ML18196A260

Comment from Thlopthlocco Tribal Town Regarding the Clinch River Nuclear Site ESP Draft Environmental Impact Statement

ML18196A260
Person / Time
Site:	Clinch River
Issue date:	07/13/2018
From:	Clouthier T Thlopthlocco Tribal Town
To:	Adrian Muniz NRC/NRO/DLSE/LB3
Dozier T
References
2018-67, +reviewed
Download: ML18196A260 (3)

Text

THLOPTHLOCCO TRIBAL TOWN Tribal Historic Preservation Office Terry Clouthier, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer P.O. Box 188 Okemah, OK 74859 (918) 560-6113 thpo@tttown.org July 13, 2018 THPO File Number: 2018-67 Adrian Muniz Acting Branch Chief Licensing Branch 3 Division of New Reactor Licensing Office of New Reactors Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 RE: Early site permit application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site in Roane County, Tennessee

Dear Mr. Muniz,

Thank you for contacting the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) soliciting comments regarding the early site permit application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site in Roane County, Tennessee. Our office has reviewed the documents provided and offers the following comments.

Page 4 Tribes must be included in the resolution of adverse effects per 36CFR800.5. The document only lists SHPO and federal agency. Tribal participation ensures that no sites of significance to Tribes will be adversely affected by the proposed undertaking. It also needs to be understood throughout the document that not all sites of significance to Tribes are listed as Traditional Cultural Properties. Section 101 (d) (6) (B) of the National Historic Preservation Act requires the federal agency to consult with Tribes who attach cultural or religious significance to historic properties that may be affected by an undertaking. This does not mean that Tribes need to define them as Traditional Cultural Properties for the historic properties to be significant to us. Our Tribe for instance places significance to all pre-contact sites found within our traditional territory but we do not define all of them as Traditional Cultural Properties.

Additionally, our Tribe also attributes significance to post-contact sites within our traditional territory as the differences between Euro-American and Tribal post-contact sites are almost impossible to distinguish the further integrated the two societies became.

The THPO has issues with the entire section pertaining to historic and cultural resources as it minimizes the impacts to historic properties which issuing this permit will cause to them. These are interconnected actions. The early site permit (ESP) approval will allow for the construction of the small modular reactors (SMR) if it is permitted should Tennessee Valley Authority

(TVA) decide to proceed with the construction after approval of the ESP by your agency. The construction would not proceed but for the ESP approval therefore the effects of the construction of the SMRs to historic properties cannot be minimalized in the way they are throughout the document as they are an easily foreseeable future effect of issuing the ESP approval. Foreseeable effects must be accounted for within an Environmental Impact Statement and this document trivializes and minimizes these effects.

Based on the preceding paragraph, the THPO disagrees with the statement on page 4-68 section 4.6.3 3rd paragraph that impacts to historic properties would be small as it ignores the effects that would occur during construction which have been determined to be medium to large which occur further in time through this interconnected action.

The THPO disagrees with the determination of no historic properties affected for this undertaking as approval of the ESP must occur prior to the construction activities related to the facilities within it therefore this undertaking will create an adverse effect as has been stated numerous times throughout the document relating to preconstruction or construction activities.

Once again, as the adverse effect would not occur but for the issuance of the ESP these are interconnected actions and an easily foreseeable effect of issuance of the ESP and cannot be separated into two different determinations of effects in order to minimize the effects to historic properties for approval purposes. The THPO agrees that this undertaking will create an adverse effect to historic properties. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission could still issue the ESP with the adverse effect to historic properties with the caveat that adverse effects to historic properties will be addressed by the federal agency responsible for creating the adverse effect which, in this case, would be TVA.

16 cultural or historic properties that are potentially eligible to the National Register is a considerable number of potentially eligible properties for such a small area. The vast majority of these properties contain significance to the Tribes from that area and therefore this is potentially the worst location for this undertaking to be constructed as it contains the most potentially eligible properties which will be impacted by this undertaking.

ORR site 2 contains considerably less cultural resources than the preferred location. Why was this option not chosen in order to minimize effects to cultural and historical resources?

Infrastructure development should not be the sole determining factor for eliminating a possible location especially when it is balanced against the requirement to minimally affect historic properties per the National Historic Preservation Act.

ORR Site 8 contains a mound site. The Tribal Towns and its system of governance developed directly from these Mississippian societies and the associated mound sites are therefore extremely significant to all Mvskoke people. We agree that this location should not be chosen for any development at any time due to the significance of this site.

Redstone Arsenal Site is extremely limited in historic and cultural properties. All of the known historic properties are historic (post-contact) in nature and are quite likely not as significant as the sites which will be impacted at the preferred location or ORR Site 2. It is the opinion of the

THPO that this location should be the preferred location due primarily to far less potential to impact historic or cultural resources.

Please refer to THPO file number 2018-67 for all correspondence for this proposed undertaking.

Please feel free to contact the THPO at thpo@tttown.org if you have any questions. Email is our preferred method of communications with federal agencies in order to keep an administrative record for each undertaking Sincerely, Terry Clouthier Thlopthlocco Tribal Town Tribal Historic Preservation Officer