NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC.; Duane Arnold Energy Center, Unit No. 1, 46541-46543 [2017-21498]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 192 / Thursday, October 5, 2017 / Notices
documents in paper format. Such filings
must be submitted by: (1) First class
mail addressed to the Office of the
Secretary of the Commission, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555–0001, Attention:
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; or
(2) courier, express mail, or expedited
delivery service to the Office of the
Secretary, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention:
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Participants filing adjudicatory
documents in this manner are
responsible for serving the document on
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considered complete by first-class mail
as of the time of deposit in the mail, or
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granted an exemption request from
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or party to use E-Filing if the presiding
officer subsequently determines that the
reason for granting the exemption from
use of E-Filing no longer exists.
Documents submitted in adjudicatory
proceedings will appear in the NRC’s
electronic hearing docket which is
available to the public at https://
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pursuant to an order of the Commission
or the presiding officer. If you do not
have an NRC-issued digital ID certificate
as described above, click cancel when
the link requests certificates and you
will be automatically directed to the
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you will be able to access any publicly
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hearing docket. Participants are
requested not to include personal
privacy information, such as social
security numbers, home addresses, or
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instances, individuals provide home
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respect to copyrighted works, except for
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participants are requested not to include
copyrighted materials in their
submission.
For further details with respect to this
action, see the application for license
amendment dated December 14, 2016,
as supplemented August 25, 2017.
Attorney for licensee: Mr. M. Stanford
Blanton, Balch & Bingham LLP, 1710
Sixth Avenue North, Birmingham, AL
35203–2015.
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19:52 Oct 04, 2017
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NRC Branch Chief: Jennifer DixonHerrity.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day
of September 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jennifer Dixon-Herrity,
Chief, Licensing Branch 4, Division of New
Reactor Licensing, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2017–21495 Filed 10–4–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50–331; NRC–2017–0200]
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC.;
Duane Arnold Energy Center, Unit
No. 1
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and
finding of no significant impact;
issuance.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is making a finding
of no significant impact for a proposed
issuance of an amendment to Renewed
Facility Operating License No. DPR–49
held by NextEra Energy Duane Arnold,
LLC. (NextEra, the licensee) for the
operation of Duane Arnold Energy
Center (DAEC), located in Linn County,
Iowa. The proposed amendment would
modify the DAEC Plume Exposure
Pathway emergency planning zone
(EPZ) boundary and revise the DAEC
evacuation time estimate (ETE) study to
account for the EPZ boundary changes.
DATES: The environmental assessment
(EA) referenced in this document is
available on October 5, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC–2017–0200 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of
information regarding this document.
You may obtain publicly-available
information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0200. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol
Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463;
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 publiclyavailable documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. To begin the search, select
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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46541
‘‘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. For the
convenience of the reader, the ADAMS
accession numbers are provided in a
table in the ‘‘Availability of Documents’’
section of this document.
• 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:
Mahesh L. Chawla, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555–0001; telephone: 301–415–8371;
email: Mahesh.Chawla@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is considering issuance of
amendments pursuant to § 50.54 of title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), ‘‘Conditions of licenses,’’
paragraph (q), to Renewed Facility
Operating License No. DPR–49, held by
NextEra Duane Arnold, LLC. (NextEra,
the licensee) for the operation of Duane
Arnold Energy Center (DAEC), located
in Linn County, Iowa.
In accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the
NRC has prepared an EA that analyzes
the environmental effects of the
proposed licensing action. Based on the
results of the EA, and in accordance
with 10 CFR 51.31(a), the NRC has
prepared a finding of no significant
impact (FONSI) for the proposed
amendments.
II. Environmental Assessment
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would revise the
DAEC Renewed Facility Operating
License in order to set the DAEC Plume
Exposure Pathway emergency planning
zone (EPZ) boundary for an area beyond
the 10-mile required EPZ pathway. The
proposed action is in accordance with
the licensee’s application dated March
31, 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos.
ML17102B183 and ML17102B184) and
with current NRC’s regulations in 10
CFR 50.47, and 10 CFR part 50,
appendix E.
Notable proposed changes are (a)
modification of Subarea 24 of the DAEC
Plume Exposure Pathway EPZ by
designating U.S. Highway 30 as its
southern boundary, which will slightly
decrease the total size of the EPZ, and
(b) revision of the DAEC evacuation
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46542
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 192 / Thursday, October 5, 2017 / Notices
time estimate (ETE) study to account for
the EPZ boundary changes.
