ML063330176
| ML063330176 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Oyster Creek |
| Issue date: | 12/05/2006 |
| From: | Kuo P NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR |
| To: | Colosi P US Dept of Commerce, National Marine Fisheries Service |
| Nash H, REBB/DLR/NRR, 415-4100 | |
| References | |
| Download: ML063330176 (6) | |
Text
December 5, 2006 Mr. Peter D. Colosi, Jr.
Assistant Regional Administrator for Habitat Conservation National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Regional Office One Blackburn Drive Gloucester, MA 09130-2298
SUBJECT:
RESPONSE TO ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT CONSERVATION RECOMMENDATION REGARDING THE PROPOSED LICENSE RENEWAL OF OYSTER CREEK NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION
Dear Mr. Colosi:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) received the letter, dated September 28, 2006, providing the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFSs) comments and conservation recommendation in response to the NRCs essential fish habitat (EFH) assessment for the proposed license renewal of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS). The EFH consultation was initiated pursuant to Section 305 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Public Law 94-265, December 1996), and the EFH assessment was included in an appendix to our draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) regarding OCNGS, which was issued in June 2006. In addition to responding to some of your comments on the SEIS, this letter contains the NRCs written response to your conservation recommendation, as required by Section 305(b)(4)(B) of the Act. NRC staff appreciates your willingness to grant us an extension for this written response until December 15, 2006.
NRC regulations (in 10 CFR 51) define NRCs impact categories as small, moderate, and large.
For fish and shellfish, such categorization is based on potential impacts to populations, not individual organisms. Thus, population-level impacts due to entrained and impinged organisms are assessed. Because the NRC and NMFS are governed primarily by different regulations, it is possible that each agency assesses environmental impacts on different trophic levels.
However, we believe both agencies share the same goal of protecting and sustaining aquatic resources in Barnegat Bay.
We also share your concern regarding the dated impingement mortality studies. The NRC determined that no recent impingement data were available when we began our review, and we recognize the limitations of the currently available impingement data. However, the NRC is required to conduct environmental analyses using the best available information; therefore, our SEIS and EFH assessment relied heavily on studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s.
Accordingly, the final SEIS will reflect the uncertainties and limitations of using historical monitoring data to evaluate future adverse impacts.
P. Colosi, Jr. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or delegated State as is the case with New Jersey, has the authority to require impingement monitoring studies whereas the NRC is prohibited from imposing any such monitoring programs. The State of New Jersey did not require any additional impingement monitoring studies after the 316(b) demonstration study for OCNGS was approved in the mid 1980s. To demonstrate compliance with EPAs Clean Water Act Section 316(b) Phase II regulations, the licensee began a comprehensive demonstration study in September 2005; the results will be available in January 2008.
While the draft SEIS does not specifically refer to any impacts on a major portion of Barnegat Bay as stated in your letter, the NRC has revised the SEIS to clarify that only portions of central Barnegat Bay adjacent to Forked River and Oyster Creek would be impacted by license renewal of OCNGS. Additionally, because there are no recent population data for species in Barnegat Bay, impacts on the food web in central Barnegat Bay are difficult to determine, which also will be clarified in the final SEIS.
Your letter also expressed concern with the high number of fish kills related to OCNGSs thermal discharge. There have been 37 fish kills since OCNGS began operating in 1969.
However, the number and frequency of fish kills have declined substantially since the 1970s, and the licensee has increased its awareness and response to such incidents over the years.
There is a fish kill monitoring procedure in place at OCNGS that requires a survey of the discharge canal and parts of Oyster Creek; the survey is conducted on foot or by boat using dip nets to retrieve the stressed and dead fish. A report to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the NRC includes the species and number of stressed or dead fish collected. In the past, underwater cameras and scuba divers have been used to observe the extent of fish kills; such observations have not indicated that there were many expired fish at or near the bottom of the discharge canal or Oyster Creek. Therefore, it is unlikely that the magnitude of fish kills in the discharge canal or Oyster Creek has been underestimated.
