63444 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 

ML14132A342) and related 

environmental documents (FEIS: Vol. 1: 

ML050240233; Vol. 2: ML050240250) 

are available electronically at the NRC 

Library at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams.html. To begin the search, 

select ‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and 

then select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS 

Search.’’ 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day 

of October 2014. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Robert Johnson, 

Chief, Fuel Manufacturing Branch, Division 

of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office 

of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25274 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 72–08; NRC–2011–0085] 

Exelon Generation Corporation, LLC; 

Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant; 

Independent Spent Fuel Storage 

Installation 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Environmental assessment and 

finding of no significant impact; reissuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is re-issuing an 

Environmental Assessment (EA) and 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

(FONSI) for the proposed renewal of 

NRC License SNM–2505 for the 

continued operation of the Independent 

Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) 

at the Exelon Generation Corporation, 

LLC (Exelon Generation), Calvert Cliffs 

Nuclear Power Plant site in Calvert 

County, Maryland. The re-issued EA 

includes the NRC staff’s consideration 

of the impacts of continued storage of 

spent nuclear fuel (as documented in 

NUREG–2157, ‘‘Generic Environmental 

Impact Statement for Continued Storage 

of Spent Fuel’’) as an appendix to the 

EA. The re-issued EA also includes an 

update to the cumulative impacts 

assessment to address new information 

about reasonably foreseeable future 

actions in the vicinity of or associated 

with the ISFSI site. 

DATES: The re-issued EA and FONSI are 

available as of October 23, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2011–0085 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this document. 

You may access publicly-available 

information related to this document 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2011–0085. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–287–3422; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@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 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

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, 301–415–4737, or by 

email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced in this document 

(if that document is available in 

ADAMS) is provided the first time that 

a document is referenced. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James Park, Office of Nuclear Material 

Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001; telephone: 301–415– 

6935; email: James.Park@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

On September 17, 2010, Exelon 

Generation submitted an application 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML102650247) 

to the NRC to renew NRC License SNM– 

2505 for the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI in 

Calvert County, Maryland, for a period 

of 40 years. Exelon Generation 

supplemented its application by 

submittals dated February 10, 2011, 

March 9, 2011, June 28, 2011, and 

December 15, 2011 (ADAMS Accession 

Nos. ML110620120, ML110730731, 

ML11180A270, and ML11364A024). 

The NRC staff prepared an EA in 

accordance with § 51.30(a) of Title 10 of 

the Code of Federal Regulations (10 

CFR), publishing a notice of issuance for 

the EA and a FONSI in the Federal 

Register on June 8, 2012 (77 FR 34093). 

The NRC’s licensing proceedings for 

nuclear reactors and ISFSIs have 

historically relied upon a generic 

determination codified in the NRC’s 

regulations (10 CFR Part 51) to satisfy 

the agency’s obligations under the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended (NEPA), with respect 

to the narrow area of the environmental 

impacts of storage of spent nuclear fuel 

(spent fuel) beyond a reactor’s licensed 

life for operation and prior to ultimate 

disposal (continued storage). The Court 

of Appeals for the District of Columbia 

Circuit, in New York v. NRC, 681 F. 3d 

471 (D.C. Cir. 2012), vacated the NRC’s 

2010 update to that rule (75 FR 81031; 

December 23, 2010) and remanded it to 

the NRC. Thereafter, the Commission 

determined on August 7, 2012, that the 

NRC would not issue licenses 

dependent upon the formerly known 

Waste Confidence Decision and 

Temporary Storage Rule until the Court 

of Appeals’ was appropriately addressed 

(Commission Order CLI–12–16, ADAMS 

Accession No. ML12220A199). 

