ML24263A192

General Electric Hitachi Vbwr License Termination Plan Environmental Assessment Fonsi

ML24263A192
Person / Time
Site:	Vallecitos Nuclear Center
Issue date:	10/10/2024
From:	Robert Sun Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards
To:
References
NRC-2024-0175
Download: ML24263A192 (7)

Text

[7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No.50-018; NRC-2024-0175]

General Electric Hitachi;

Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor Developmental Power Reactor;

Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

SUMMARY

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a finding of no

significant impact (FONSI) and accompanying environmental assessment (EA)

regarding the NRCs consideration of a license amendment request from General

Electric Hitachi (GEH or the licensee) seeking approval of a license termination plan

(LTP) for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR) Developmental Power Reactor

(DPR)-1. If approved, the amendment would add a license condition to the license

reflecting the NRCs approval of its LTP. Based on the EA, the NRC staff has concluded

that there will be no significant impacts to environmental resources from the requested

license amendment, and therefore, a FONSI is appropriate.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available

September 30, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0175 when contacting the NRC

about the availability of information regar ding this document. You may obtain publicly

available information related to this document using any of the following methods:

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and

search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0175. Address questions about Docket IDs in

Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624; email:

Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the

For Further Information Contact section of this document.

• NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public

Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the

search, select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems with ADAMS, please

contact the NRCs Public Document Room (P DR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, at

301-415-4737, or by email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. For the convenience of the

reader, instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided

in the Availability of Documents section.

• NRCs PDR: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of publicly

available documents, is open by appointment. To make an appointment to visit the PDR,

please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-

4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except

Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Caverly, Office of Nuclear Material

Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-

0001, telephone: 301-415-76744; email: Jill.Caverly@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The NRC is considering issuance of a lic ense amendment for approval of an LTP

for the VBWR DPR-1 located in Alameda County, California, as part of a part 50 of title

10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Domestic Licensing of Production and

Utilization Facilities, Facility Operating License No. DPR-1. If granted, the license

amendment would add a condition reflecting the NRCs approval of the LTP and

2 establishing criteria for determining when changes to the LTP require prior NRC

approval. As required by 10 CFR part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for

Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions, the NRC prepared an EA.

Based on the results of the EA, the NRC has determined not to prepare an

environmental impact statement for the lic ense amendment request and is issuing a

FONSI.

General Electric (GE) was issued a license for Construction Permit Power

Reactor-3 to construct and operate the VBWR on May 14, 1956, as DPR. License CX-2

to operate DPR was issued on July 29, 1957, and initial criticality was achieved on

August 3, 1957. License DPR-1 was issued to GE on August 31, 1957, and full power

was attained on October 19, 1957. The VBWR ceased operations on December 9, 1963,

was defueled on December 24, 1963, and GE was issued a license to possess but not

operate the VBWR by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the predecessor of the

NRC, on September 9, 1965. The license was renewed in 1973 and has remained

effective under the provisions of 10 CFR 50.51(b). On October 22, 2007, license DPR-1

amendment 21 was issued, transitioning ownership of the VBWR from GE to GEH.

The facility has been maintained in SAFSTOR (i.e., the facility is placed in a safe,

stable condition and maintained in that state (safe storage) until it is subsequently

decontaminated and dismantled to levels that permit license termination) condition and

the VBWR has been monitored. The licensee submitted the Limited Post-Shutdown

Decommissioning Activities Report in 2022 that describes a change in the VBWR status

from SAFSTOR to DECON (i.e., where radioac tive contaminants are promptly removed

or decontaminated). Currently, all VBWR spent fuel has been removed from both the

reactor and the site.

3 The licensee submitted the LTP on September 15, 2023, in accordance with

10 CFR 50.82(a)(9). The NRC held a public meeting related to the LTP request in

Pleasanton, California, on May 21, 2024. The meeting covered the NRCs

decommissioning process, the process fo r approving the LTP, and addressed public

questions and comments on the LTP.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

The proposed action is the review and subsequent approval, if appropriate, of a

license amendment to approve the LTP fo r the VBWR. If approved, the amendment

would add a license condition reflecting the NRCs approval of the LTP and establishing

criteria for determining when changes to the LTP require prior NRC approval. The

proposed action is described in the LTP application dated September 15, 2023, an

application supplement dated October 31, 2023, and responses to requests for

additional information.

Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action

The purpose of and need for the proposed action is to allow completion of

decommissioning of the VBWR site, termination of the VBWR operating license by the

NRC, and subsequent release of the site for unrestricted use. The NRC regulation at

10 CFR 50.82 sets forth the process for the licensee to decommission its nuclear power

plant, including submission of the LTP. The NRC will approve the LTP, provided that the

LTP meets the criteria in 10 CFR 50.82(a)(10).

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

The NRC staff considered the potential impacts of the proposed action on land

use; visual and scenic resources/aesthetics; climatology, meteorology, and air quality;

noise; geology and soils; water resources; historic and cultural resources; ecological

4 resources; socioeconomics; public and occupational health; transportation and traffic;

environmental justice; and waste management. The final Generic Environmental Impact

Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities (NUREG-0586 or Decommissioning

GEIS) generically addressed many of t he potential environmental impacts of

decommissioning at the VBWR. During its review of the LTP, the NRC concluded that

the impacts for most resource areasonsite land use; water resources; air quality;

ecology within the operational area; socioeconomics; historic and cultural resources

within the operational area; aesthetics; noise; and transportationwere still bounded by

the generic environmental impacts statement in the Decommissioning GEIS. Therefore,

the NRC does not expect impacts associated with these issues beyond those discussed

in the NUREG-0586, which concluded that the impact level for these issues was SMALL.

In the EA, the NRC staff evaluated the potential environmental impacts on the six

site-specific environmental resource areas as well as the five resource areas not

evaluated in the Decommissioning GEIS and did not identify any significant impacts.

There are no planned activities outside of the operational area, and the licensee plans to

use best management practices and approv ed decommissioning practices for any

decommissioning activities. Therefore, the proposed action would result in no significant

impacts and there would be no significant cumulative effects when added to the past,

present, or reasonably foreseeable future actions at the VBWR site.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered the no-action

alternative. Under the no-action alternativ e, the NRC would not approve the LTP or the

license amendment request because regulatory requirements have not been met.

If the NRC was unable to approve the LTP because the regulatory requirements

were not met, GEH would need to take additional actions to prepare an LTP that meets

5 the requirements in 10 CFR 50.82(a)(10). Under that scenario, GEH would resubmit the

LTP, activities at the VBWR would likely continue, and the environmental impacts would

not change as a result of the additional time required for the LTP resubmission.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

On August 13, 2024, the NRC staff provided a copy of the draft EA to the State of

California Department of Public Health for its review and comment. The State responded

in a letter dated September 12, 2024. The NRC staff updated the EA to incorporate the

States comments where appropriate.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

Based on its review of the proposed license amendment request, in accordance

with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has determined that issuing the

requested amendment, if appropriate, amending GEHs DPR-1 license would not

significantly affect the quality of human env ironment. No significant radiological or non-

radiological impacts are expected from the proposed action. Therefore, the NRC staff

has determined that pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, Determinations based on environmental

assessment, preparation of an EIS is not required for the proposed action, and pursuant

to 10 CFR 51.32, Finding of no significant impact, a FONSI is appropriate. In

accordance with 10 CFR 51.32(a)(4), this FONSI incorporates the EA set forth in this

notice by reference.

IV. Availability of Documents

The documents identified in the following table are available to interested

persons through ADAMS.

DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION ADAMS ACCESSION NO

General Electric Hitachi. License Termination ML23261A591 (Package)

Plan for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor License DPR-1, dated September 15, 2023.

6 General Electric Hitachi. GE-Hitachi Nuclear ML23261A593 Energy Americas, LLC, Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor Environmental Report, dated August 18, 2023.

General Electric Hitachi. GEH Vallecitos Nuclear ML23304A300 Center, Email: Response to Acceptance Review of the VBWR License Termination Plan, dated October 31, 2023.

General Electric Hitachi. GE-Hitachi Nuclear ML23261A594 Energy Americas, LLC, Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor (VBWR) License Termination Plan, dated August 18, 2023.

General Electric Hitachi. Response to Request ML24085A792 for Additional Information, dated March 25, 2024.

NorthStar Vallecitos, LLC. Update to License ML24220A200 Termination Plan for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor - Environmental Report, Vallecitos Nuclear Center, dated August 7, 2024.

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Email: ML24283A171 Request for State review of an environmental assessment for the GEH Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor, dated August 13, 2024.

California Department of Health response to a ML24260A220 request for review of the GEH Vallecitos VBWR LTP draft environmental assessment, dated September 12, 2024.

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ML24274A192 Environmental Assessment for the License Termination Plan for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor at the General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center, Sunol, California, dated September 30, 2024.

Dated: October 10, 2024.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Robert Sun, Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 2, Division of Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

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