ML023050100
| ML023050100 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Surry  |
| Issue date: | 11/01/2002 |
| From: | Kugler A NRC/NRR/DRIP/RLEP |
| To: | |
| Kugler A, NRR.DRIP/RLEP, 415-2828 | |
| References | |
| SIP Test Sample upto2-6-04, TAC MB1992, TAC MB1993 | |
| Download: ML023050100 (10) | |
Text
November 1, 2002 NOTE TO:
File FROM:
Andrew J. Kugler, Sr. Environmental Project Manager /RA/
Environmental Section Licence Renewal and Environmental Impacts Program Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
DOCKETING OF EMAILS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STAFFS BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT CONCERNING EAGLES UNDER LICENSE RENEWAL FOR SURRY POWER STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 (TAC NOS. MB1992 AND MB1993)
The staff used information derived from the following emails while developing its biological assessment of the effects of license renewal for Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2, on bald eagles:
1.
September 9, 2002, email from T. Banks (Virginia Electric and Power Company or VEPCo) regarding the location of active bald eagle nests and eagle concentration areas in the vicinity of Surry Power Station and its transmission line corridors.
2.
September 27, 2002, email from T. Banks (VEPCo) regarding the location of active bald eagle nests in the vicinity of Surry Power Station and its transmission line corridors.
3.
October 18, 2002, email from T. Banks (VEPCo) regarding Surry Power Station transmission line right-of-way maintenance practices.
4.
October 25, 2002, email from B. Watts, Center for Conservation Biology, College of William and Mary, regarding locations of bald eagle nests.
These emails are being docketed to ensure the public has access to them.
Docket Nos. 50-280 and 50-281 Attachments: As stated
November 1, 2002 NOTE TO:
File FROM:
Andrew J. Kugler, Sr. Environmental Project Manager /RA/
Environmental Section Licence Renewal and Environmental Impacts Program Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
SUBJECT:
DOCKETING OF EMAILS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STAFFS BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT CONCERNING EAGLES UNDER LICENSE RENEWAL FOR SURRY POWER STATION, UNITS 1 AND 2 (TAC NOS. MB1992 AND MB1993)
The staff used information derived from the following emails while developing its biological assessment of the effects of license renewal for Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2, on bald eagles:
1.
September 9, 2002, email from T. Banks (Virginia Electric and Power Company or VEPCo) regarding the location of active bald eagle nests and eagle concentration areas in the vicinity of Surry Power Station and its transmission line corridors.
2.
September 27, 2002, email from T. Banks (VEPCo) regarding the location of active bald eagle nests in the vicinity of Surry Power Station and its transmission line corridors.
3.
October 18, 2002, email from T. Banks (VEPCo) regarding Surry Power Station transmission line right-of-way maintenance practices.
4.
October 25, 2002, email from B. Watts, Center for Conservation Biology, College of William and Mary, regarding locations of bald eagle nests.
These emails are being docketed to ensure the public has access to them.
Docket Nos. 50-280 and 50-281 Attachments: As stated DISTRIBUTION:
Environmental R/F AKugler CBrandt (email charles.brandt@pnl.gov)
JBecker (email james.becker@pnl.gov)
ACCESSION NO.: ML023050100
- See previous concurrence FILENAME: C:\\ORPCheckout\\FileNET\\ML023050100.wpd OFFICE PM:RLEP NAME AKugler*
DATE 11/01 /02 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
1 Mr. Banks later corrected the mesh size to 3/16" by 1/2".
ATTACHMENT 1 From:
<Tony_Banks@dom.com>
To:
<bxz@nrc.gov>, <ajk1@nrc.gov>, <mtm2@nrc.gov>
Date:
9/9/02 9:10AM
Subject:
Re: Followup on Consultation
- Barry, I received your e-mail of 09/05/02, spoke with Mike Masnik on 09/06/02, and left a follow-on message on his voice-mail.
