding renewal of the facility operating license was published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2017 (82 FR 37908). A revised notice of acceptance for docketing was published in the Federal Register on September 6, 2017 (82 FR 42126) to correct the name of the local library where members of the public can review the LRA and ER.

III. Request for Comments

This notice informs the public of the NRC's intention to prepare an EIS related the license renewal application and to provide the public an opportunity to participate in the environmental scoping process, as defined in 10 CFR 51.29.

The regulations in 36 CFR 800.8, “Coordination with the National Environmental Policy Act,” allows agencies to use their National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) process to fulfill the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Therefore, pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), the NRC intends to use its 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 at 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.6.

In accordance with 10 CFR 51.53(c) and 10 CFR 54.23, Entergy submitted the ER as part of the application. To complete the acceptance review of the license renewal application, the applicant provided additional supplemental information needed to support the staff's technical review of the proposed action (license renewal). The ER and supplemental information were prepared pursuant to 10 CFR part 51 and are publicly available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML17156A093 and ML17213A064, respectively. The ER may also be viewed on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/​reactors/​operating/​licensing/​renewal/​applications.html. In addition, a paper copy of the license renewal application, including the ER, is available to the public near the site at the West Feliciana Parish Library, 5114 Burnett Road, St. Francisville, Louisiana 70775.

The NRC intends to gather the information necessary to prepare a plant-specific supplement to the NRC's “Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants,” (NUREG-1437) related to the application for renewal of the River Bend operating license for an additional 20 years.

Possible alternatives to the proposed action include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources. The NRC is required by 10 CFR 51.95 to prepare a supplement to the GEIS in connection with the renewal of an operating license. This notice is being published in accordance with NEPA and the NRC's regulations found at 10 CFR part 51.

The NRC will first conduct a scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS and, as soon as practicable thereafter, will prepare a draft supplement to the GEIS for public comment. 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 supplement to the GEIS will be used to accomplish the following:

a. Define the proposed action, which is to be the subject of the supplement to the GEIS;

b. Determine the scope of the supplement to the GEIS and identify the significant issues to be analyzed in depth;

c. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are peripheral, are not significant, or were covered by a prior environmental review;

d. Identify any environmental assessments and other ElSs that are being or will be prepared that are related to, but are not part of, the scope of the supplement to the 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 environmental analyses 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 supplement to the GEIS to the NRC and any cooperating agencies; and

h. Describe how the supplement to the GEIS will be prepared, including any contractor assistance to be used.

The NRC invites the following entities to participate in scoping:

a. The applicant, Entergy;

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.

IV. Public Scoping Meeting

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 has decided to hold a public meeting for the River Bend license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping meeting will be held on September 19, 2017. The meeting will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Town Hall Meeting Room of the St. Francisville Town Hall, 11936 Ferdinand Street, St. Francisville, Louisiana 70775. There will be a registration period from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for members of the public to sign in to speak.

The meeting will be transcribed and will include: (1) An overview by the NRC staff of the NEPA environmental review process, the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS, and the proposed review schedule; and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and individuals to submit comments or suggestions on the environmental issues or the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS. To be considered, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meeting or in writing, as discussed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

Members of the public may register to speak during the registration period prior to the start of the meeting. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. Public comments will be considered in the scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS.

Participation in the scoping process for the supplement to the GEIS does not entitle participants to become parties to the proceeding to which the supplement to the GEIS relates. Matters related to participation in any hearing are outside the scope of matters to be discussed at this public meeting.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of September 2017.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Benjamin G. Beasley,

Chief, Environmental Review and Project Management Branch, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.