POLICY ISSUE

INFORMATION

June 9, 2006 SECY-06-0134

FOR: The Commissioners

FROM: Luis A. Reyes

Executive Director for Operations

SUBJECT: TECHNICAL BASIS FOR REVISING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TO BE

CONSIDERED FOR LICENSE RENEWAL

PURPOSE:

This paper informs the Commission of the staff’s intention to update NUREG-1437, ?Generic

Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants,” the technical basis for

an amendment to 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, Appendix B. 

BACKGROUND:

In SECY-96-035, ?Final Rulemaking on ‘Environmental Review for Renewal of Nuclear Power

Plant Operating Licenses,’ 10 CFR Part 51,” dated February 9, 1996, the staff requested

approval to publish the final rule for 10 CFR Part 51. Attached to SECY-96-035 was the

?Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants,”

NUREG-1437 (GEIS). The GEIS, the final version of which was published in 1996, provided

the technical basis for many of the requirements and much of the language in the final rule. 

The GEIS examined the impacts of 92 different environmental issues at nuclear power plants

operating at that time. The GEIS also documented a literature search done to qualitatively

assess the various impacts of nuclear power generation. The purpose of the GEIS was to

determine which issues required a site-specific evaluation during the license renewal review

and which issues could be evaluated generically, and to focus staff effort during license renewal

reviews on only issues that were highly variable from site to site and that could potentially have

a significant impact. Since 1996 the staff has used the GEIS in assessing the environmental

CONTACT: Alicia Mullins, NRR/DLR

(301) 415-1224
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impacts of license renewal in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 

The GEIS and the codification of the conclusions in 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, Appendix B,

have been effective in focusing resources on the important environmental issues and have

been successfully employed in reviewing 27 license renewal applications. The staff has relied

on the GEIS in its evaluation of a large number of environmental issues that have similar levels

of impact at many locations or facilities.

The rule and the GEIS increased the efficiency of the license renewal process by documenting

and codifying in the Commission’s regulations those environmental impacts that are well

understood. In publishing the GEIS and final rulemaking, the staff recognized in 1996 that the

assessment of the issues might change over time due to advances in impact assessment,

experience in conducting license renewal reviews, and changes in regulations and

requirements. Additional issues might be identified for consideration, and the generic versus

site-specific categorization of an issue might change. 

Accordingly, the staff stated in 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, Appendix B, that ?On a 10-year

cycle, the Commission intends to review the material in this appendix and update it if

necessary.” To accomplish this update, the staff will supplement the 1996 GEIS and initiate a

rulemaking to again codify the results of the staff’s assessment in the regulations. The staff

also will incorporate any changes resulting from the update of the GEIS and rulemaking into

Regulatory Guide 4.2 Supplement 1, ?Preparation of Supplemental Environmental Reports for

Applications To Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses,” and NUREG-1555,

Supplement 1, ?Environmental Standard Review Plan.” 

An effort to update the GEIS began in June 2003 when the agency published a Federal

Register notice of intent to conduct scoping. The original comment period was from June 2003

to September 2003 (including an extension). The technical assistance budget and utilization of

contractor staff for this activity have been in direct competition with higher priority license

renewal and early site permit environmental reviews. Therefore, the project was inactive for

2 years. The staff reinitiated the review in October 2005 by publishing a Federal Register

notice extending the comment period until December 30, 2005. 

DISCUSSION:

The 1996 GEIS had three principal objectives: (1) to provide an understanding of the types and

severity of environmental impacts that may occur as a result of renewing the licenses of nuclear

power plants under 10 CFR Part 54, (2) to identify and assess impacts that are expected to be

generic to license renewal, and (3) to support a rulemaking (10 CFR Part 51) to define the sitespecific issues that need to be addressed by the applicants in license renewal proceedings.

Each site-specific Environmental Impact Statement published in support of a reactor license

renewal review is a supplement to the GEIS and is referred to as a Supplemental

Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The GEIS summarizes the findings of a systematic

inquiry into the potential environmental consequences of renewing the licenses of individual

nuclear power plants and their operation for an additional 20 years. The effort described the

attributes of the nuclear power plants, such as major features and plant systems, and the ways

the plants can affect the environment. This systematic inquiry identified 92 environmental

issues that should be analyzed to determine the potential impact of a license renewal. For each

SEIS the staff evaluates a subset of the 92 environmental issues, depending on the plant
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design and location. For many of these issues the staff adopts the conclusions reached in the

GEIS that the impacts are similar at all facilities and are small. Absent new and significant

information, the staff adopts the conclusions presented in 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, 

Appendix B, and no further assessment is performed. However, for 21 of the issues analyzed

in the GEIS the staff concluded that a site-specific assessment would be required for each

license renewal review. This site-specific assessment is presented in the SEIS for the facility

applying for license renewal. Additionally, the issue of environmental justice was not evaluated

on a generic basis in the 1996 GEIS and, therefore, is assessed in a site-specific manner in

each SEIS. Finally the staff found in the GEIS that the health effects of electromagnetic fields

on members of the public was inconclusive at the time the GEIS was published and could not

be generically assessed.

Table B-1 of 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, Appendix B, summarizes the Commission’s findings

on the scope and magnitude of environmental impacts of renewing the operating license for a

nuclear power plant, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. In

Table B-1, environmental issues are divided into Category 1 and Category 2 issues. 

