Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 17 / Thursday, January 25, 2024 / Notices 4999 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Permit Modification Received 

Under the Antarctic Conservation Act 

of 1978 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Notice of permit modification 

request. 

SUMMARY: The National Science 

Foundation (NSF) is required to publish 

a notice of requests to modify permits 

issued to conduct activities regulated 

under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 

1978. This is the required notice of a 

requested permit modification. 

DATES: Interested parties are invited to 

submit written data, comments, or 

views with respect to this permit 

application by February 26, 2024. 

Permit applications may be inspected by 

interested parties at the Permit Office, 

address below. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

addressed to Permit Office, Office of 

Polar Programs, National Science 

Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, 

Alexandria, Virginia 22314. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Andrew Titmus, ACA Permit Officer, 

Office of Polar Programs, National 

Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower 

Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314; 703– 

292–4479; or ACApermits@nsf.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

National Science Foundation, as 

directed by the Antarctic Conservation 

Act of 1978 (Public Law 95–541), as 

amended by the Antarctic Science, 

Tourism and Conservation Act of 1996, 

has developed regulations for the 

establishment of a permit system for 

various activities in Antarctica and 

designation of certain animals and 

certain geographic areas as requiring 

special protection. The regulations 

establish such a permit system to 

designate Antarctic Specially Protected 

Areas. 

Description of Permit Modification 

Requested: The Foundation issued a 

permit (ACA 2024–006) to Megan 

Cimino on August 14, 2023. The issued 

permit allows the permit holder and 

agents to enter Antarctic Specially 

Protected Areas (ASPAs), as well as 

engage in research activities that would 

result in Take, Harmful Interference, 

and Import into the USA. The permit 

holder and agents would conduct 

research as part of the Palmer Station 

Long-Term Ecological Research Program 

(Palmer LTER). The applicant would 

continue long term-research efforts to 

assess how annual environmental 

variability affects seabird diets, breeding 

success, growth rates, survival and 

recruitment, behavior, population 

trends, foraging success, and seasonal 

dispersal. The study species include the 

Adelie Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, 

Gentoo Penguin, Brown Skua, South 

Polar Skua, Southern Giant Petrel, BlueEyed Shag, Kelp Gull, Snowy 

Sheathbill. All seabirds involved in this 

research would be released unharmed. 

Up to four timelapse cameras attached 

to poles on square bases anchored by 

rocks would be deployed to monitor 

penguin occupation patterns. 

Now, the permit holder proposes a 

permit modification to include 

incidental mortality during research 

activities given the risk associated with 

various techniques used on different 

species. Most of the permitted research 

activities are unlikely to result in an 

incidental mortality (e.g., censusing, 

mapping, collecting fecal samples) 

while other activities are higher risk 

(e.g., stomach lavage, deploying 

trackers). Handling alone is unlikely to 

result in a mortality but due to the 

unpredictable nature of animal behavior 

and/or human error, handling could 

result in an injury and subsequent 

mortality. Further, the act of attaching 

tracking devices to penguins, skuas and 

petrels is unlikely to result in mortality, 

but the device could influence the 

animal’s behavior, including aero and 

hydrodynamics. The permit holder 

requests the following number of 

incidental mortalities by species: Adelie 

Penguin (2), Chinstrap Penguin (2), 

Gentoo Penguin (2), Brown Skua (2), 

South Polar Skua (2), Southern Giant 

Petrel (2), Blue-Eyed Shag 1), Kelp Gull 

(1), Snowy Sheathbill (1). 

Location: Palmer Station area, 

Antarctic Peninsula; ASPA 107, Dion 

Islands; ASPA 113, Litchfield Island; 

ASPA 115, Lagotellerie Island; ASPA 

117, Avian Island; ASPA 139, Biscoe 

Point; ASPA 170, Charcot Island; and 

ASPA 176 Rosenthal Islands. 

Dates: October 1, 2023—September 30, 

2028. 

Kimiko S. Bowens-Knox, 

Program Analyst, Office of Polar Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2024–01414 Filed 1–24–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–305; NRC–2024–0023] 

Kewaunee Solutions, Inc.; Kewaunee 

Power Station; Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is considering 

issuance of an exemption in response to 

the March 29, 2023, request from 

Kewaunee Solutions, Inc., (KS) 

Kewaunee Power Station (KPS), located 

in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. The 

exemption would permit KS to use 

funds from the KPS nuclear 

decommissioning trust (NDT) for the 

management of site restoration activities 

and allow trust disbursements for site 

restoration activities to be made without 

prior notice to the NRC. The NRC staff 

is issuing an environmental assessment 

(EA) and finding of no significant 

impact (FONSI) associated with the 

proposed exemption. 

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in 

this document are available on January 

25, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2024–0023 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–2024–0023. 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. 

• 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, Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karl 

Sturzebecher, Office of Nuclear Material 


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