On September 19, 2014 (79 FR 56238), 

the NRC published a final rule at 10 

CFR 51.23, ‘‘Environmental impacts of 

continued storage of spent nuclear fuel 

beyond the licensed life for operations 

of a reactor’’ (RIN 3150–AJ20; NRC– 

2012–0246). That rule, effective October 

20, 2014, codifies the NRC’s generic 

determinations in NUREG–2157 

(ADAMS Accession Nos. ML14196A105 

and ML14196A107) regarding the 

environmental impacts of the continued 

storage of spent fuel. In CLI–14–08 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML14238A213), 

the Commission held that the revised 10 

CFR 51.23 and associated NUREG–2157 

cure the deficiencies identified by the 

court in New York v. NRC, 681 F.3d 471 

(D.C. Cir. 2012) and stated that the rule 

satisfies the NRC’s NEPA obligations 

with respect to continued storage. The 

rule, however, does not authorize the 

storage of spent fuel. 

In EAs prepared for future relevant 

licensing actions related to a reactor’s 

spent nuclear fuel, 10 CFR 51.23(b) now 

requires the NRC to consider the 

environmental impacts of continued 

storage, if the impacts of continued 

storage of spent fuel are relevant to the 

proposed action. An appendix to the reissued EA (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML14282A278) prepared for the 

proposed renewal of the Calvert Cliffs 

ISFSI license provides the NRC staff’s 

consideration of the impact 

determinations in NUREG–2157 

regarding continued storage. 

The NRC staff has also updated its 

assessment of cumulative impacts to 

include new information about 

reasonably foreseeable future actions 

(RFFAs) in the vicinity of or associated 

with the ISFSI site. These RFFAs 

include Exelon Generation’s proposed 

expansion of the ISFSI and updates to 

the Cove Point liquefied natural gas 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 63445 

(LNG) export project in Lusby, Calvert 

County, Maryland. 

The NRC staff also updated the EA to 

reflect Exelon Generation’s additional 

supplements to its license renewal 

application as submitted by letters dated 

July 27, 2012, April 24, 2013, and 

September 18, 2014 (ADAMS Accession 

Nos. ML12212A216, ML13119A242, 

ML13119A243, ML13119A244, and 

ML14267A065). 

II. Summary of the Environmental 

Assessment 

Description of the Proposed Action 

Exelon Generation is requesting that 

NRC License SNM–2505 for the Calvert 

Cliffs site-specific ISFSI be renewed for 

40 years. Under its current license, 

Exelon Generation is authorized to 

receive, acquire, and possess the spent 

fuel from the Calvert Cliffs, Units 1 and 

2, nuclear generating units on the 

Calvert Cliffs site, and other radioactive 

materials associated with spent fuel 

storage at the ISFSI located in Calvert 

County, Maryland, in accordance with 

the requirements of 10 CFR Part 72. 

Need for the Proposed Action 

Exelon Generation is requesting 

renewal of the ISFSI operating license to 

provide the option of continued 

temporary dry storage of spent nuclear 

fuel assemblies generated by operation 

of Calvert Cliffs, Units 1 and 2. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

In its 2012 EA for the Calvert Cliffs 

ISFSI license renewal, the NRC staff 

determined that impacts from the 

proposed renewal for 40 years would be 

SMALL and not significant for all 

environmental resource areas. This is 

due to the passive nature of the ISFSI in 

that it emits no gaseous or liquid 

effluents during operation. Also, the 

ISFSI is designed to minimize 

radiological doses to workers and 

members of the public. Finally, the 

ISFSI is located at a distance sufficient 

from both the Chesapeake Bay and 

Maryland State Route 2/4, in wooded, 

rolling topography, so as to minimize its 

impact on air quality, noise levels, 

federally-listed threatened and 

endangered species, and scenic/visual 

resources. 

In addition, as discussed in the 2012 

EA, archaeological investigations 

conducted in association with the 

proposed Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 project 

identified previously surveyed, 

inventoried, and recorded cultural 

resources within a 16-kilometer (10- 

mile) radius of the existing Calvert Cliffs 

site. As part of these archeological 

investigations, five architectural 

resources on the Calvert Cliffs site and 

one archaeological site were identified 

as eligible for listing on the National 

Register of Historic Places. These sites, 

however, are located outside the ISFSI 

facility footprint and areas of ISFSI 

operations. Therefore, the NRC staff 

concluded in the 2012 EA that the 

impacts to historic and cultural 

resources were not significant. 