In the EFH assessment, the NRC determined that while continued operations of OCNGS may have direct adverse effects on EFH for some species and their prey species, adverse effects are unlikely to be detected in the Barnegat Bay food web. Given that the NRC will revise the SEIS to clarify near-field and far-field impacts to aquatic species, such revisions would also apply to the EFH assessment if the consultation process allowed for draft and final versions of the assessment.
We also agree with NMFS that entrainment and impingement impacts on winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) are of the greatest concern of all species assessed. The staff recognizes that some adverse effect may occur in the food web; however, there is no indication that such a perturbation has affected the Barnegat Bay food web and ecosystem.
Regarding the EFH conservation recommendation for OCNGS, NRC agrees with NMFS that the best available technology for reducing entrainment, impingement, and thermal effects is closed-cycle cooling. However, the installation of cooling towers has impacts beyond those affecting fish and shellfish, and other considerations have to be taken into account before a decision is made. Additionally, there may be other alternatives to closed-cycle cooling that may adequately protect Federally managed fish and shellfish populations despite the fact that such alternatives would adversely affect EFH. Cooling towers and other alternatives, which may also adversely affect EFH, are discussed in Chapter 8 of the SEIS. NRC cannot require specific
P. Colosi, Jr. mitigation measures; instead, the NJDEP has such authority, as delegated by the EPA. Such mitigation measures would be imposed under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for OCNGS. OCNGS cannot operate without a valid NPDES permit.
NJDEP may require additional mitigation measures, such as requiring closed-cycle cooling, modification of the cooling system, or restoration, to reduce impacts due to entrainment and impingement. New Jerseys decision regarding the NPDES permit requirements for OCNGS may constitute new information relative to effects on EFH per 50 CFR 600.920(l), which may require NRC to reinitiate the EFH consultation. The NRC encourages NMFS to collaborate with NJDEP to evaluate the data currently being collected to determine the best way to minimize effects on EFH.
The NRC recommends that additional environmental monitoring be conducted in the bay to establish a baseline and determine if detectable changes have occurred in species composition and abundance over the past three decades. Such studies should be comprehensive, involve all stakeholders including resource agencies and the licensee, and incorporate designs to evaluate anthropogenic and natural environmental stressors on Barnegat Bay at spatial and temporal scales sufficient to address the inherent variability within the ecosystem. The NRC believes that integrated monitoring studies will enable resource managers to understand better the relative contributions of individual and collective environmental stressors on Barnegat Bay and facilitate prioritization of management actions to reduce adverse impacts on the ecosystem.
Based on our understanding of the EFH consultation requirements, this response letter concludes the NRCs EFH consultation with NMFS regarding the OCNGS license renewal project. Also, regarding the Section 7 consultation for continued operations at OCNGS, your Protected Resources Division concluded the consultation with the issuance of an updated Biological Opinion on November 21, 2006. If you have any questions concerning the NRCs response to NMFSs conservation recommendation or other aspects of the OCNGS license renewal project, please contact Harriet Nash of my staff at 301-415-4100 or HLN@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Pao-Tsin Kuo, Acting Director Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Docket No. 050-219 cc: see next page
P. Colosi, Jr. mitigation measures; instead, the NJDEP has such authority, as delegated by the EPA. Such mitigation measures would be imposed under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for OCNGS. OCNGS cannot operate without a valid NPDES permit.
NJDEP may require additional mitigation measures, such as requiring closed-cycle cooling, modification of the cooling system, or restoration, to reduce impacts due to entrainment and impingement. New Jerseys decision regarding the NPDES permit requirements for OCNGS may constitute new information relative to effects on EFH per 50 CFR 600.920(l), which may require NRC to reinitiate the EFH consultation. The NRC encourages NMFS to collaborate with NJDEP to evaluate the data currently being collected to determine the best way to minimize effects on EFH.