Below are our responses to the bald eagle questions you sent a week ago (also below). Im not sure if you have contacted Va DGIFs Tom Wilcox yet, but my impression is although there are aerials available from annual flyovers they would prefer not to publish a mapping of nest locations. If you need something more on that let me know. Regarding the Surry screen mesh size, the message was that, according to the Intake Structure Supervisor Mike Mitchell, the measurements are indeed 3/8" x 1/2" rectangular stainless steel1.
We have also conversed again with the agencies that are familiar with both of these issues, Va DGIF and Va DEQ, respectively.
Let me know if there is anything else I can do to assist in the process.
Thank you.
Tony Banks 804/273-2170
- 1. The VDGIF and USFWS in concert with the Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary perform a number of Bald Eagle surveys in the Commonwealth each year.
One of these surveys includes both a mapping of eagle nest sites and a census of rearing success for each nest. These reports should have locations of nest sites for the entire state including the area around Surry Power Station. It is our understanding that the results of the surveys are reported to the VDGIF and the FWS including nest locations,etc.
According to DGIF and Center of Conservation Biology correspondence as of May 7, 2002 (ie following the annual March flyover), there are 3 active bald eagle nests within ~2.5 miles of the site.
The farthest nest is located on the transmission line ~2.5 miles (4000+ meters) south of the plant. This nest was relocated from a point on the same transmission line that was previously
~0.5 mile closer to the plant. The report we have is unclear as to whether the abandoned nest is still standing.
The next closest nest is located on the refuge ~1 mile (1600+ meters) northeast of the plant.
A new nest was reported this year ~0.25 mile west of the plant. The marked up topo we were sent shows it somewhere beyond the firing range. We have yet to ground truth and document
this newly reported location. If the spot on my map is correct, there is a good likelihood that this nest is in fact on company property.
- 2. The SEIS reports that there are no known eagle concentration areas on site property. To the best of our knowledge there are no known roosting areas on site.
- 3. We rely primarily each year on the reports from the flyovers to let us know where there are nests that we should put into our planning schedule (eg Plans and Profiles data base) for ROW maintenance. We adhere to Bald Eagle Management Guidelines or, in some cases, we make site visits with the DGIF for more specific guidance which they coordinate with the FWS.
Occasionally, we receive reports of nests from other sources and relay these reports to the DGIF. We have lineman "eyes and ears" out in the field to bring nests to our attention. Our procedures for dealing with such nests would be on a case-by-case basis and would be coordinated with DGIF and FWS, consistent with Bald Eagle Management Guidelines and agency approval.
- 4. We have one of the most rigorous Raptor Incident Reporting systems in the country that was developed in concert with the VDGIF, Center for Conservation Biology and the FWS.
Included in this RIR system is a component for reporting all electrocutions to the local FWS enforcement section. As has been clearly demonstrated in the literature, and also in our reporting history, birds are not susceptible to electrocution on Transmission Lines. Therefore there are no electrocution issues on the Transmission Lines serving SPS.
Additionally all of the studies and literature also suggest that collisions by raptors with the transmission lines is extremely rare because of their acute vision, maneuverability, and they do not fly in "flocks". In fact many raptors actually select transmission towers for nest sites.We have had no reports of raptor collisions with the lines associated with SPS.
Barry Zalcman <BXZ@nrc.gov>
To: <Tony_Banks@dom.com>
cc: <Bill_Bolin@dom.com>, <Michael_Henig@dom.com>, "Andrew Kugler"
<AJK1@nrc.gov>, "Michael Masnik" <MTM2@nrc.gov>
08/30/02 05:16 PM
Subject:
Followup on DOI Recommendation for Consultation Sorry I missed you Friday. Hope you enjoyed the long weekend.
Were in good stead with the status on the draft of the final SEIS. We elected to initiate the consultation process with the FWS on the bald eagle and the Final will represent the status of that consultation.
In order to prepare our biological assessment regarding potential impacts of license renewal for Surry Power Station, we need to obtain VEPCos insights on a number of issues. This will help us put the BEPG criteria into context. It would be helpful if you could provide the VEPCo response by the 13th.