The NRC staff also evaluated whether 

cumulative environmental impacts 

could result from the incremental 

impact of the proposed action when 

added to the past, present, or reasonably 

foreseeable future actions in the area. 

The NRC staff concluded that the 

proposed action would have a SMALL 

incremental contribution to cumulative 

impacts on environmental resources 

that would not be significant. 

Updates From the 2012 Environmental 

Assessment 

The NRC staff has added an appendix 

to the re-issued EA that provides the 

NRC’s consideration of the impact 

determinations in NUREG–2157 

regarding continued storage. The NRC 

staff’s evaluation of the potential 

environmental impacts of continued 

storage of spent fuel presented in 

NUREG–2157 identifies an impact level, 

or a range of impacts, for each resource 

area for a range of site conditions and 

timeframes. The timeframes analyzed in 

NUREG–2157 include the short-term 

timeframe (60 years beyond the licensed 

life of a reactor), the long-term 

timeframe (an additional 100 years after 

the short-term timeframe), and an 

indefinite timeframe. Taking into 

account the SMALL impacts from atreactor continued storage in the shortterm timeframe, which the NRC 

considers most likely, the greater 

uncertainty reflected in the ranges in the 

long-term and indefinite timeframes 

compared to the greater certainty in the 

SMALL findings as discussed in 

NUREG–2157, and the relative 

likelihood of the timeframes, the NRC 

staff finds that the impact 

determinations for at-reactor storage 

from NUREG–2157 do not change the 

NRC staff’s evaluation of the potential 

environmental impacts from the 

proposed renewal of the Calvert Cliffs 

site-specific ISFSI license. 

Additionally, the NRC staff has 

updated the cumulative impacts 

analysis in the re-issued EA to reflect 

new information about (1) the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission’s 

(FERC’s) authorization of the Dominion 

Cove Point LNG, LP proposal to 

construct and operate facilities to 

liquefy and export domestically 

produced natural gas from its existing 

liquefied natural gas import terminal 

located in Lusby, Maryland; and (2) 

Exelon Generation’s license amendment 

request to change the Calvert Cliffs 

ISFSI Technical Specifications to allow 

the storage of approved Westinghouse 

and AREVA Combustion Engineering 

14x14 fuel designs in the Nutech 

Horizontal Modular Storage 

(NUHOMS)-32PHB dry shielded 

canister and expand the Calvert Cliffs 

ISFSI’s capacity to continue to support 

operation of the Calvert Cliffs, Units 1 

and 2, through the end of the currently 

licensed life of the plant. 

The FERC performed a cumulative 

impacts analysis from the construction 

and operation of the proposed 

Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP project 

as part of its NEPA environmental 

review. In its EA, FERC concluded that 

the proposed project, in association 

with other projects in the area, would 

not result in significant cumulative 

impacts. 

For the purposes of the cumulative 

impacts analysis in the re-issued EA, the 

NRC staff expects that the construction 

activities associated with the proposed 

expansion of the Calvert Cliffs ISFSI 

would continue to occur on an asneeded basis. Therefore, although 

construction activities associated with 

the expansion of the ISFSI could 

overlap with the construction activities 

for the other projects discussed in the 

cumulative impact analysis, 

construction of the horizontal storage 

modules would be staggered and only 

conducted when more storage is 

needed. Therefore, potential 

environmental impacts from the 

construction of the additional horizontal 

storage modules would not all be 

experienced at the same time. In 

addition, operation of the ISFSI with an 

increased capacity is required to be 

conducted in a manner that meets 

occupational and public annual 

radiological dose regulatory limits in 10 

CFR Parts 20 and 72. The NRC staff 

determined in the 2012 EA that the 

proposed ISFSI license renewal would 

not have a significant impact on 

environmental resources. Therefore, the 

NRC staff concluded that the proposed 

action would not have a significant 

incremental contribution to cumulative 

impacts. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action 

In the 2012 EA, the NRC staff 

evaluated two alternatives to the 

proposed action: (1) The no-action 

alternative, and (2) renewing the ISFSI 

license for 20 years. The NRC staff 

concluded that the potential impacts 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