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Need for the Proposed Action
Nuclear power plant owners,
government agencies, and State and
local officials work together to create a
system for emergency preparedness and
response that will serve the public in
the unlikely event of an emergency. An
effective emergency preparedness
program helps decrease the
consequences of an initiating event at a
nuclear power reactor that proceeds to
a severe accident. Emergency
preparedness cannot affect the
probability of the initiating event, but a
high level of emergency preparedness
increases the probability of accident
mitigation if the initiating event
proceeds beyond the need for initial
operator actions.
Each licensee is required to establish
emergency plans to be implemented in
the event of an accident. These
emergency plans cover preparations for
evacuation, sheltering, and other actions
to protect residents near plants in the
event of a serious incident.
The NRC, as well as other Federal and
state regulatory agencies review the
subject plans to ensure that the
condition of emergency preparedness
provides reasonable assurance that
adequate protective measures can and
will be taken in the event of a
radiological emergency.
Separate from this EA, the NRC staff
is evaluating NextEra’s proposed
changes to the EPZ boundary for DAEC.
This review will be documented in the
safety evaluation report for the proposed
license amendment. The staff’s review
will determine whether there is
reasonable assurance that adequate
protective measures can and will be
taken in the event of a radiological
emergency in accordance with 10 CFR
50.47 and the requirements in appendix
E to 10 CFR part 50.
The proposed action is needed to
make DAEC’s EPZ boundary more
consistent with the existing roads and
easier to implement more effectively.
While changing the southern boundary
to Highway 30 will decrease the size of
the EPZ slightly, it will enhance local
law enforcement’s ability to evacuate
the affected population as well as
improve their ability to control access
back into the evacuated areas. The
licensee states in its application (Adams
Accession No. ML171028184) that the
changes to the EPZ were approved by
both the State of Iowa and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA).
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19:52 Oct 04, 2017
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Environmental Impacts of the Proposed
Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation
of environmental effects of the proposed
action. The proposed action consists of
a modification to the DAEC EPZ
boundary and revision to the DAEC ETE
study to account for the EPZ boundary
changes. Notable proposed changes are:
(a) Modification of Subarea 24 of the
DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway EPZ by
designating U.S. Highway 30 as its
southern boundary, which will slightly
decrease the total size of the EPZ, and
(b) revision of the DAEC ETE study to
account for the EPZ boundary changes.
The proposed changes would have no
direct impacts on land use or water
resources, including terrestrial and
aquatic biota as the proposed action
involves no new construction or
modification of plant operational
systems. There would be no changes to
the quality or quantity of nonradiological effluents. No changes to the
plant’s National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permit are needed.
Changes to the Southern boundary of
the EPZ to Highway 30, a four-lane
highway, could result in minor changes
in vehicular traffic and associated air
pollutant emissions, but no significant
changes in ambient air quality would be
expected. In addition, there would be no
noticeable effect on socioeconomic
conditions in the region, no
environment justice impacts, and no
impacts to historic and cultural
resources. Therefore, there would be no
significant non-radiological impacts
associated with the proposed action.
The NRC has concluded that the
proposed action would not significantly
affect plant safety and would not have
a significant adverse effect on the
probability of an accident occurring.
There would be no change to
radioactive effluents that affect radiation
exposures to plant workers and
members of the public. No changes
would be made to plant buildings or the
site property. Changing the southern
boundary of the EPZ to Highway 30 will
slightly decrease the size of the EPZ;
therefore, some residents that are
located within the original EPZ
boundary would no longer be subject to
actions under the DAEC emergency
plan. In the event of an accident, those
residents not located in the EPZ could
potentially receive a slightly higher
radiation dose than those remaining
within the modified EPZ, as they would
no longer get mandated instructions
from local law enforcement or other first
responders pertaining to sheltering,
evacuation, or other actions DAEC
deems necessary to take under its
PO 00000
Frm 00067
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
emergency plan. However, as stated
above, the NRC would only approve a
reduction in the overall size of the
DAEC EPZ if there is reasonable
assurance that adequate protective
measures can and will be taken in the
event of a radiological emergency in
accordance with NRC’s regulations in 10
CFR part 50. As a result, the potential
radiological dose increase to the
residents located outside of the EPZ
would not be significant, and in any
event, residents located outside of the
EPZ would be evaluated on an ad-hoc
basis based on specific conditions.
Therefore, the proposed action would
not result in a significant change to the
radiation exposures to the public or
radiation exposure to plant workers.
