Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 1 / Tuesday, January 2, 2024 / Notices 105 

circumstances required by 10 CFR 

50.12(a)(2)(ii) exist. 

E. Environmental Considerations 

In accordance with 10 CFR 51.31(a), 

the Commission has determined that the 

granting of this exemption will not have 

a significant effect on the quality of the 

human environment as discussed in the 

NRC staff’s Environmental Assessment 

and Finding of No Significant Impact 

published in the Federal Register (FR) 

on December 21, 2023 (88 FR 88664). 

IV. Conclusions 

Accordingly, the Commission has 

determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 

50.12, the licensee’s request for 

exemptions from certain EP 

requirements in 10 CFR 50.47(b), 10 

CFR 50.47(c)(2), and 10 CFR part 50, 

appendix E, section IV, and as 

summarized in Enclosure 2 to SECY– 

23–0043, are authorized by law, will not 

present an undue risk to the public 

health and safety, and are consistent 

with the common defense and security. 

Also, special circumstances are present. 

Therefore, the Commission hereby 

grants HDI exemptions from certain EP 

requirements in 10 CFR 50.47(b), 10 

CFR 50.47(c)(2), and 10 CFR part 50, 

appendix E, section IV, as discussed and 

evaluated in detail in the NRC staff’s 

safety evaluation dated December 22, 

2023. The exemptions are effective 12 

months after permanent cessation of 

power operations, which was May 20, 

2023. Because this period had already 

elapsed, the exemption is effective upon 

issuance. These exemptions will 

terminate if the status of the Palisades 

reactor changes such that the 

certifications of permanent cessation of 

operations and permanent removal of 

fuel from the reactor vessel are no 

longer applicable. 

Dated: this 22nd day of December 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Jane Marshall, 

Director, Division of Decommissioning, 

Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28813 Filed 12–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–285; NRC–2022–0127] 

Omaha Public Power District; Fort 

Calhoun Station, Unit 1; 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 NRC’s 

consideration of a license amendment 

request by Omaha Public Power District 

(OPPD) to approve the License 

Termination Plan (LTP) for the Fort 

Calhoun Station, Unit 1 (FCS), located 

in Washington County, Nebraska. If 

approved, the amendment would add a 

license condition to the FCS license 

reflecting the NRC’s approval of its LTP 

and establishing criteria for determining 

when changes to the LTP require prior 

NRC approval. OPPD would use the LTP 

to meet the requirements for terminating 

the license and releasing the site for 

unrestricted use. 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 is available on January 2, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2022–0127 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding 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–2022–0127. 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. 

• NRC’s 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 NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

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 of 

this document. 

• NRC’s 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: 

Marla Morales, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–415–0715; email: Marla.Morales@

nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The NRC is considering issuance of a 

license amendment request to approve 

the LTP for the FCS, located in 

Washington County, Nebraska, as part of 

OPPD’s 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–40. If 

granted, the license amendment would 

add a condition to FCS’s license 

reflecting the NRC’s approval of FCS’s 

LTP and 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 

environmental assessment (EA). Based 

on the results of the EA, the NRC has 

determined not to prepare an 

environmental impact statement (EIS) 

for the license amendment request and 

is issuing a finding of no significant 

impact (FONSI). 

Construction of FCS began in 1968, 

and the NRC issued an operating license 

to the OPPD in 1973. The FCS began 

commercial operation in September 

1973. The OPPD submitted the 

Certification of Permanent Cessation of 

Power Operations in August 2016 in 

accordance with 10 CFR 50.82 (a)(1)(i) 

and shutdown on October 24, 2016. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(1)(ii), on 

November 13, 2016, the OPPD certified 

to the NRC that as of November 2016, 

all fuel had been removed from the FCS 

reactor vessel and placed into the FCS 

spent fuel pool. 

Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(a)(4)(i), the 

OPPD submitted its initial PostShutdown Decommissioning Activities 

Report (PSDAR) on March 30, 2017, and 

supplemented it by letter dated 

December 14, 2017. The PSDAR 

described OPPD’s selection of the 

SAFSTOR method for decommissioning 

the FCS. The FCS reactor remained in 

SAFSTOR until December 16, 2019. 


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106 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 1 / Tuesday, January 2, 2024 / Notices 

On December 16, 2019, as 

supplemented by letter dated July 16, 

2020, the OPPD submitted a revised 

PSDAR to the NRC to reflect schedule 

changes and select a new method for 

decommissioning the FCS pursuant to 

10 CFR 50.82(a)(7). The revised PSDAR 

described OPPD’s selection of the 

DECON method for decommissioning 

the FCS. 

