ML21342A040

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

ML21342A040
Person / Time
Site:	Westinghouse
Issue date:	08/06/2021
From:	Diaz-Toro D NRC/NMSS/DREFS/ERMB
To:	Caldwell M US Dept of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service
Shared Package
ML21342A030	List: ML21342A038 ML21342A039 ML21342A040 ML21342A041
References
Download: ML21342A040 (1)

Text

Diaz Toro, Diana From: Diaz Toro, Diana Sent: Friday, August 06, 2021 1:48 PM To: mark_caldwell@fws.gov; charleston@fws.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 - FWS Log No. 2015-I-0359 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 began consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act on May 12, 2015, when the NRC staff requested concurrence that the proposed 40-year license renewal is not likely to adversely affect terrestrial species. In 2019, during the NRC staffs preparation of the environmental assessment for the proposed renewal of the operating license for the CFFF, the FWS confirmed that the proposed action is not likely to adversely affect federally listed species. On July 31, 2020, the NRC staff notified the FWS of its intent to prepare an EIS for the WECs license renewal application. The DEIS discusses the effects of the proposed action on federally listed species. During the preparation of this DEIS, the NRC staff did not identify information related to the proposed action that would require the NRC to reinitiate consultation with the FWS.

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 301-415-0930 diana.diaz-toro@nrc.gov 1