ML12320A603
| ML12320A603 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | South Texas  |
| Issue date: | 12/13/2012 |
| From: | Melanie Wong NRC/NRR/DLR/RERGUB |
| To: | Wolfe M State of TX, Texas Historical Commission |
| Larson E, 415-1151 | |
| References | |
| THC No. 201002271, NRC-2010-0375 | |
| Download: ML12320A603 (9) | |
Text
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 13,2012 Mr. Mark Wolfe State Historic Preservation Officer Texas Historical Commission P.O. Box 12276 Austin, TX 78711
SUBJECT:
SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT, UNITS 1 AND 2, LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION REVIEW (THC NO. 201002271)
Dear Mr. Wolfe:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is conducting an environmental review of the effects of renewing the operating license for South Texas Project, Units 1 and 2 (STP). STP is located in Matagorda County, Texas, and is operated by STP Nuclear Operating Company.
As part of its review of the proposed action, the NRC has prepared a draft site-specific Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to its "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, NUREG-1437." The draft SEIS includes analyses of relevant environmental issues, including potential impacts to historic, archeological and cultural properties from extended operation and refurbishment activities associated with license renewal.
As stated in our February 17, 2011, letter, the NRC staff has determined that the area of potential effect (APE) for a license renewal action is the area at the power plant site and its immediate environs that may be impacted by post-license renewal land disturbing operation or projected refurbishment activities associated with the proposed action. The NRC views the APE for the STP license renewal as including the STP site and the immediate environs.
In the context of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, under which the draft environmental impact statement was prepared, the NRC staff's preliminary determination is that the impact of license renewal on historical and archaeological resources is small, and additional mitigation is not warranted. Under the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the NRC staff's preliminary determination is that no historic properties will be affected by the proposed action.
In support of this conclusion, the NRC staff has conducted an environmental audit at the site and performed an independent analysis and review of historic and archaeological records. The NRC also contacted 10 Native American Tribes identified as having potential interest in the proposed undertaking. Four tribes-the Apalachicola Band of Creek Indians, the Kickapoo Traditional Council, the Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Tap Pilam-Coahuiltecan Nation responded to the NRC with scoping comments. These comments included concerns with potential accidents, requests to re-survey the STP site, requests for notification if historic and cultural resources of cultural significance were discovered on the STP site, and statements of no concern with the undertaking. The NRC responded to the tribes in October 2011 and has taken the comments into consideration while preparing the draft SEIS. Appendix D of this draft SEIS contains copies of these letters.
M. Wolfe 2
A copy of the draft SEIS with this conclusion is enclosed. Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), we are requesting your comments on the draft supplement and on our preliminary conclusions.
Electronic comments on the draft SEIS may be submitted to the NRC by accessing www.regulations.gov. Please note that the public comment period for the draft SEIS ends on February 22, 2013.
Public meetings to discuss the findings of the draft SEIS will be held on January 15, 2013, at the Bay City Civic Center, 201 Seventh Street, Bay City, Texas 77414. A meeting notice will be published shortly providing more details about those public meetings. A separate Notice of Availability of the draft SEIS will be placed in the Federal Register through the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Emily Larson, Social Scientist, by telephone at 301-415-1151 or bye-mail at Emily. Larson@nrc.gov.
Sincerely, Melanie C. Wong, Chief Environmental Review and Guidance Update Branch Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos. 50-498 and 50-499
Enclosures:
- 1. Federal Register Notice
- 2. NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 48 cc w/encls: Listserv
[7590-01-P]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STP Nuclear Operating Company South Texas Project
[Docket Nos.: 50-498 and 50-499; NRC-2010-0375]
Notice of Availability of Draft Supplement 48 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants and Public Meetings for the License Renewal of South Texas Project Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has published a draft plant-specific supplement 48 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GElS), NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating licenses NPF-76 and NPF-80 for an additional 20 years of operation for South Texas Project (STP), Units 1 and 2. STP is located in Bay City, Texas. 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 February 22,2013. The NRC staff is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may access information and comment submissions related to this document, which the NRC possesses and are publically available, by searching on http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2010-0375. You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
- 2 Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket 10 NRC-2010-0375. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-3668; e-mail: Carol. Gallagher@nrc.gov.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
Fax comments to: RADB at 301-492-3446.
For additional direction on accessing information and submitting comments, see "Accessing Information and Submitting Comments" in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
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 Bay City Civic Center, 201 Seventh Street, Bay City, Texas 77414, on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. 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
- 3 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 meeting by contacting Mr. Tam Tran, the NRC Environmental Project Manager, at 1-800-368 5642, extension 3617, or bye-mail at tam.tran@nrc.gov no later than Friday, January 4,2013.
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. Tran's attention no later than Friday, January 4, 2013, to provide the NRC staff adequate notice to determine whether the request can be accommodated.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Tam Tran, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone:
301-415-3617; or e-mail to lam.tran@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Accessing Information and Submitting Comments A. Accessing Information Please refer to Docket ID NRC-201 0-0375 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You may access information related to this document by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.govand search for Docket ID NRC-2010-0375.
- 4 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 pduesource@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.
In addition, a copy of the draft supplement to the GElS is available to local residents near the site at the 1100 7th Street, Bay City, TX 77414.
B. Submitting Comments Please include Docket ID NRC-2010-0375 in the subject line of your comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.requlations.qov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifyit:1g 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
- 5 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 submissions into ADAMS.
Dated at Rockville. Maryland. this 5th day of December 2012.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION IRA!
David J. Wrona. Chief Projects Branch 2 Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
M. Wolfe 2
A copy of the draft SEIS with this conclusion is enclosed. Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.8(c), we are requesting your comments on the draft supplement and on our preliminary conclusions.
Electronic comments on the draft SEIS may be submitted to the NRC by accessing www.regulations.gov. Please note that the public comment period for the draft SEIS ends on February 22, 2013.
Public meetings to discuss the findings of the draft SEIS will be held on January 15, 2013, at the Bay City Civic Center, 201 Seventh Street, Bay City, Texas 77414. A meeting notice will be published shortly providing more details about those public meetings. A separate Notice of Availability of the draft SEIS will be placed in the Federal Register through the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Emily Larson, Social Scientist, by telephone at 301-415-1151 or bye-mail at Emily,Larson@nrc,gov.
Sincerely, IRA!
Melanie C. Wong, Chief Environmental Review and Guidance Update Branch Division of License Renewal Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Docket Nos, 50-498 and 50-499
Enclosures:
1, Federal Register Notice
- 2. NUREG-1437, Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 48 cc w/encls: Listserv DISTRIBUTION:
See next page ADAMS Accession Nos.: ML12347A245(PKG), ML12320A603(LTR}, ML 123624A049(GEIS),
- concurrence via email OFFICE i-LA: RPB2IDLR BC:DLR/RPB2 RERB Technical Staff Member BC:DLR/RERB NAME IKing DWrona ELarson MWong DATE 11/20/12 12/11/12 11/29/2012 12/13/12 OFFICIAL RECORD COpy
Letter to Mark Wolfe from Melanie Wong dated December 13, 2012 SUB~IECT:
SOUTH TEXAS PRO~IECT, UNITS 1 AND 2, LICENSE RENEWAL APPLICATION REVIEW (THC NO. 201002271)
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