Environmental Impacts of Spent Fuel Storage During Reactor Operation, 42989 [2014-17447]

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• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 142 (Thursday, July 24, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 42989]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17447]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 142 / Thursday, July 24, 2014 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 42989]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 51

[Docket Nos. PRM-51-31; NRC-2014-0055]


Environmental Impacts of Spent Fuel Storage During Reactor 
Operation

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Supplemental petition for rulemaking; notice of receipt.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received a 
supplement to a petition for rulemaking filed with the NRC by Diane 
Curran and Mindy Goldstein on behalf of 34 Environmental Organizations 
(the petitioner). The NRC docketed the original petition, dated 
February 18, 2014, as PRM-51-31. The supplement adds information to the 
record and is noticed for information only. The NRC is not requesting 
public comment.

DATES: The supplement to the petition is available on July 24, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0055 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information for this petition. You may 
access publicly-available information related to this petition by any 
of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0055. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://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 pdr.resource@nrc.gov. 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.
     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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Tobin, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301-415-2328, email: 
Jennifer.Tobin@nrc.gov; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC received a petition for rulemaking 
dated February 18, 2014, submitted by Diane Curran, Harmon, Curran, 
Spielberg & Eisenberg, L.L.P., and Mindy Goldstein, Turner 
Environmental Law Clinic, Emory Law School, on behalf of 34 
Environmental Organizations (ADAMS Accession No. ML14071A382). The 
petition was docketed as PRM-51-31. The NRC published a notice of 
receipt of PRM-51-31 in the Federal Register on May 1, 2014 (79 FR 
24595). On June 26, 2014, the petitioner submitted to the NRC a 
document characterized as an ``amended petition'' for rulemaking (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML14177A660). The petitioner requests the NRC to ``add to 
the record of the February 18, 2014 Petition the observations made by 
Chairman Macfarlane in her dissenting comments'' on the NRC staff 
document designated COMSECY-13-0030--``Staff Evaluation and 
Recommendation for Japan Lessons-Learned Tier 3 Issue on Expedited 
Transfer of Spent Fuel.'' \1\
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    \1\ COMSECY-13-0030 is available at ADAMS Accession No. 
ML13273A601; the comments of all five NRC Commissioners on COMSECY-
13-0030, including those of Chairman Macfarlane, are available at 
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/comm-secy/2013/2013-0030comvtr.pdf.
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    In its February 18, 2014, petition (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML14071A382), the petitioner asserted that COMSECY-13-0030 constituted 
new and significant information under the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA). On this basis, the petitioner requested that the NRC take 
the following actions, which the petitioner asserts is necessary to 
ensure the NRC's compliance with NEPA:
     Republish for public comment the 2013 Revised License 
Renewal Generic Environmental Impact Statement, the Environmental 
Impact Statements for all new reactors; and the Environmental 
Assessments for all new certifications of standardized reactor designs;
     Duly modify the NRC's regulations that make or rely on 
findings regarding the environmental impacts of spent fuel storage 
during reactor operation, including Table B-1 in subpart A of appendix 
B in part 51 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 
and all regulations approving standardized reactor designs.
    The NRC does not consider the June 26, 2014, document to be an 
amendment to the February 18, 2014, petition as the petitioner does not 
request that the NRC take any rulemaking actions that were not 
otherwise requested in the February 18, 2014, petition. Therefore, the 
NRC will consider the June 26, 2014, document to be a supplement to 
PRM-51-31, and accordingly, will include it in the docket for PRM-51-31 
(NRC-2014-0055). The NRC is publishing this notice for information only 
and is not requesting public comment.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of July 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2014-17447 Filed 7-23-14; 8:45 am]
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