63446 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 

from these two alternatives did not 

differ significantly from the impacts 

associated with the proposed action, 

and the NRC staff has determined that 

the information in this update does not 

change that conclusion. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

In preparing the 2012 EA, the NRC 

staff consulted with other agencies 

regarding the proposed action. These 

consultations are intended to (1) ensure 

that the requirements of Section 7 of the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) and 

Section 106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act (NHPA) are met; (2) 

fulfill the NRC’s requirements in 

meeting the provisions of Section 307 of 

the Coastal Zone Management Act of 

1972, as amended; and (3) provide the 

designated state liaison agencies the 

opportunity to comment on the 

proposed action. 

Based on that consultation, none of 

the agencies identified concerns with 

the proposed action. Because the 

proposed action is unchanged from the 

2012 EA and consultation, the NRC staff 

has not reinitiated consultation with 

these agencies and persons for this 

update. 

III. Finding of No Significant Impact 

After considering the impacts from 

continued storage presented in NUREG– 

2157 and the updated information 

concerning reasonably foreseeable 

future actions, the NRC staff concludes 

that these do not change the NRC staff’s 

finding of no significant impact for the 

proposed renewal for Exelon 

Generation’s Calvert Cliffs ISFSI license, 

as published. Therefore, preparation of 

an Environmental Impact Statement is 

not warranted. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this ___ day 

of October 2014. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Marissa Bailey, 

Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, 

Safeguards and Environmental Review, Office 

of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25249 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2014–0232] 

Applicability of ASME Code Case 

N–770–1, as Conditioned by Federal 

Regulation, to Branch Connection Butt 

Welds 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Draft regulatory issue summary; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is seeking public 

comment on draft regulatory issue 

summary (RIS) 2014–XX. This draft RIS 

is addressed to all holders of an 

operating license or construction permit 

for a pressurized water nuclear power 

reactor under the NRC’s regulations, 

except those who have permanently 

ceased operations and have certified 

that fuel has been permanently removed 

from the reactor vessel. This draft RIS 

would inform these entities about 

reactor coolant system Alloy 82/182 

branch connection dissimilar metal 

nozzle weld that may be of a butt weld 

configuration and therefore require 

inspection under the NRC’s regulations. 

This RIS also informs these entities of 

a licensee’s recent misclassification and 

missed inspections to Alloy 82/182 

dissimilar metal butt welds in branch 

connections of primary coolant loop 

piping. 

DATES: Submit comments by December 

8, 2014. Comments received after this 

date will be considered if it is practical 

to do so, but the NRC is able to assure 

consideration only for comments 

received on or before this date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comment 

by any of the following methods (unless 

this document describes a different 

method for submitting comments on a 

specific subject): 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2014–0232. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–287–3422; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, 

Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 

3WFN, 06–44M, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001. 

For additional direction on accessing 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tanya Mensah, telephone: 301–415– 

3610, email: Tanya.Mensah@nrc.gov; or 

Jay Collins, telephone: 301–415–4038, 

email: Jay.Collins@nrc.gov, both are staff 

of the Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2014– 

0232 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information for this 

action. You may obtain publiclyavailable information related to this 

action by the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2014–0232. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

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, 301–415–4737, or by 

email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The draft 

RIS is available in ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML14196A065. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

B. Submitting Comments 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2014– 

0232 in the subject line of your 

comment submission, in order to ensure 

that the NRC is able to make your 

comment submission available to the 

public in this docket. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC posts all comment 

submissions at http://

www.regulations.gov as well as entering 

the comment submissions into ADAMS. 

The NRC does not routinely edit 

comment submissions to remove 

identifying or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment submissions into 

ADAMS. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES