ML21342A041

Transmittal to U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the License Renewal of the Westinghouse Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility in Richland County, South Carolina

ML21342A041
Person / Time
Site:	Westinghouse
Issue date:	08/06/2021
From:	Diaz-Toro D NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ERMB
To:	Silverman N US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
Shared Package
ML21342A030	List: ML21342A038 ML21342A039 ML21342A040 ML21342A041
References
Download: ML21342A041 (2)

Text

Diaz Toro, Diana From: Diaz Toro, Diana Sent: Friday, August 06, 2021 1:49 PM To: noah.silverman@noaa.gov; nmfs.ser.esa.consultations@noaa.gov Cc: Arlene, Briana

Subject:

Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS for the License Renewal of the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility for Public Comment and Section 7 ESA - SER-2017-18839 Good afternoon, The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has published for public comment the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Westinghouse Electric Company, LLCs (WEC) request to renew its operating license for the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) for an additional 40 years. The DEIS is publicly available from the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC website at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html. The ADAMS accession number for the DEIS is ML21209A213. The DEIS is also accessible using the following link: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2120/ML21209A213.pdf, and from the NRC webpage for the WECs CFFF at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/fc/westinghouse-fuel-fab-fac-sc-lc.html.

The 45-day comment period opened with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs) Notice of Availability for the DEIS that was published in the Federal Register on August 6, 2021 (86 FR 43236). The NRCs notice providing instructions on how to submit comments also appeared in the August 6, 2021, Federal Register (86 FR 43277). The NRC staff plans to conduct a virtual public meeting on August 26 to receive comments on the DEIS. The meeting information is available in the NRCs Federal Register Notice.

The NRC staff requested informal consultation under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2017 with the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) during the development of an environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed action. The NRC staff originally focused its impact evaluation on the shortnose sturgeon because they are the only ESA federally listed species under the purview of NMFS known to occur in the action area (i.e., the Congaree River). During discussions, NMFS recommended that the NRC consider impacts on the Atlantic sturgeon because they could recolonize the area in the future if fish passages are added to downriver dams that impede their migration. Following its review of the NRC staffs biological evaluation, NMFS concurred with the NRC staffs determination that the proposed 40-year license renewal is not likely to adversely affect the shortnose sturgeon or Atlantic sturgeon. Additionally, NMFS re-concurred with its may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect determination during the preparation of the NRCs October 2019 draft EA.

On July 31, 2020, the NRC notified the NMFS of the NRC staffs intent to prepare an EIS. During the development of this DEIS, the NRC staff determined that no new information would call into question the staffs previous findings for shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon, therefore, reinitiation of consultation with NMFS is not required.

Should you have any questions concerning the staffs environmental review of the WECs license renewal application, please contact me at 301-415-0930 or via e-mail at Diana.Diaz-Toro@nrc.gov.

Thank you and have a nice weekend.

Diana Diana Diaz-Toro Project Manager NMSS/REFS/ERMB 1

301-415-0930 diana.diaz-toro@nrc.gov 2