[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 200 (Wednesday, October 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83521-83523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23863]


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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.

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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 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 NRC's 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 regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
    <bullet> 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: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a3f0d7c2c0da8df0c0cbd6cec2cdcde3cdd1c08dc4ccd5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="90c3e4f1f3e9bec3f3f8e5fdf1fefed0fee2f3bef7ffe6">[email protected]</span></a>. For technical 
questions, contact the individual listed in the For Further Information 
Contact section of this document.
    <bullet> 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 <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f9a9bdabd7ab9c8a968c8b9a9cb9978b9ad79e968f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="570713057905322438222534321739253479303821">[email protected]</span></a>. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions

[[Page 83522]]

about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided in 
the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
    <bullet> 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 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6e3e2a3c403c0b1d011b1c0d0b2e001c0d40090118"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fdadb9afd3af988e92888f9e98bd938f9ed39a928b">[email protected]</span></a> 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: 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0d47646161234e6c7b687f61744d637f6e236a627b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5c16353030721f3d2a392e30251c322e3f723b332a">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of a license 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 NRC's approval of the 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 EA. Based on the results of the EA, 
the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement 
for the license 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 radioactive 
contaminants are promptly removed or decontaminated). Currently, all 
VBWR spent fuel has been removed from both the reactor and the site.
    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 NRC's decommissioning process, the process for 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 for the VBWR. If 
approved, the amendment would add a license condition 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 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 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 the 
potential environmental impacts of decommissioning at the VBWR. During 
its review of the LTP, the NRC concluded that the impacts for most 
resource areas--onsite land use; water resources; air quality; ecology 
within the operational area; socioeconomics; historic and cultural 
resources within the operational area; aesthetics; noise; and 
transportation--were 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 approved 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 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, GEH would need to take additional actions to 
prepare an LTP that meets 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.

[[Page 83523]]

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 State's 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 GEH's DPR-1 license would not significantly affect the quality 
of human environment. 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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        ADAMS accession
                 Document description                         No.
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General Electric Hitachi. License Termination Plan           ML23261A591
 for the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor License DPR-         (Package)
 1, dated September 15, 2023.........................
General Electric Hitachi. GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy          ML23261A593
 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 Energy          ML23261A594
 Americas, LLC, Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor
 (VBWR) License Termination Plan, dated August 18,
 2023................................................
General Electric Hitachi. Response to Request for            ML24085A792
 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........................
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Email: Request           ML24283A171
 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 request        ML24260A220
 for review of the GEH Vallecitos VBWR LTP draft
 environmental assessment, dated September 12, 2024..
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Environmental              ML24274A192
 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................
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    Dated: October 10, 2024.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert Sun,
Chief, Environmental Project Management Branch 2, Division of 
Rulemaking, Environmental, and Financial Support, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-23863 Filed 10-15-24; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P


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