By letter dated May 18, 2020, the 

OPPD certified to the NRC that as of 

May 13, 2020, all spent fuel assemblies 

had been permanently transferred out of 

the FCS spent fuel pool and placed in 

storage within the independent spent 

fuel storage installation (ISFSI). The 

OPPD submitted the LTP on August 3, 

2021, in accordance with 10 CFR 

50.82(a)(9). 

II. Environmental Assessment 

Description of the Proposed Action 

The proposed action is the review and 

subsequent approval, if appropriate, of a 

license amendment to OPPD to approve 

the LTP for the FCS. If approved, the 

amendment would add a license 

condition to the FCS license reflecting 

the NRC’s 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 OPPD’s 2021 LTP application and 

responses to requests for additional 

information dated June 15, 2022, and 

February 27, 2023. 

Purpose and Need for the Proposed 

Action 

The purpose of and need for the 

proposed action is to allow for 

completion of decommissioning of the 

FCS site by the OPPD, termination of 

the FCS operating license by the NRC, 

and subsequent release of the FCS 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, historical and cultural 

resources; visual and scenic resources; 

meteorology, climatology, and air 

quality; noise; geology and soils; water 

resources; ecological resources; 

socioeconomics; public and occupation 

health; transportation and traffic; 

environmental justice; and waste 

management. The Decommissioning 

Generic Environmental Impact 

Statement (GEIS) (NUREG–0586) 

generically addressed many of the 

potential environmental impacts of 

decommissioning at the FCS. During its 

review of the FCS LTP, the NRC 

concluded that the impacts for most 

resource areas—onsite land use; water 

resources; air quality; ecology, not 

including threatened and endangered 

species or outside the operational area; 

socioeconomics; historic and cultural 

resources within the operational area; 

aesthetics; noise; transportation; and 

nonradioactive waste management— 

were still bounded by the 

Decommissioning GEIS. Therefore, the 

NRC does not expect impacts associated 

with these issues beyond those 

discussed in the GEIS, which concluded 

that the impact level for these issues 

was SMALL. 

In the Decommissioning GEIS, the 

NRC staff concluded that it could not 

necessarily determine the 

environmental impacts of 

decommissioning generically for six 

environmental resource areas (offsite 

land use, threatened and endangered 

species, aquatic ecology beyond the 

operational area, terrestrial ecology 

beyond the operational area, 

environmental justice, and historic and 

cultural resources beyond the 

operational area). The Decommissioning 

GEIS determined that for these six 

resource areas a site-specific analysis 

would be required as was done in the 

FCS EA. In addition, topics not 

included in the Decommissioning GEIS 

that the NRC staff evaluated in the FCS 

EA include the affected environment, 

climate change, cumulative impacts, 

contamination of groundwater from 

decommissioning activities, and 

nonradioactive waste management. 

In the FCS 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. For the 

proposed action there are no planned 

activities outside of the operational area, 

and the OPPD commits to using best 

management practices and obtaining all 

necessary licenses from Federal or State 

agencies to protect the surrounding 

lands. 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 FCS site. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action 

As an alternative to the proposed 

action, the NRC staff considered the 

‘‘no-action’’ alternative. Under the noaction alternative, 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, the OPPD would need to 

take additional actions to prepare an 

LTP that meets the requirements in 10 

CFR 50.82(a)(10). Under this scenario, 

until the OPPD resubmits the LTP, 

activities at FCS would likely continue 

and the environmental impacts would 

neither increase nor decrease as a result 

of the additional time required for the 

LTP resubmission. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

On August 18, 2023, the NRC staff 

provided a copy of the draft EA to the 

State of Nebraska Department of Health 

and Human Services for its review and 

comment. In a letter dated October 12, 

2023, the State provided comments on 

the State’s applicable regulations for air 

quality, stormwater, water quality, and 

waste management. The comments were 

incorporated into the EA, as applicable. 

The NRC completed consultation 

under section 106 of the National 

Historic Preservation Act by consulting 

with the Nebraska State Historic 

Preservation Office and 12 Federally 

recognized Indian Tribes in 

correspondence dated August 3, 2022. 

In addition, the NRC staff, consulted 

with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(FWS) and determined that the 

proposed action ‘‘may affect, but not 

likely to adversely affect’’ the Northern 

Long-eared Bat, Tricolored Bat, Piping 

Plover, Monarch Butterfly, and the 

Pallid Sturgeon, and would have ‘‘no 

effect’’ on critical habitat. The NRC staff 

provided its effect determinations to 

FWS on August 18, 2023, and FWS 

concurred with those findings on 

November 5, 2023, and provided no 

additional comments. Therefore, 

consultation has been completed under 

section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. 