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that
there would be no significant
environmental impacts associated with
the proposed action.
Environmental Impacts of the
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed
action, the NRC considered denial of the
proposed action (i.e., the ‘‘no-action’’
alternative). Denial of the license
amendment request would result in no
change in current environmental
impacts. Therefore, the environmental
impacts of the proposed action and the
denial of the exemption request would
be similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
There are no unresolved conflicts
concerning alternative uses of available
resources under the proposed action.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On September 8, 2017, the NRC staff
consulted with the Iowa State official
regarding the environmental impact of
the proposed action. The state official
had no comments.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The licensee has requested a license
amendment pursuant to 10 CFR 50.54(q)
to modify the DAEC Plume Exposure
Pathway Emergency Planning Zone
boundary. The NRC is considering
issuing the requested amendments. The
proposed action would not significantly
affect plant safety, would not have a
significant adverse effect on the
probability of an accident occurring,
and would not have any significant
radiological and non-radiological
impacts. The reason the environment
would not be significantly affected is
because the proposed changes would
only result in minor changes in
associated vehicular traffic, along with
resulting air pollutant emissions and
would not result in a significant change
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 192 / Thursday, October 5, 2017 / Notices
to radiation exposures to the public or
plant workers. This FONSI incorporates
by reference the EA in Section II of this
notice. Therefore, the NRC concludes
that the proposed action will not have
a significant effect on the quality of the
human environment. Accordingly, the
NRC has determined not to prepare an
environmental impact statement for the
proposed action.
The related environmental document
is the ‘‘Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for License Renewal of
Nuclear Plants: Regarding Duane Arnold
Energy Center, Final Report,’’ NUREG–
1437, Supplement 42. The NUREG–
1437, Supplement 42, provides the
latest environmental review of current
operations and description of
environmental conditions at DAEC.
The finding and other related
environmental documents may be
examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the
NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR),
located at One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852. Publicly-available records will
be accessible electronically from
ADAMS Public Electronic Reading
Room on the Internet at the NRC’s Web
site: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html.
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 by telephone at 1–800–
397–4209 or 301–415–4737, or send an
email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
IV. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the
following table are available to
interested persons through one or more
of the following methods, as indicated.
ADAMS
Accession
No./web link/
Federal
Register
citation
Document
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, License Amendment Request (TSCR–165) for Revision to Emergency Planning Zone in
the Duane Arnold Energy Center Emergency Plan, Dated March 31, 2017 ..................................................................................
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, Evaluation of Proposed Amendment for License Amendment Request (TSCR–165) for Revision to Emergency Planning Zone in the Duane Arnold Energy Center Emergency Plan, Dated March 31, 2017 ....................
NUREG–1437, Supplement 42, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants: Regarding
Duane Arnold Energy Center, Final Report, Dated October 2010 ..................................................................................................
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day
of September 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mahesh L. Chawla,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch
LPL3, Division of Operating Reactor
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017–21498 Filed 10–4–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
I. Obtaining Information and
Submitting Comments
[NRC–2017–0122]
Information Collection: Notices,
Instructions and Reports to Workers:
Inspection and Investigations
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of submission to the
Office of Management and Budget;
request for comment.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) invites public
comment on the renewal of Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
approval for an existing collection of
information. The information collection
is entitled, ‘‘Notices, Instructions and
Reports to Workers: Inspection and
Investigations.’’
DATES: Submit comments by November
6, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments directly
to the OMB reviewer at: Aaron Szabo,
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SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
19:52 Oct 04, 2017
Desk Officer, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs 3150–0044, NEOB–
10202, Office of Management and
Budget, Washington, DC 20503;
telephone: 202–395–3621, email: oira_
submission@omb.eop.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David Cullison, NRC Clearance Officer,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington DC 20555–0001; telephone:
301–415–2084; email:
INFOCOLLECTS.resource@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Jkt 244001
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2017–
0122 when contacting the NRC about
the availability of information for this
action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this
action by any of the following methods:
• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2017–0122.
• NRC’s Agencywide Documents
Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable 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
PO 00000
Frm 00068
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
ML17102B183
ML17102B184
ML102790308
1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by
email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The
supporting statement is available in
ADAMS under Accession No.
ML17194A752.
• 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.
• NRC’s Clearance Officer: A copy of
the collection of information and related
instructions may be obtained without
charge by contacting the NRC’s
Clearance Officer, David Cullison,
Office of the Chief Information Officer,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone:
301–415–2084; email:
INFOCOLLECTS.resource@nrc.gov.
