ML12109A427

Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplement to Draft Supplement 46 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants Regarding Seabrook Station

ML12109A427
Person / Time
Site:	Seabrook
Issue date:	05/31/2012
From:	Brian Holian Division of License Renewal
To:	Freeman P NextEra Energy Seabrook
Wentzel M, 415-6459
References
TAC ME3959, NRC-2010-0206
Download: ML12109A427 (9)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 May 31,2012 Mr. Paul Freeman Site Vice President NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC P.O. Box 300 Seabrook, NH 03874

SUBJECT:

NOTICE OF INTENT TO PREPARE A SUPPLEMENT TO DRAFT SUPPLEMENT 46 TO THE GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR LICENSE RENEWAL OF NUCLEAR PLANTS REGARDING SEABROOK STATION (TAC NO. ME3959)

Dear Mr. Freeman:

By letter dated May 25, 2010, NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC (NextEra), submitted an application to renew the operating license for Seabrook Station, Unit 1 (Seabrook), for an additional 20 years. In support of the application and in accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 51 and 10 CFR Part 54, NextEra also submitted an environmental report for Seabrook. In August 2011, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the staff) issued its draft plant-specific Supplement 46 to NUREG-1437, "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GElS)" (SEIS),

regarding the environmental impacts of renewing the Seabrook operating license for an additional 20 years.

Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.72, the NRC staff is to prepare a supplement to a draft environmental impact statement for which a notice of availability has been published in the Federal Register as provided in § 51.117, if there are significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts.

Subsequent to the issuance of the draft SEIS, by letter dated March 19, 2012, NextEra notified the NRC of significant changes that were made to the severe accident mitigation alternatives analysis (SAMA) related to the Seabrook license renewal application. Therefore, the NRC has prepared a Notice of Intent advising the public that the NRC intends to prepare a supplement to the draft SEIS detailing the staff's review of the revised SAMA information. Enclosed is a copy of the Notice of Intent, which has been forwarded to the Office of the Federal Register for publication. The staff has revised the environmental schedule and took several factors into consideration, including additional staff resources necessary to complete the review of the SAMA submittal, as well as the need to issue a supplement to the Seabrook license renewal draft SEIS.

P. Freeman -2 The staff also needs to revise the safety review schedule due to additional staff resources necessary to address late arising technical issues, and to ensure adequate characterization of the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) open item. The change in the safety review schedule will not affect the schedule for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee meeting; however, a second subcommittee meeting may be necessary. NRC staff is reviewing your May 16, 2012, submittal related to ASR which differs significantly from your previous submittals and was not submitted in March 2012 as discussed in our July 12, 2011 schedule change letter. Staff will establish a revised schedule when it has completed its review of your recent submittal.

Enclosed is the staff's revised review schedule. To support the revised schedule milestones, your responses to the staff's RAls must be complete and provided in a timely manner. The NRC staff will continue to follow established procedures as required by 10 CFR Parts 54 and 51 to complete the review outlined in the enclosed schedule.

In the interim, should you have any questions regarding the supplement to the draft SEIS or the Seabrook license renewal environmental review, please contact the NRC's Environmental Project Manager, Mr. Michael Wentzel, at 301-415-6459 or bye-mail at michael.wentzel@nrc.gov. For questions regarding the Seabrook license renewal safety review, please contact the NRC's Safety Project Manager, Mr. Arthur Cunanan, at 301-415-3897 or by email at Arthur.Cunanan@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

~_~IL~

Brian E. Holian, Director Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-443

Enclosures:

As stated cc wI encl: Listserv

SEABROOK STATION LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION UPDATED ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW SCHEDULE Milestone Scheduled Actual Receive license renewal application (LRA) 6/1/10 6/1/10 Publish Federal Register Notice (FRN) - LRA availability 6/14/10 6/16/10 Publish FRN - acceptance/rejection and opportunity for hearing 7/23/10 7/21/10 Publish FRN - Intent to conduct Environmental Scoping 7/23/10 7/10/10 Public Meeting - License Renewal Overview and Environmental Scoping 8/19/10 8/19/10 Meeting Deadline for filing hearing requests and petitions for intervention 9/20/10 10/20/10 Environmental scoping period ends 9/21/10 9/21/10 Audit - Environmental 10/4/10 10/5/10 Issue draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) Aug 2011 8/1/11 Publish FRN - draft SEIS available for comments Aug 2011 8/12/11 Public Meeting - draft SEIS meeting Sep 2011 9/15/11 End of draft SEIS comment period Nov 2011 10/26/11 Issue safety evaluation report (SER) with open items June 2012

~dvisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee Meeting July 2012 Issue draft supplement to the Seabrook draft SEIS Dec 2012 Publish FRN - draft supplement to the Seabrook draft SEIS available for comments. Dec 2012 Issue Final SER TBD ACRS Full Committee Meeting TBD End of comment period on the draft supplement to the Seabrook draft SEIS Jan 2013 Issue final SEIS Apr2013 ENCLOSURE

[7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-443; NRC-2010*0206]

License Renewal Application for Seabrook Station, Unit 1 NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC.

