ML11161A003

Biological Assessment for License Renewal of Columbia Generating Station

ML11161A003
Person / Time
Site:	Columbia
Issue date:	08/23/2011
From:	Bo Pham, David Wrona License Renewal Projects Branch 1
To:	Thorson R US Dept of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service
Doyle D
Shared Package
ML11161A002	List: ML11161A003
References
Download: ML11161A003 (8)

Text

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August 23, 2011

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Ms. Robyn Thorson, Regional Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Region 911 NE 11th Ave Portland, OR 97232

SUBJECT:

BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT FOR INFORMAL SECTION 7 CONSULTATION RELATED TO THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION

Dear Ms. Thorson:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has completed the enclosed draft Supplement 47 to NUREG-1437, "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants," to evaluate the proposed renewal of the Columbia Generating Station (CGS) operating license for a period of an additional 20 years. In accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, the NRC's biological assessment for license renewal of CGS is included in Appendix 0-1 of the enclosed draft supplemental environmental impact statement.

CGS is located in Benton County, Washington, 12.5 miles northwest of Richland. CGS is equipped with a closed-cycle heat dissipation system that withdraws makeup water from, and discharges that water to, the Columbia River from six mechanical draft cooling towers. The plant is operated by Energy Northwest.

1 In a letter dated March 22, 2010 , the NRC requested that your office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) provide the NRC with information on Federally listed endangered or threatened, proposed, and candidate species, as well as any designated critical habitat that may be in the vicinity of CGS and its associated transmission line rights-of-way. This letter initiated informal section 7 consultation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The FWS responded in an e-mail dated November B, 2010 2 , and identified a single aquatic species-the bull trout (Sa/velinus confluentus)-under its jurisdiction that is Federally listed as threatened and has been reported in the Hanford Reach in the vicinity of the CGS facility.

Further, the FWS indicated that critical habitat for the bull trout occurred within the action area, as previously defined. Because the NRC did not prepare its biological assessment within the 1BO-day timeframe specified at Title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (50 CFR) 402.12(i},

the NRC confirmed the accuracy of the species list in an e-mail to FWS on June 15, 2011. The FWS responded on June 16, 2011, confirming that the bull trout was the only listed species in the area under the NRC's review.

1 [NRC] U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 2010. Letter from Pham B, Branch Chief, to Thorson R, Pacific Regional Director, FWS.

Subject:

Request for list of species for Columbia Generating Station license renewal application review. March 22,2010. ADAMS No. ML100710046.

2 [FWS] U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2010. E-mail from Kurz GL, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, to Doyle D, Project Manager, NRC.

Subject:

Columbia Generating Station license renewal. November 8,2010.

ADAMS No. ML103120486.

R. Thorson -2 The NRC's biological assessment provides an evaluation of the potential impact of renewing the CGS operating license for an additional 20 years of operation on the bull trout and its critical habitat. In the biological assessment, the NRC concludes that continued operation of CGS will have no effect on the bull trout.

The other species from the list potentially occurring in the vicinity of the plant are addressed in Section 2.2.7.1 (page 2-44), and Section 4.7.2 (page 4-10).

We are requesting your concurrence with our determination within 30 days per 50 CFR 402.120). In reaching our conclusion, the NRC staff relied on information provided by your office, information provided by the applicant, and on research performed by NRC staff.

Please note that the comment period ends on November 16,2011. If you have any questions regarding this issue or the staff's request, please contact Daniel Doyle, environmental project manager, or Dennis Logan, aquatic biologist. Mr. Doyle can be reached at 301-415-3748 or DanieI.Doyle@nrc.gov. Mr. Logan can be reached at 301-415-0490 or Dennis.Logan@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, OJ9V~

David J. Wrona, Chief Projects Branch 2 Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-397

Enclosure:

As stated cc w/encl: Listserv

f7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ENERGY NORTHWEST COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION DOCKET NUMBER 50-397 NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF DRAFT SUPPLEMENT 47 TO THE GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR LICENSE RENEWAL OF NUCLEAR PLANTS AND PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION

[NRC-2010-0029]

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published a draft plant-specific supplement to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GElS), NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating license NPF-21 for an additional 20 years of operation for Columbia Generating Station.

Columbia Generating Station is located in Richland, Washington. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources.

Any interested party may submit comments on the draft supplement to the GElS for consideration by the NRC staff. To be considered, comments on the draft supplement to the GElS and the proposed action must be received by November 16, 2011. The NRC staff is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by anyone of the following methods. Please include Docket ID NRC-2010-0029 in the subject line of your comments. Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted on the NRC website and on the Federal rulemaking

-2 website http://www.regulations.gov. Because your comments will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against including any information in your submission that you do not want to be publicly disclosed.

The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments received from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any identifying or contact information, and, therefore, they should not include any information in their comments that they do not want publicly disclosed.

Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2010-0029. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher at 301-492-3668 or bye-mail atCaroI.Galiagher@nrc.gov.

Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mail Stop:

TWB-05-B01 M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Faxes may be sent to RADB at 301-492-3446.

You can access publicly available documents related to this notice using the following methods:

NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have copied, for a fee, publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Public File Area 0-1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):

Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this website, the public can gain entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209,

-3 301-415-4737. or bye-mail at pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The Accession Number for draft Supplement 47 to the GElS is ML11227A007.

Federal Rulemaking Website: Public comments and supporting materials related to this notice can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching for Docket ID NRC-2010-0029.

In addition, a copy of the draft supplement to the GElS is available to local residents near the site at the Richland Public Library, 955 Northgate Drive, Richland, Washington 99352 and at the Kennewick Branch of Mid-Columbia Libraries, 1620 South Union Street, Kennewick, Washington 99338.

All comments received by the NRC, including those made by Federal, State, and local agencies; Native American Tribes; or other interested persons, will be made available electronically at the NRC's PDR in Rockville, Maryland, and through ADAMS. Comments received after the due date will be considered only if it is practical to do so.

The NRC staff will hold public meetings prior to the close of the public comment period to present an overview of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GElS and to accept public comments on the document. Two meetings will be held at the Red Lion Hotel, 802 George Washington Way, Richland, Washington, on Tuesday, September 27, 2011. The first session will convene at 2:00 p.m. and will continue until 5:00 p.m., as necessary. The second session will convene at 7:00 p.m. and will continue until 10:00 p.m., as necessary. The meetings will be transcribed and will include: (1) a presentation of the contents of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GElS and (2) the opportunity for interested government agencies, organizations, and individuals to provide comments on the draft report. Additionally, the NRC staff will host informal discussions one hour prior to the start of each session at the same location. No comments on the draft supplement to the GElS will be accepted during the informal discussions. To be considered, comments must be provided either at the transcribed public meeting or in writing. Persons may pre-register to attend or present oral comments at the

-4 meeting by contacting Mr. Daniel Doyle, the NRC Environmental Project Manager, at 1-800-388-5842. extension 3748, or bye-mail at DanieI.Doyle@nrc.gov no iaterthan Friday, September 23, 2011. Members of the public may also register to provide oral comments within 15 minutes of the start of each session. Individual oral comments may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of persons who register. If special eqUipment or accommodations are needed to attend or present information at the public meeting, the need should be brought to Mr. Doyle's attention no later than September 23, 2011, to provide the NRC staff adequate notice to determine whether the request can be accommodated, FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: ML Daniel Doyle, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, US. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop 0-11 F1, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Mr. Doyle may be contacted at the aforementioned telephone number or e-mail address.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of August 2011.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o,-y 9 fL/

David J. Wrona, Chief

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Projects Branch 2 Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

R. Thorson -2 The NRC's biological assessment provides an evaluation of the potential impact of renewing the CGS operating license for an additional 20 years of operation on the bull trout and its critical habitat. In the biological assessment, the NRC concludes that continued operation of CGS will have no effect on the bull trout.

The other species from the list potentially occurring in the vicinity of the plant are addressed in Section 2.2.7.1 (page 2-44), and Section 4.7.2 (page 4-10).

We are requesting your concurrence with our determination within 30 days per 50 CFR 402.12U). In reaching our conclusion, the NRC staff relied on information provided by your office, information provided by the applicant, and on research performed by NRC staff.

Please note that the comment period ends on November 16, 2011. If you have any questions regarding this issue or the staff's request, please contact Daniel Doyle, environmental project manager, or Dennis Logan, aquatic biologist. Mr. Doyle can be reached at 301-415-3748 or DanieI.Doyle@nrc.gov. Mr. Logan can be reached at 301-415-0490 or Dennis.Logan@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, IRA!

David J. Wrona, Chief Projects Branch 2 Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-397

Enclosure:

As stated cc w/encl: Listserv DISTRIBUTION:

See next page ADAMS Accession Nos.:

Package: ML11161A002 Letter: ML11161A003 FRN: ML11091A028 GElS for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 47: ML11227A007

• concurrence via email fOFF'CE LA: DLR* PM:DLR/RPB1 GS:DLR/RERB GS:DLR/RERB DLogan OGC BC:DLR/RPB2 NAME IKing DDoyle ATravers LSubin DWrona (BBalsam for)

IDATE 06/14/2011 06/17/2011 06/21/2011 06/29/2011 07/12/2011 08/23/2011 OFFICIAL RECORD COpy

Letter to Robyn Thorson from David J. Wrona dated August 23,2011

SUBJECT:

BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT FOR INFORMAL SECTION 7 CONSULTATION RELATED TO THE LICENSE RENEWAL OF COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION DISTRIBUTION:

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