III. Finding of No Significant Impact 

Based on its review of the 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, of a license termination to 

OPPD’s DPR–40 license would not 

significantly affect the quality of human 

environment. No significant radiological 

or non-radiological impacts are 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 1 / Tuesday, January 2, 2024 / Notices 107 

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. 

Omaha Public Power District Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Reports and supplemental letters, 

dated March 30, 2017, December 14, 2017, December 16, 2019, and July 16, 2020.

ML17089A759, ML17348A623, 

ML19351E355 and 

ML20202A654. 

Omaha Public Power District Certification of Permanent Cessation of Power Operations, dated August 25, 

2016.

ML16242A127. 

Omaha Public Power District Certification of Permanent Removal of Fuel from the Reactor Vessel, dated 

November 13, 2016.

ML16319A254. 

Omaha Public Power District Certification of Permanent Removal of all Spent Fuel Assemblies from the 

Spent Fuel Pool, dated May 18, 2020.

ML20139A138. 

Omaha Public Power District, License Amendment Application, dated August 3, 2021 .................................. ML21271A178 (Package). 

Omaha Public Power District Response to Fort Calhoun Station, Unit No. 1 Requests for Additional Information dated June 15, 2022, and February 27, 2023.ML22167A199 and ML23060A197. 

Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities (NUREG–0586), 

dated November 2002.

ML023470304. 

NRC letter to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Request for Review of Draft EA, 

dated August 18, 2023.

ML23234A239. 

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services email response to NRC Request for Review of Draft 

EA, dated October 12, 2023.

ML23298A097. 

Letter to the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office initiating consultation under section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act, dated September 29, 2022.

ML22258A273. 

NRC letters to Tribal nations initiating consultation under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 

Act, dated August 3, 2022.

ML22137A126 (Package). 

NRC letter to FWS regarding informal Section 7 consultation, determinations of effect, dated August 18, 

2023.

ML23234A241. 

Fish and Wildlife Service concurrence on NRC’s determinations of effect, dated November 5, 2023 ............ ML23311A086. 

Final Environmental Assessment for Fort Calhoun, Unit 1 License Termination Plan, dated December 14, 

2023.

ML23333A049. 

Dated: December 27, 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Jill S. Caverly, 

Acting Chief, Environmental Project 

Management Branch 2, Division of 

Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial 

Support, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, 

and Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28815 Filed 12–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2023–0001] 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: Weeks of January 1, 8, 

15, 22, 29, and February 5, 2024. The 

schedule for Commission meetings is 

subject to change on short notice. The 

NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can 

be found on the internet at: https://

www.nrc.gov/public-involve/publicmeetings/schedule.html. 

PLACE: The NRC provides reasonable 

accommodation to individuals with 

disabilities where appropriate. If you 

need a reasonable accommodation to 

participate in these public meetings or 

need this meeting notice or the 

transcript or other information from the 

public meetings in another format (e.g., 

braille, large print), please notify Anne 

Silk, NRC Disability Program Specialist, 

at 301–287–0745, by videophone at 

240–428–3217, or by email at 

Anne.Silk@nrc.gov. Determinations on 

requests for reasonable accommodation 

will be made on a case-by-case basis. 

STATUS: Public. 

Members of the public may request to 

receive the information in these notices 

electronically. If you would like to be 

added to the distribution, please contact 

the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Office of the Secretary, Washington, DC 

20555, at 301–415–1969, or by email at 

Betty.Thweatt@nrc.gov or 

Samantha.Miklaszewski@nrc.gov. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Week of January 1, 2024 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of January 1, 2024. 

Week of January 8, 2024—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of January 8, 2024. 

Week of January 15, 2024—Tentative 

Thursday, January 18, 2024 

9:00 a.m. Strategic Programmatic 

Overview of the Decommissioning 

and Low-Level Waste and Nuclear 

Materials Users Business Lines 

(Public Meeting) (Contact: Candace 

Spore: 301–415–8537) 

Additional Information: The meeting 

will be held in the Commissioners’ 

Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland. The public is 

invited to attend the Commission’s 

meeting in person or watch live via 

webcast at the Web address—https://

video.nrc.gov/. 

Week of January 22, 2024—Tentative 

Tuesday, January 23, 2024 

10:00 a.m. Briefing on International 

Activities (Public Meeting) 

(Contacts: Jennifer Holzman: 301– 

415–8537, Doris Lewis 301–287– 

3794) 

Additional Information: The meeting 

will be held in the Commissioners’ 

Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland. The public is 

invited to attend the Commission’s 

meeting in person or watch live via 

webcast at the Web address—https://

video.nrc.gov/. 

Week of January 29, 2024—Tentative 

There are no meetings scheduled for 

the week of January 29, 2024. 


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