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: License renewal application; intent to prepare supplement to draft supplemental environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY

On May 25, 2010, NextEra Energy Seabrook, LLC (NextEra), submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) an application for renewal of Facility Operating License NPF-86 for an additional 20 years of operation at Seabrook Station, Unit 1 (Seabrook).

The current operating license for Seabrook expires on March 15,2030. The purpose of this document is to inform the public that the NRC will be preparing a supplement to the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to address information related to severe accident mitigation alternatives (SAMA) analysis in accordance with the NRC's regulations.

- 2 ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2010-0206. when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may access information related to this document, which the NRC possesses and is publicly available. using the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2010-0206. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-3668; e-mail: Garol.Ga/lagher@nrc.gov.

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

You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC Library at http://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 bye-mail to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this notice (if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced.

• NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents at the NRC's PDR, Room 01-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Mr. Michael Wentzel. Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6459; e-mail: michael.wentzel@nrc.gov.

-3 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Discussion NextEra submitted an application for renewal of Facility Operating License NPF-86 for an additional 20 years of operation at Seabrook. Approximately 13 miles south of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Seabrook is located in Rockingham County in Seabrook, New Hampshire.

The current operating license for Seabrook expires on March 15, 2030. The application for renewal, dated May 25, 2010, was submitted pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 54, and included an environmental report (ER).

On August 1, 2011, the NRC staff issued its draft SEIS, documenting its preliminary analysis and recommendation on the proposed action-renewal of the operating licenses for Seabrook. The draft SEIS is available in ADAMS under package Accession No. ML11213A080.

This document is being published in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the NRC's regulations found at 10 CFR Part 51. The purpose of this document is to inform the public that the NRC will be preparing a supplement to the draft SEIS to address information relating to the SAMA analysis for Seabrook in accordance with the NRC's regulations found at 10 CFR 51.72.

Subsequent to the issuance of the draft SEIS, by letter dated March 19, 2012, NextEra notified the NRC of changes that were made to the SAMA analysis for Seabrook. The changes include changes to source term used in the analysis, as well as the identification of new, potentially cost-beneficial SAMAs. The letter from NextEra to the NRC is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12080A137.

In accordance with 10 CFR 51.53(c) and 10 CFR 54.23, NextEra submitted the ER as part of the application. The ER was prepared pursuant to 10 CFR Part 51 and is available in ADAMS under Accession Nos. ML101590092 and ML101590089.

-4 In addition, the ER is available for public inspection at the Seabrook Library located at 25 Liberty Lane, Seabrook, NH 03874, and at the Amesbury Public Library located at 149 Main Street, Amesbury, MA 01913.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31 st day of May 2012.

FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION.

OJ 9- tV~_

David J. Wrona, Chief Projects Branch 2 Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

P. Freeman -2 The staff also needs to revise the safety review schedule due to additional staff resources necessary to address late arising technical issues, and to ensure adequate characterization of the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) open item. The change in the safety review schedule will not affect the schedule for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) Subcommittee meeting; however, a second subcommittee meeting may be necessary. NRC staff is reviewing your May 16, 2012, submittal related to ASR which differs significantly from your previous submittals and was not submitted in March 2012 as discussed in our July 12, 2011 schedule change letter. Staff will establish a revised schedule when it has completed its review of your recent submittal.

Enclosed is the staff's revised review schedule. To support the revised schedule milestones, your responses to the staffs RAls must be complete and provided in a timely manner. The NRC staff will continue to follow established procedures as required by 10 CFR Parts 54 and 51 to complete the review outlined in the enclosed schedule.

In the interim, should you have any questions regarding the supplement to the draft SEIS or the Seabrook license renewal environmental review, please contact the NRC's Environmental Project Manager, Mr. Michael Wentzel, at 301-415-6459 or bye-mail at michael.wentzel@nrc.gov. For questions regarding the Seabrook license renewal safety review, please contact the NRC's Safety Project Manager, Mr. Arthur Cunanan, at 301-415-3897 or by email at Arthur. Cunanan@nrc.gov.

Sincerely, IRA!

Brian E. Holian, Director Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket No. 50-443

Enclosure:

As stated cc wi encl: Listserv

Letter to P. Freeman from B. Holian dated May 31, 2012.

SUBJECT:

NOTICE OF INTENT TO PREPARE A SUPPLEMENT TO DRAFT SUPPLEMENT 46 TO THE GENERIC ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR LICENSE RENEWAL OF NUCLEAR PLANTS REGARDING SEABROOK STATION (TAC NO. ME3959)

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