B. Submitting Comments
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. All comment
submissions are posted at https://
www.regulations.gov and entered into
ADAMS. Comment submissions are not
routinely edited to remove identifying
or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating
comments from other persons for
submission to the OMB, 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
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 192 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46541-46543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-21498]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-331; NRC-2017-0200]
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC.; Duane Arnold Energy Center,
Unit No. 1
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact;
issuance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is making a
finding of no significant impact for a proposed issuance of an
amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-49 held by
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC. (NextEra, the licensee) for the
operation of Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC), located in Linn County,
Iowa. The proposed amendment would modify the DAEC Plume Exposure
Pathway emergency planning zone (EPZ) boundary and revise the DAEC
evacuation time estimate (ETE) study to account for the EPZ boundary
changes.
DATES: The environmental assessment (EA) referenced in this document is
available on October 5, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0200 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2017-0200. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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. For
the convenience of the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided
in a table in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this
document.
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: Mahesh L. Chawla, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-8371; email: Mahesh.Chawla@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is considering issuance of amendments pursuant to Sec.
50.54 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
``Conditions of licenses,'' paragraph (q), to Renewed Facility
Operating License No. DPR-49, held by NextEra Duane Arnold, LLC.
(NextEra, the licensee) for the operation of Duane Arnold Energy Center
(DAEC), located in Linn County, Iowa.
In accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC has prepared an EA that
analyzes the environmental effects of the proposed licensing action.
Based on the results of the EA, and in accordance with 10 CFR 51.31(a),
the NRC has prepared a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the
proposed amendments.
II. Environmental Assessment
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would revise the DAEC Renewed Facility
Operating License in order to set the DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway
emergency planning zone (EPZ) boundary for an area beyond the 10-mile
required EPZ pathway. The proposed action is in accordance with the
licensee's application dated March 31, 2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos.
ML17102B183 and ML17102B184) and with current NRC's regulations in 10
CFR 50.47, and 10 CFR part 50, appendix E.
Notable proposed changes are (a) modification of Subarea 24 of the
DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway EPZ by designating U.S. Highway 30 as its
southern boundary, which will slightly decrease the total size of the
EPZ, and (b) revision of the DAEC evacuation
[[Page 46542]]
time estimate (ETE) study to account for the EPZ boundary changes.
Need for the Proposed Action
Nuclear power plant owners, government agencies, and State and
local officials work together to create a system for emergency
preparedness and response that will serve the public in the unlikely
event of an emergency. An effective emergency preparedness program
helps decrease the consequences of an initiating event at a nuclear
power reactor that proceeds to a severe accident. Emergency
preparedness cannot affect the probability of the initiating event, but
a high level of emergency preparedness increases the probability of
accident mitigation if the initiating event proceeds beyond the need
for initial operator actions.
Each licensee is required to establish emergency plans to be
implemented in the event of an accident. These emergency plans cover
preparations for evacuation, sheltering, and other actions to protect
residents near plants in the event of a serious incident.
The NRC, as well as other Federal and state regulatory agencies
review the subject plans to ensure that the condition of emergency
preparedness provides reasonable assurance that adequate protective
measures can and will be taken in the event of a radiological
emergency.
Separate from this EA, the NRC staff is evaluating NextEra's
proposed changes to the EPZ boundary for DAEC. This review will be
documented in the safety evaluation report for the proposed license
amendment. The staff's review will determine whether there is
reasonable assurance that adequate protective measures can and will be
taken in the event of a radiological emergency in accordance with 10
CFR 50.47 and the requirements in appendix E to 10 CFR part 50.
The proposed action is needed to make DAEC's EPZ boundary more
consistent with the existing roads and easier to implement more
effectively. While changing the southern boundary to Highway 30 will
decrease the size of the EPZ slightly, it will enhance local law
enforcement's ability to evacuate the affected population as well as
improve their ability to control access back into the evacuated areas.
The licensee states in its application (Adams Accession No.
ML171028184) that the changes to the EPZ were approved by both the
State of Iowa and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of environmental effects of
the proposed action. The proposed action consists of a modification to
the DAEC EPZ boundary and revision to the DAEC ETE study to account for
the EPZ boundary changes. Notable proposed changes are: (a)
Modification of Subarea 24 of the DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway EPZ by
designating U.S. Highway 30 as its southern boundary, which will
slightly decrease the total size of the EPZ, and (b) revision of the
DAEC ETE study to account for the EPZ boundary changes.