- 1) [While the following could be represented in map form, we are concerned about the disclosure of bald eagle nesting sites.] What Surry site areas fall in close proximity to the bald eagle nest sites (both active and abandoned). This should be characterized as on-site, the site boundaries that may be within 500 m of a nest, and the transmission lines (associated with license renewal) that may be within 500 m of a nest.
- 2) Where are roosting areas (tree stands) used by bald eagles within the site area boundaries?
[This should be provided in map form.]
- 3) What are the VEPCo procedures for surveying power lines to determine the presence of nesting birds, particularly eagles, on the towers or trees associated with the right-of-way, and the VEPCo procedures for dealing with such nests.
- 4) What are the VEPCo procedures for documenting bird electrocutions and collisions with power lines and towers, and what is the inventory of dead large birds that have been found within the rights-of-way during the past decade for those lines associated with license renewal.
If you believe that it is necessary, we can follow this up with a letter. In any case, this e-mail will become part of the record.
CC:
<Julius_Wroniewicz@dom.com>, <Michael_Henig@dom.com>,
<Paul_Aitken@dom.com>, <Tom_Snow@dom.com>, <Judson_White@dom.com>,
<Bill_Bolin@dom.com>, <Glenn_Bishop@dom.com>
ATTACHMENT 2 From:
<Tony_Banks@dom.com>
To:
<james.becker@pnl.gov>, <charles.brandt@pnl.gov>,
<tara.eschbach@pnl.gov>, <ajk1@nrc.gov>, <mtm2@nrc.gov>
Date:
9/27/02 2:00PM
Subject:
Surry Bald Eagle Nest Search
Forwarded by Tony Banks/NUC/VANCPOWER on 09/27/02 12:55 PM -----
Glenn Bishop 09/26/02 09:52 AM To: Tony Banks/NUC/VANCPOWER@VANCPOWER cc:
Bill Bolin/LR/FH/VANCPOWER@VANCPOWER, Mike Holland/NUC/VANCPOWER@VANCPOWER, Russell Savedge/NUC/VANCPOWER@VANCPOWER
Subject:
Surry Bald Eagle Nest Search The VDGIF and USFWS in concert with the Center for Conservation Biology at William and Mary perform a number of bald eagle surveys in the Commonwealth each year. A new nest was observed and reported this year during VDGIFs annual flyover, tentatively identified as being located ~0.25 west of the Surry Power Station on land behind the site security firing range.
Glenn Bishop of Dominions Environmental Policy & Compliance Dept met with Jeff Cooper and Brian Moyer (both with VDGIF) on 9/25/02 at Surry in an attempt to confirm and ground truth the reported nest location. They searched for several hours but could not find the nest. Both groups GPS units, independently programmed based on the topographic map nest coordinates, led them to the same area where the search was concentrated. They concurred that the reported nest location was probably incorrect but agreed to try and observe the nests location at another time. It is their thought that the nest is located further south and west of the plant and not on Company property.
It was noted that the range is visually shielded from the surrounding area by high safety berms and dense woods to the west, south and east (the discharge canal abuts the range on the north end). It was that the obvious existence and practices at the firing range represented ambient, and apparently non-disturbing conditions during the period required to establish the new nest.
Security discussed that personnel had often observed the birds perching in nearby trees during active range training sessions.
It was requested and received from VDGIF that Surry security personnel could continue their current range practices. A follow-up effort for observation was discussed and would be coordinated at a later time.
Tony Banks, Glenn Bishop CC:
<Glenn_Bishop@dom.com>, <Bill_Bolin@dom.com>,
<Julius_Wroniewicz@dom.com>, <Michael_Henig@dom.com>, <Paul_Aitken@dom.com>,
<Tom_Snow@dom.com>, <pattersonk@ttnus.com>
ATTACHMENT 3 From:
<Tony_Banks@dom.com>
To:
<ajk1@nrc.gov>
Date:
10/18/02 11:51AM
Subject:
phone conversations regarding eagles
- Andy, While you were in Hanford reviewing comments for our Final SEISs, on 9/30/02 and 10/01/02 I had phone conversations with Jim Becker of PNNL regarding the biological assessment he was writing for Surry. Specifically, we discussed the company and state agency walkdown at Surry to "ground-truth" an eagles nest sited from a Va DGIF (Dept of Game & Inland Fisheries) annual flyover which took place in Feb/Mar of this year.