The NRC recommends that additional environmental monitoring be conducted in the bay to establish a baseline and determine if detectable changes have occurred in species composition and abundance over the past three decades. Such studies should be comprehensive, involve all stakeholders including resource agencies and the licensee, and incorporate designs to evaluate anthropogenic and natural environmental stressors on Barnegat Bay at spatial and temporal scales sufficient to address the inherent variability within the ecosystem. The NRC believes that integrated monitoring studies will enable resource managers to understand better the relative contributions of individual and collective environmental stressors on Barnegat Bay and facilitate prioritization of management actions to reduce adverse impacts on the ecosystem.
Based on our understanding of the EFH consultation requirements, this response letter concludes the NRCs EFH consultation with NMFS regarding the OCNGS license renewal project. Also, regarding the Section 7 consultation for continued operations at OCNGS, your Protected Resources Division concluded the consultation with the issuance of an updated Biological Opinion on November 21, 2006. If you have any questions concerning the NRCs response to NMFSs conservation recommendation or other aspects of the OCNGS license renewal project, please contact Harriet Nash of my staff at 301-415-4100 or HLN@nrc.gov.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Pao-Tsin Kuo, Acting Director Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Docket No. 050-219 cc: see next page DISTRIBUTION:
P.T. Kuo R. Franovich E. Keto M. Young (OGC)
B. Pham E. Benner H. Nash D. Ashley K. LaGory (ANL)
J. Ward (PNNL)
ADAMS Accession No.: ML063330176 OFFICE LA:DLR ES:REBA PM:REBB BC:REBB (A)D:DLR NAME I. King HNash Mmasnik
/RA HN for/
RFranovich PTKuo DATE 12/4/06 12/4/06 12/4/06 12/4/06 12/5/06 OFFICE RECORD COPY
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station cc:
Site Vice President - Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station AmerGen Energy Company, LLC P.O. Box 388 Forked River, NJ 08731 Senior Vice President of Operations AmerGen Energy Company, LLC 200 Exelon Way, KSA 3-N Kennett Square, PA 19348 Kathryn M. Sutton, Esquire Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004 Kent Tosch, Chief New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Nuclear Engineering CN 415 Trenton, NJ 08625 Vice President - Licensing and Regulatory Affairs AmerGen Energy Company, LLC 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Regional Administrator, Region I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406-1415 Mayor of Lacey Township 818 West Lacey Road Forked River, NJ 08731 Senior Resident Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission P.O. Box 445 Forked River, NJ 08731 Director - Licensing and Regulatory Affairs AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Correspondence Control P.O. Box 160 Kennett Square, PA 19348 Manager Licensing - Oyster Creek Exelon Generation Company, LLC Correspondence Control P.O. Box 160 Kennett Square, PA 19348 Regulatory Assurance Manager Oyster Creek AmerGen Energy Company, LLC P.O. Box 388 Forked River, NJ 08731 Assistant General Counsel AmerGen Energy Company, LLC 200 Exelon Way Kennett Square, PA 19348 Ron Bellamy, Region I U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 475 Allendale Road King of Prussia, PA 19406-1415 Correspondence Control Desk AmerGen Energy Company, LLC 200 Exelon Way, KSA 1--1 Kennett Square, PA 19348 Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station Plant Manager AmerGen Energy Company, LLC P.O. Box 388 Forked River, NJ 08731 License Renewal Manager Exelon Generation Company, LLC 200 Exelon Way, Suite 210 Kennett Square, PA 19348
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station cc:
Mr. James Ross Nuclear Energy Institute 1776 I Street, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20006-3708 Mr. Michael P. Gallagher Vice President License Renewal Exelon Generation Company, LLC 200 Exelon Way, Suite 230 Kennett Square, PA 19348 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President and Chief Nuclear Officer AmerGen Energy Company, LLC 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555