Nuclear Management Company, LLC, Palisades Nuclear Plant; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct Scoping Process, 36967-36968 [E5-3320]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 122 (Monday, June 27, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36967-36968]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-3320]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-255]


Nuclear Management Company, LLC, Palisades Nuclear Plant; Notice 
of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Conduct 
Scoping Process

    Nuclear Management Company, LLC (NMC) has submitted an application 
for renewal of Facility Operating License DPR-20 for an additional 20 
years of operation at the Palisades Nuclear Plant (Palisades). 
Palisades is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in Covert 
Township on the western side of Van Buren County, Michigan, 
approximately 4.5 miles south of the city limits of South Haven, 
Michigan.
    The operating license for Palisades expires on March 24, 2011. The 
application for renewal was received on March 31, 2005, pursuant to 
title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 54. A notice 
of receipt and availability of the application, which included the 
environmental report (ER), was published in the Federal Register on 
April 12, 2005 (70 FR 19104). A notice of acceptance for docketing of 
the application for renewal of the facility operating license was 
published in the Federal Register on June 8, 2005 (70 FR 33533). The 
purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be preparing an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) in support of the review of 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. In 
addition, as outlined in title 36 of the Code of the Federal 
Regulations part 800.8, ``Coordination with the National Environmental 
Policy Act,'' the NRC plans to coordinate compliance with section 106 
of the National Historic Preservation Act in meeting the requirements 
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).
    In accordance with 10 CFR 51.53(c) and 10 CFR 54.23, NMC submitted 
the ER as part of the application. The ER was prepared pursuant to 10 
CFR part 51 and is available for public inspection at the NRC's Public 
Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 
Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852, or from the Publicly 
Available Records component of NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible at https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/adams.html, which provides access through the NRC's Public 
Electronic Reading Room link. 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, or 301-
415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. The application may also be 
viewed on the Internet at https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/
licensing/renewal/applications.html. In addition, the South Haven 
Memorial Library (314 Broadway St., South Haven, MI 49090) has made the 
ER available for public inspection.
    This notice advises the public that the NRC intends to gather the 
information necessary to prepare a plant-specific supplement to the 
Commission's ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement [GEIS] for 
License Renewal of Nuclear Plants,'' (NUREG-1437) in support of the 
review of the application for renewal of the Palisades operating 
license for an additional 20 years. Possible alternatives to the 
proposed action (license renewal) 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 in 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:
    1. Define the proposed action which is to be the subject of the 
supplement to the GEIS.
    a. Determine the scope of the supplement to the GEIS and identify 
the significant issues to be analyzed in depth.
    b. Identify and eliminate from detailed study those issues that are 
peripheral or that are not significant.
    c. 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.
    d. Identify other environmental review and consultation 
requirements related to the proposed action.
    e. Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation 
of the environmental analyses and the Commission's tentative planning 
and decision-making schedule.
    f. 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.
    g. Describe how the supplement to the GEIS will be prepared, and 
include any contractor assistance to be used.
    The NRC invites the following entities to participate in scoping:
    a. The applicant, Nuclear Management Company, LLC.
    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.
    f. Any person who has petitioned or intends to petition for leave 
to intervene.
    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 public meetings for 
the Palisades license renewal supplement to the GEIS. The scoping 
meetings will be held at Lake Michigan College, 125 Veterans Boulevard, 
South Haven, Michigan 49090, on Thursday, July 28, 2005. There will be 
two sessions to accommodate interested parties. The first session will 
convene at 1:30 p.m. and will continue until 4:30 p.m., as necessary. 
The second session will convene at 7 p.m. with a repeat of the overview 
portions of the meeting and will continue until 10 p.m., as necessary. 
Both meetings will be transcribed and will include: (1) An overview by 
the NRC staff of the NEPA environmental review process, the

[[Page 36968]]

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. Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one 
hour before the start of each session at Lake Michigan College. No 
formal comments on the proposed scope of the supplement to the GEIS 
will be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered, 
comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meetings or 
in writing, as discussed below. Persons may register to attend or 
present oral comments at the meetings on the scope of the NEPA review 
by contacting Mr. William Dam by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 
4014, or by e-mail to the NRC at PalisadesEIS@nrc.gov no later than 
July 22, 2005. Members of the public may also register to speak at the 
meeting 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. 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 supplement to the 
GEIS. Mr. Dam will need to be contacted no later than July 15, 2005, if 
special equipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present 
information at the public meeting, so that the NRC staff can determine 
whether the request can be accommodated.
    Members of the public may send written comments on the 
environmental scope of the Palisades license renewal review to: Chief, 
Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, 
Office of Administration, Mailstop T-6D59, 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 also 
be delivered to the NRC, Room T-6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. during 
Federal workdays. To be considered in the scoping process, written 
comments should be postmarked by August 22, 2005. Electronic comments 
may be sent by e-mail to the NRC at PalisadesEIS@nrc.gov and should be 
sent no later than August 22, 2005, to be considered in the scoping 
process. Comments will be available electronically and accessible 
through ADAMS at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
    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. Notice of opportunity for a 
hearing regarding the renewal application was the subject of the 
aforementioned Federal Register notice (70 FR 33533). Matters related 
to participation in any hearing are outside the scope of matters to be 
discussed at this public meeting.
    At the conclusion of the scoping process, the NRC will prepare a 
concise summary of the determination and conclusions reached, including 
the significant issues identified, and will send a copy of the summary 
to each participant in the scoping process. The summary will also be 
available for inspection in ADAMS at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. The staff will then prepare and issue for comment the draft 
supplement to the GEIS, which will be the subject of separate notices 
and separate public meetings. Copies will be available for public 
inspection at the above-mentioned addresses, and one copy per request 
will be provided free of charge. After receipt and consideration of the 
comments, the NRC will prepare a final supplement to the GEIS, which 
will also be available for public inspection.
    Information about the proposed action, the supplement to the GEIS, 
and the scoping process may be obtained from Mr. Dam at the 
aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.

    Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of June, 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Pao-Tsin Kuo,
Program Director, License Renewal and Environmental Impacts Program, 
Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
[FR Doc. E5-3320 Filed 6-24-05; 8:45 am]
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