ML24263A192
| 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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