ML23234A241
| ML23234A241 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Fort Calhoun  |
| Issue date: | 08/18/2023 |
| From: | Marla Morales NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ERMB |
| To: | Porath M US Dept of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service |
| References | |
| NRC-2022-0127 | |
| Download: ML23234A241 (1) | |
Text
From: Marla Morales To: mark_porath@fws.gov
Subject:
Request for Concurrence on Section 7 Determination for Federally Listed Species Regarding the Amendment of the Operating License for the Ft. Calhoun Station, Unit 1 to Incorporate the License Termination Plan Date: Friday, August 18, 2023 2:33:00 PM Attachments: Draft Final Calhoun Environmental Assessment - FWS.docx image001.png
Dear Mark Porath,
On behalf of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), I am requesting concurrence from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that the NRCs approval of the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) License Termination Plan (LTP) for the Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 (FCS) may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), the piping plover (Charadrius melodus), the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), and the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus).
In August 2021, OPPD submitted a license amendment request to the NRC to amend its license for FCS located in Washington County, Nebraska (OPPD 2021). OPPDs request, if granted, would add a condition to its license reflecting the NRCs approval of its LTP and include a provision to allow OPPD to make certain changes to the NRC-approved LTP without prior NRC approval (OPPD 2021). The FCS is a commercial nuclear power plant that is licensed by the NRC, but it stopped operations in 2016.
Proposed Action The proposed Federal action is NRCs decision of whether to approve the LTP and amend the license to incorporate the LTP. The LTP describes the process OPPD will use to meet the NRCs requirements of terminating the NRC license and to release the site for unrestricted use. Submitting the LTP is one of the final steps of decommissioning. The NRC will terminate the license if it determines that the site meets the performance-based criteria for unrestricted site release, in accordance with 10 CFR 20.1402, Radiological criteria for unrestricted use, and that the facility has been dismantled in accordance with the approved LTP. The portion of the site associated with the independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) will remain under the NRCs regulatory jurisdiction.
Decommissioning activities include building dismantling, demolition, and backfilling of subsurface structures. Final site surveys entail radiological surveys and potential confirmatory soil sampling.
Activities occur year-round but are temporary. License termination activities such as radiological surveys, soil sampling, and soil removal would be temporary and involve minimal land disturbance.
Demolition of remaining structures would be loud and disruptive, but temporary. The areas within the FCS footprint have all been previously disturbed; and some of the disturbed areas would eventually be re-seeded and re-contoured as necessary.
Environmental Assessment With this letter, the NRC staff is forwarding you a copy of its draft Environmental Assessment (EA) related to the LTP for FCS. The enclosed draft EA was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (50 CFR 402.06(a)); Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA).
Please note that the draft EA is pre-decisional information that is limited to the use of the FWS and its staff. Disclosure or distribution of the EA is prohibited without prior NRC permission. The NRC staff intends to make the final EA publicly available.
Federal agencies may fulfill their obligations to consult with the Services under Section 7 of the ESA in conjunction with the interagency cooperation procedures required by other statutes, including NEPA. In such cases, the Federal agency should include the results of the ESA Section 7 consultation in the NEPA document (50 CFR 402.06(b)).
Listed Species On January 19, 2023, and August 11, 2023, the NRC staff ecologist reviewed and subsequently re-confirmed using your agency FWSs Section 7 Consultation website for a list of species and critical habitat that may be present within the project area (FWS 2023). The NRC staff determined that five species may be present:
Northern Long-eared Bat - Endangered Tricolored Bat - Proposed Endangered Piping Plover - Threatened Monarch Butterfly - Candidate Pallid Sturgeon - Endangered ESA Determinations In the attached EA, the NRC performed an assessment of whether the proposed action has the potential to adversely affect any of the seven Federally listed species. This assessment is documented in Section 3.8 of the draft EA.
In Section 3.8 of the draft EA, the NRC staff determined that the proposed action may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect (NLAA) the following five Federally listed species:
Northern Long-eared Bat Tricolored Bat Piping Plover Monarch Butterfly Pallid Sturgeon For the northern long-eared bat and tricolored bat the species may forage or form maternity roosts in forested wetlands and riparian forest outside of the operational area along the shore of the Missouri River, which would not be directly impacted by decommissioning activities. Further, the proposed action would be confined to industrial lands lacking tree cover within the operational area and would not involve removal of any trees or forest cover. Sandbars along the Missouri River could provide suitable nesting habitat for piping plovers. However, the shoreline where the operational area abuts the river is concrete and does not contain sandbars that piping plovers might use. Natural shorelines, where the relevant sandbars could occur, are located farther from the operational area.
Decommissioning activities would be confined to existing operational area and would not physically disturb the shoreline of the natural shoreline Missouri River. Piping plovers nesting elsewhere along the Missouri River in natural shoreline habitats (i.e., outside the operational area) might experience noise caused by activities in the operational area, but the noise would be typical of industrial activity that has occurred for decades at the FCS site. Any increased noise caused by demolition work would be temporary and staff anticipates that the short duration would not result in nest abandonment.
For the monarch butterfly, physical disturbance is mostly likely to take place within the existing operational area. Milkweed, the plants required by breeding monarch butterflies, are unlikely to
occur on the paved lands and mowed grasslands within the existing operational area. Milkweed might occur in the naturally vegetated lands adjoining the operational area, but the decommissioning activities would not directly disturb these lands. Indirect disturbance would be minimized by wetting the soil and developing a stormwater pollution prevention plan would protect any milkweed from damage by sedimentation, runoff, or fugitive dust. Continued maintenance of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, reduced intake from and discharge to the river that would eventually terminating once decommissioning is complete, and mitigation from runoff and sedimentation would minimize impacts to aquatic species, including the pallid sturgeon.
On behalf of the NRC, I am requesting concurrence from the FWS that the proposed action may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect northern long-eared bat, the tricolored bat, the piping plover, the monarch butterfly, and the pallid sturgeon pursuant to 50 CFR 3402.13(a). The NRC staff requests your review and concurrence with its findings within 30 days of receipt of this email. If you need additional information to make a determination or are otherwise unable to meet this timeline, please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss an alternate timeline. If you have any questions regarding the project, please contact me at 301-415-0715 or Marla.Morales@nrc.gov.
The file has been encrypted and I will send you a separate email with the passcode.
Sincerely, Marla Morales Environmental Project Manager References used are publicly available through the NRCs electronic reading room (ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin a search in ADAMS, select Begin WBA Search. The ADAMS accession number is provided for each reference.
FWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). 2023. Ft Calhoun Station Unit 1: List of threatened and endangered species that may occur in your proposed project location or may be affected by your proposed project. ADAMS Accession No. ML23020A046.
OPPD (Omaha Public Power District). 2021. License Amendment Request 21-01: Revised Fort Calhoun Station License to Add License Condition 3.D to Include License Termination Plan Requirements. Omaha, Nebraska. ADAMS Accession No. ML21271A178.
Marla Morales, P.G.
Environmental Project Manager U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NMSS/REFS/ERMB Phone: 301.415.0715
Rockville, MD