Duke Energy Florida, LLC; Levy Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, 19306-19307 [2018-09236]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 2, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19306-19307]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09236]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 52-029 and 52-030; NRC-2008-0558]


Duke Energy Florida, LLC; Levy Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Termination of licenses.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is terminating 
the Levy Nuclear Plant (LNP) Units 1 and 2 Combined Licenses (COLs) 
designated as NPF-99 and NPF-100 and their included licenses to 
manufacture, produce, transfer, receive, acquire, own, possess, or use 
byproduct material. By letter dated January 25, 2018, Duke Energy 
Florida, LLC (Duke) requested that the NRC terminate the LNP COLs. 
Construction was not initiated for LNP Units 1 and 2, and nuclear 
materials were never procured or possessed under these licenses. 
Consequently, the LNP site is approved for unrestricted use.

DATES: The termination was issued on April 26, 2018.

[[Page 19307]]


ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0558 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 website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2008-0558. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges telephone: 301-287-9127; 
email: [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in 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: Brian Hughes, Office of New Reactors, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; 
telephone: 301-415-6582; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The NRC issued COLs NPF-99 and NPF-100 to Duke for LNP Units 1 and 
2 on October 26, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16176A200). Since issuance 
of the licenses, Duke has not begun construction or procured nuclear 
materials for use on the site. In Duke's letter dated November 6, 2017 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML17313A290), Duke informed the NRC that it no 
longer plans to move forward with building LNP Units 1 and 2 and would 
consequently submit an application for termination of the licenses. By 
subsequent letter dated January 25, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML18029A117), Duke requested termination of LNP COLs NPF-99 and NPF-100 
and their included title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 
parts 30, 40, and 70 licenses for LNP Units 1 and 2.

II. License Termination

    Termination of COLs issued under 10 CFR part 52 is controlled by 10 
CFR 52.110, ``Termination of license.'' As discussed in ``Current NRC 
Staff Views on Applying the 1987 Policy Statement on Deferred Plants'' 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML18065B257), the NRC staff does not apply the 
requirements for termination in 10 CFR 52.110 to plants that have not 
begun operation. Regardless, the staff finds that Duke's license 
termination application dated January 25, 2018, demonstrates that the 
criteria of 10 CFR 52.110 are met. Requirements for termination of the 
included licenses under sections 30.36, 40.42, and 70.38 of 10 CFR 
include the submission of NRC Form 314 or equivalent information. The 
staff finds that Duke met these requirements through the information 
provided as part of its January 25, 2018, submission.
    Further, as there was no construction on the LNP site and nuclear 
materials have never been procured or possessed under these licenses, 
there is no need for a site radiation survey to be conducted under 10 
CFR parts 30, 40, or 70. With no radiological contamination associated 
with the licenses, the LNP site may be released for unrestricted use 
pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1402.

III. Environmental Review

    Duke seeks to terminate the LNP Units 1 and 2 COLs for which 
construction never commenced and nuclear material was never procured or 
brought onsite. Terminating a COL is a licensing action that would 
ordinarily require an environmental assessment under 10 CFR 51.21, 
unless a categorical exclusion in 10 CFR 51.22(c) applies and no 
special circumstances under 10 CFR 51.22(b) exist. Actions listed in 10 
CFR 51.22(c) were previously found by the Commission to be part of a 
category of actions that ``does not individually or cumulatively have a 
significant effect on the human environment.''
    The categorical exclusion identified in 51.22(c)(20) includes:

    Decommissioning of sites where licensed operations have been 
limited to the use of--
    (i) Small quantities of short-lived radioactive materials;
    (ii) Radioactive materials in sealed sources, provided there is 
no evidence of leakage of radioactive material from these sealed 
sources; or
    (iii) Radioactive materials in such a manner that a 
decommissioning plan is not required by 10 CFR 30.36(g)(1), 
40.42(g)(1), or 70.38(g)(1) and the NRC has determined that the 
facility meets the radiological criteria for unrestricted use in 10 
CFR 20.1402 without further remediation or analysis.

    This categorical exclusion captures decommissioning activities at 
sites where contamination from radioactive material is determined to be 
nominal. In the case of LNP Units 1 and 2, no associated radiological 
contamination exists because construction never commenced and nuclear 
material was never procured or brought on site. As a result, a 
decommissioning plan for this site is not required by 10 CFR 
30.36(g)(1), 40.42(g)(1), or 70.38(g)(1), and the site meets the 
radiological criteria for unrestricted use in 10 CFR 20.1402 without 
further remediation or analysis. Further, no special circumstances 
under 10 CFR 51.22(b) apply. The factors listed in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(20) 
are consistent with the circumstances here because there is no 
environmental impact associated with the LNP COLs, which is even less 
than the nominal impacts anticipated by the categorical exclusion. 
Therefore, application of the categorical exclusion to the termination 
of the LNP COLs is warranted. Consequently, in accordance with 10 CFR 
51.21, an environmental assessment is not required for the termination 
of COLs NPF-99 and NPF-100 and their included 10 CFR parts 30, 40, and 
70 licenses.

IV. Conclusion

    As discussed above, the Commission has determined that the LNP COL 
termination request meets the categorical exclusion criteria set forth 
in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(20) and that the unrestricted use criteria pursuant 
to 10 CFR 20.1402 are met. The Commission grants Duke's request to 
terminate the COLs designated as NPF-99 and NPF-100 and their included 
10 CFR parts 30, 40, and 70 licenses for LNP Units 1 and 2. This 
license termination was effective upon Duke's receipt of NRC's 
termination letter, dated April 26, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML18107A111).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of April 2018.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jennifer L. Dixon-Herrity,
Chief, Licensing Branch 4, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of 
New Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2018-09236 Filed 5-1-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P