Category 1 issues are issues whose environmental impacts apply either to all plants or to plants

having a specific type of cooling system or other specified plant or site characteristics. For

Category 1 issues, a single significance level (small, moderate, or large) has been assigned to

the impacts. Mitigation of adverse impacts associated with the issue has been considered in

the analysis, and the staff has determined that additional plant-specific mitigation measures are

unlikely to be sufficiently beneficial to warrant implementation. Category 2 issues are issues for

which the analysis reported in the GEIS has shown that one or more of the Category 1 criteria

cannot be met and, therefore, additional plant-specific review is required. The staff intends to

review the categorization of issues to ensure that the information is consistent with the current

state of the science of impact assessment. The staff will determine if all Category 1 issues are

indeed still generic and if the environmental impact of Category 1 issues remains small. The

staff also will review all Category 2 issues to determine if any of these issues can be resolved

generically. In addition, the staff has compiled a list of items to be revised in the GEIS based

on lessons learned from previous environmental reviews for license renewal. 

Based on scoping comments received on the GEIS update project, a review of the literature on

impact assessment, lessons learned from previous environmental reviews for license renewal,

and a review of current environmental regulations, the staff also will determine if any new

environmental issues should be added to Table B-1 for license renewal reviews. Among the

issues that will be considered for addition to Table B-1 are the impacts on the environment of

routine dredging around intake and discharge structures and health impacts on individuals

using the warm water discharge area for recreation.

COMMITMENTS:

The staff commits to the following review:

1. The staff will update the GEIS, NUREG-1437, beginning in November 2006 and conduct the

associated rulemaking to revise 10 CFR Part 51 to be consistent with the findings in the

GEIS.

2. The staff will revise Regulatory Guide 4.2, Supplement 1, ?Preparation of Supplemental

Environmental Reports for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses,”
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and NUREG-1555, Supplement 1, ?Environmental Standard Review Plan,” to incorporate

any changes as a result of updating the GEIS.

RESOURCES:

The schedule for completion of the GEIS update and the final rulemaking to 10 CFR Part 51 is

34 months from the contract placement. The scoping comment period ended on December 30,

2005. Scoping comments have been received via public meetings, e-mails, and letters. The

first step in resuming the review is to issue a scoping summary report addressing public

concerns and to compile a list of candidate issues to be addressed. The staff plans to resume

the GEIS update project in June 2006. The schedule of the major milestones for completing

the GEIS update and 10 CFR Part 51 rulemaking is as follows:

ACTION ESTIMATED DATE OF

COMPLETION

Develop the draft GEIS February 2007

Develop proposed 10 CFR Part 51

rulemaking 

August 2007

Commission reviews SECY paper on

draft GEIS and proposed rulemaking 

November 2007

Issue draft GEIS and proposed

rulemaking for comment 

January 2008

Address public comments on rule and

GEIS and hold public meetings 

October 2008

Commission reviews SECY paper on

final GEIS and final rulemaking 

January 2009

Issue final GEIS and final 10 CFR

Part 51 rulemaking

February 2009

Revise guidance documents for license

renewal environmental reviews February 2009

The resources estimates for the GEIS update project, the 10 CFR Part 51 rulemaking, and the

update of guidance documents are $376,411 and 0.7 FTE in FY 2006, $277,532 and 1.9 FTE in

FY 2007, $587,812 and 1.9 FTE in FY 2008, and 0.9 FTE in FY 2009. Resources are budgeted

for FY 2006 and FY 2007. Resources for FY 2008 have been included in the proposed budget

that is before the Chairman and the FY 2009 resources will be requested in the PBPM process

next year.
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COORDINATION:

The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed this paper and has no legal objections. 

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this paper for resource implications and

has no objections. 

CONCLUSION:

Consistent with the statement in 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, Appendix B, that the Commission

intended to review the material in the appendix every 10 years and update the appendix if

necessary, the staff is initiating an effort to update the GEIS, NUREG-1437. Based on the

findings of the GEIS update effort, the staff will prepare a rulemaking to revise 10 CFR Part 51,

Subpart A, Appendix B and Table B-1. 

/RA/

Luis A. Reyes

Executive Director

 for Operations
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COORDINATION:

The Office of the General Counsel has reviewed this paper and has no legal objections. 

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer has reviewed this paper for resource implications and

has no objections. 

CONCLUSION:

Consistent with the statement in 10 CFR Part 51, Subpart A, Appendix B, that the Commission

intended to review the material in the appendix every 10 years and update the appendix if

necessary, the staff is initiating an effort to update the GEIS, NUREG-1437. Based on the

findings of the GEIS update effort, the staff will prepare a rulemaking to revise 10 CFR Part 51,

Subpart A, Appendix B and Table B-1. 

/RA/

Luis A. Reyes

Executive Director

 for Operations

ADAMS Accession Number: ML061010458

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NAME AMullins YEdmonds PKleene SImboden MMasnik (RF for) RFranovich

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DATE 5 / 24 /06 5 / 25 /06 4 / 05 /06 4 / 21 /06 4 / 13 /06 6 / 01 /06

OFFICE EDO

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DATE 06/09/06

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