Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC; Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, 57777-57778 [2019-23419]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 208 (Monday, October 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57777-57778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-23419]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-1151; NRC-2015-0039]


Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC; Columbia Fuel Fabrication 
Facility

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of withdrawal of environmental assessment; issuance of 
draft environmental assessment and draft finding of no significant 
impact; public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing 
its June 2018 final environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no 
significant impact (FONSI) concerning the license renewal request from 
Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC's (WEC) Columbia Fuel Fabrication 
Facility (CFFF). Because of its withdrawal, the NRC is issuing for 
public comment a new draft EA and draft FONSI concerning WEC's CFFF. 
The draft EA, ``Environmental Assessment for the Renewal of SNM-1107, 
Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in Richland County, South 
Carolina,'' documents the NRC staff's new environmental review of the 
license renewal application. The NRC is announcing a public meeting and 
an open house. The public meeting will allow interested members of the 
public to submit their comments on the draft EA.

DATES: Comments must be filed no later than November 27, 2019. Comments 
received after this date will be considered, if it is practical to do 
so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for 
comments received on or before this date. The NRC is announcing a 
public meeting and an open house. The public meeting will allow 
interested members of the public to submit their comments.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0039. Address 
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov 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.
     Mail comments to: Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 
TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-
0001, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff.
     Email comments to: [email protected].
    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: Jessie Muir Quintero, Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7476; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0039 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0039.
     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 ``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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2015-0039 in your comment submission. 
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 will post all comment submissions at https://www.regulations.gov/ as well as enter 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 into ADAMS.

II. Introduction

    The NRC is considering a request from WEC (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML14213A105) for the renewal of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) license 
SNM-1107, which if approved, would authorize WEC to continue to operate 
the CFFF for an additional 40 years. The CFFF is located in Hopkins, 
South Carolina in Richland County.
    In June 2018, the NRC published a final EA that documented the 
environmental impacts of continued operation of the CFFF for an 
additional 40 years (ADAMS Accession No. ML18120A318). Based on the 
results of the EA, the NRC issued a FONSI. The NRC noticed issuance of 
the EA and FONSI on June 15, 2018 (83 FR 28014). Shortly thereafter, in 
July 2018, there was an equipment leak at the CFFF that resulted in 
uranium entering the subsurface under the main facility building. In 
addition, WEC initiated an investigation, under the purview of the 
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, into a 
past leak from a buried pipe that also allowed uranium to enter the 
subsurface. Because of that new information and public concern about 
the releases, the NRC decided to re-open its environmental review. 
Therefore, the EA and FONSI, issued in June 2018, have been withdrawn.

[[Page 57778]]

    In accordance with the NRC's regulations in part 51 of title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental Protection 
Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' 
that implement the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the NRC staff has prepared a 
draft EA documenting its new review of the environmental impacts of 
continued operation for another 40 years. Based on the environmental 
review, the NRC has made a preliminary determination that the proposed 
action will not significantly affect the quality of the human 
environment, and that a FONSI is therefore appropriate.
    By this notice, the NRC is requesting public comment on the draft 
FONSI and supporting draft EA.

III. Summary of Draft Environmental Assessment

    The draft EA is publicly available in ADAMS (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML19228A278), or at this link: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1922/ML19228a278.pdf. A summary description of the proposed action and 
expected environmental impacts is provided below.

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed Federal action is approval of WEC's license renewal 
request, which if granted would allow WEC to continue fabricating low-
enriched uranium fuel assemblies at the CFFF and continue to be a 
source of nuclear fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. The 
proposed action analyzed in the draft EA is a renewed license term of 
40 years, which is the term WEC has requested.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In the draft EA, the NRC staff assessed the potential environmental 
impacts from the proposed license renewal associated with the following 
resource areas: land use; geology and soils; water resources; 
ecological resources; cultural resources; air quality; socioeconomics; 
environmental justice; noise and aesthetics; public and occupational 
health; transportation; and waste management. The NRC staff also 
considered the cumulative impacts from past, present, and reasonably 
foreseeable future actions when combined with the proposed action.
    The NRC staff determined that continued CFFF operations would not 
result in significant environmental impacts. The WEC is not proposing 
changes in authorized operations or activities. Past and current 
activities at CFFF have resulted in soil, surface water, and 
groundwater contamination from radiological and nonradiological 
contaminants onsite. The WEC has proposed changes to its NRC-required 
environmental monitoring program, because of the contamination, that 
would be implemented during the period of the renewed license. The WEC 
will also implement actions related to the investigation and 
remediation of contamination and response to future releases under a 
Consent Agreement with South Carolina Department of Health and 
Environmental Control.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As one alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered 
denial of WEC's license renewal request (i.e., the ``no-action'' 
alternative), where NRC would not approve the license renewal. The CFFF 
would continue to operate under its current license until it expires in 
2027. The NRC staff previously evaluated the environmental impacts of 
WEC operating until 2027 when it approved WEC's license renewal in 
2007. The NRC staff concluded in the 2007 EA that the continued 
operation of the CFFF would not result in significant impact to the 
environment (ADAMS Accession No. ML070510647).
    As another alternative, the NRC considered approval of WEC's 
renewal request, but for a duration of less than 40 years. The WEC 
would continue operating for a period of less than 40 years, resulting 
in potential impacts that would be similar to those of the proposed 
action. The impacts from decommissioning would be similar but occur 
earlier.

IV. Draft FONSI

    In accordance with NEPA and 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has 
conducted an environmental review of WEC's request to renew its NRC 
license SNM-1107 to allow WEC to continue its fuel fabrication 
operations at the CFFF. Based on its environmental review of the 
proposed action, as documented in the draft EA, the NRC staff 
preliminarily determined that granting the requested license renewal 
would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. 
Therefore, the NRC staff makes its preliminary determination, pursuant 
to 10 CFR 51.31, that the preparation of an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) is not required for the proposed action and a draft 
FONSI is appropriate.
    The draft FONSI and supporting draft EA are a preliminary analysis 
of the environmental impacts of the proposed action and its 
alternatives. Based on comments received on the draft FONSI and draft 
EA, the staff may publish a final FONSI and final EA, or instead may 
find that preparation of an EIS is warranted should significant impacts 
resulting from the proposed action be identified. Should an EIS be 
warranted, a Notice of Intent to prepare the EIS will be published in 
the Federal Register.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.33(a), the NRC staff is making the draft 
FONSI and draft EA available for public review and comment.

V. Meeting Information

    The NRC is announcing that staff will hold a public comment meeting 
and open house to accept comments on the draft EA. The public meeting 
will be held on Thursday, November 14, 2019, at the Medallion 
Conference Center located at 7309 Garners Ferry Road in Columbia, South 
Carolina. The open house will begin at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting will 
run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Persons interested in attending this 
meeting should check the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule web page at 
https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg for additional information.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of October, 2019.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John R. Tappert,
Director, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, 
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2019-23419 Filed 10-25-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P