The proposed changes would have no direct impacts on land use or
water resources, including terrestrial and aquatic biota as the
proposed action involves no new construction or modification of plant
operational systems. There would be no changes to the quality or
quantity of non-radiological effluents. No changes to the plant's
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit are needed.
Changes to the Southern boundary of the EPZ to Highway 30, a four-lane
highway, could result in minor changes in vehicular traffic and
associated air pollutant emissions, but no significant changes in
ambient air quality would be expected. In addition, there would be no
noticeable effect on socioeconomic conditions in the region, no
environment justice impacts, and no impacts to historic and cultural
resources. Therefore, there would be no significant non-radiological
impacts associated with the proposed action.
The NRC has concluded that the proposed action would not
significantly affect plant safety and would not have a significant
adverse effect on the probability of an accident occurring. There would
be no change to radioactive effluents that affect radiation exposures
to plant workers and members of the public. No changes would be made to
plant buildings or the site property. Changing the southern boundary of
the EPZ to Highway 30 will slightly decrease the size of the EPZ;
therefore, some residents that are located within the original EPZ
boundary would no longer be subject to actions under the DAEC emergency
plan. In the event of an accident, those residents not located in the
EPZ could potentially receive a slightly higher radiation dose than
those remaining within the modified EPZ, as they would no longer get
mandated instructions from local law enforcement or other first
responders pertaining to sheltering, evacuation, or other actions DAEC
deems necessary to take under its emergency plan. However, as stated
above, the NRC would only approve a reduction in the overall size of
the DAEC EPZ if there is reasonable assurance that adequate protective
measures can and will be taken in the event of a radiological emergency
in accordance with NRC's regulations in 10 CFR part 50. As a result,
the potential radiological dose increase to the residents located
outside of the EPZ would not be significant, and in any event,
residents located outside of the EPZ would be evaluated on an ad-hoc
basis based on specific conditions. Therefore, the proposed action
would not result in a significant change to the radiation exposures to
the public or radiation exposure to plant workers.
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there would be no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC considered denial
of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of
the license amendment request would result in no change in current
environmental impacts. Therefore, the environmental impacts of the
proposed action and the denial of the exemption request would be
similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
There are no unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of
available resources under the proposed action.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On September 8, 2017, the NRC staff consulted with the Iowa State
official regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The
state official had no comments.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The licensee has requested a license amendment pursuant to 10 CFR
50.54(q) to modify the DAEC Plume Exposure Pathway Emergency Planning
Zone boundary. The NRC is considering issuing the requested amendments.
The proposed action would not significantly affect plant safety, would
not have a significant adverse effect on the probability of an accident
occurring, and would not have any significant radiological and non-
radiological impacts. The reason the environment would not be
significantly affected is because the proposed changes would only
result in minor changes in associated vehicular traffic, along with
resulting air pollutant emissions and would not result in a significant
change
[[Page 46543]]
to radiation exposures to the public or plant workers. This FONSI
incorporates by reference the EA in Section II of this notice.
Therefore, the NRC concludes that the proposed action will not have a
significant effect on the quality of the human environment.
Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental
impact statement for the proposed action.
The related environmental document is the ``Generic Environmental
Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants: Regarding Duane
Arnold Energy Center, Final Report,'' NUREG-1437, Supplement 42. The
NUREG-1437, Supplement 42, provides the latest environmental review of
current operations and description of environmental conditions at DAEC.
The finding and other related environmental documents may be
examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room
(PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland 20852. Publicly-available records will be
accessible electronically from ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room on
the Internet at the NRC's Web site: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
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 by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or
send an email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov.
IV. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADAMS
Accession No./
web link/
Document Federal
Register
citation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, License Amendment ML17102B183
Request (TSCR-165) for Revision to Emergency Planning
Zone in the Duane Arnold Energy Center Emergency Plan,
Dated March 31, 2017...................................
NextEra Energy Duane Arnold, LLC, Evaluation of Proposed ML17102B184
Amendment for License Amendment Request (TSCR-165) for
Revision to Emergency Planning Zone in the Duane Arnold
Energy Center Emergency Plan, Dated March 31, 2017.....
NUREG-1437, Supplement 42, Generic Environmental Impact ML102790308
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants:
Regarding Duane Arnold Energy Center, Final Report,
Dated October 2010.....................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mahesh L. Chawla,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch LPL3, Division of Operating
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-21498 Filed 10-4-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