We also teleconferenced with Brian Watts of Va DGIF to discuss other nest sites along transmission corridors and proximities to RIght-of-Ways, relative to Virginia Bald Eagle Protection Guidelines. A follow-up conversation was held after I confirmed with our company biologists that ROW maintenance procedures, practices and/or schedules are sensitive to not causing disturbance to T&E species and plant habitats.
Let me know if you have any additional questions regarding this issue.
Tony Banks 804/273-2170
ATTACHMENT 4 From:
Bryan Watts Sent:
Friday, October 25, 2002 12:17 PM To:
Becker, James M Cc:
Brandt, Charles A
Subject:
Re: Confirmation needed of the content of our telephone conversations concerning the bald eagle for NRCs docketing/making available to the public the bald eagle Biological Assessment for the relicensing of Surry Power Station In looking at our flight maps it appears that 4 of the nests along the Hog Island boundary were on the SPS side 3 of which are likely still standing. These nests have been abandoned for many years and so no longer have any evidence of a nest remaining.
Bryan Becker, James M wrote:
- Brian, Thanks very much for your reply.
I will use the word "several" instead of 8.
I will note not all the abandoned nest trees have been lost to windthrow, and that those remaining are along the Hog Island boundary.
One final question:
My statement in the below e-mail that "The history of nest abandonment ON THE SPS SITE was also discussed,...." -- Since the abandoned nest trees that remain (i.e., have not been toppled by wind) are all along the Hog Island boundary and not on the SPS site, were any of the abandoned nest trees ever on the SPS site? Or were these simply in the vicinity of the SPS site?
- Thanks, Jim
Original Message-----
From:
Bryan Watts Sent:
Tuesday, October 22, 2002 10:33 AM To:
Becker, James M
Subject:
Re: Confirmation needed of the content of our telephone conversations concerning the bald eagle for NRCs docketing/making available to the public the bald eagle Biological Assessment for the relicensing of Surry Power Station Jim:
Sorry for the slow response. I have been down in NC meeting with FWS about research results.
Most of what you state is accurate. I dont think that I mentioned that there had been 8 nest sites around the facility over the years. I would have to look back and confirm that this is the
case. Regardless of the number, all have not been lost to windthrow. There are still some old nest trees standing in the area that have not been used for a long time. I cant think of any that are adjacent to the property but there are a couple along the boundary of Hog Island.
The rest of what you state is accurate.
Dr. Bryan D. Watts, Director Center for Conservation Biology College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795 (757) 221-2247 Becker, James M wrote:
- Brian, Sorry to bother you again.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is in the process of docketing/making available to the public the bald eagle Biological Assessment (BA) I wrote for the relicensing of Surry Power Station (SPS). To this end, the NRC requires affirmation of the accuracy of the personal communications referred to in the BA.
In the BA, I referenced two telephone conversations I had with you. The relevant portions of these conversations are provided below. Please confirm that these are either correct or incorrect in a reply to this e-mail. If I appear to have an incorrect or incomplete recollection of these conversations, please make such changes when replying to this e-mail.
Thanks again very much, Jim Becker September 11, 2002 phone conversation You confirmed that The Center for Conservation Biology at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, annually tracks locations of bald eagle nests throughout the Commonwealth. We discussed the 3 active nests in the vicinity of the SPS site, one south (near the transmission line to the Septa substation), one northeast (in the Hog Island Wildlife Management Area), and one west (newly constructed this year) of the site. The history of nest abandonment on the SPS site was also discussed, i.e., you mentioned that there have been at least 8 abandoned nests that have now been abandoned for at least 3 consecutive nesting seasons, and that since abandonment these nest trees have been toppled by wind.
September 30, 2002 phone conversation There is one active nest in the vicinity of the SPS transmission line corridors, adjacent to the south side of the James River near Hopewell.