65256 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 212 / Monday, November 3, 2014 / Notices 

1 Depleted uranium (DU) is uranium with a 

percentage of the uranium-235 isotope lower than 

the 0.7 percent (by mass) contained in natural 

uranium. (The normal residual uranium-235 

content in DU is 0.2–0.3 percent, with the uranium238 isotope comprising the remaining 98.7–98.8 

percent.) 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 40–8838; License No. SUB– 

1435; NRC–2014–0097] 

Jefferson Proving Ground License 

Amendment Application for Source 

Materials License 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement and 

conduct scoping process; public 

meeting and request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Army (Army) 

submitted a license amendment 

application, dated August 28, 2013, to 

the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC), which included a 

Decommissioning Plan (DP) and an 

Environmental Report (ER). The Army 

submitted the DP and ER in support of 

its request that the NRC terminate 

Materials License SUB–1435 for the 

Depleted Uranium Impact Area at the 

Jefferson Proving Ground in Madison, 

Indiana, under restricted conditions. 

The NRC, in accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended (NEPA), and the 

NRC’s regulations, announces its intent 

to prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential 

environmental impacts of the proposed 

license termination and to conduct a 

scoping process for the EIS. The NRC 

invites and encourages members of the 

public to submit comments on the 

appropriate scope of issues to be 

considered in, and the content of the 

EIS. 

DATES: Submit comments by December 

18, 2014. Comments received after this 

date will be considered if it is practical 

to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure 

consideration only for comments 

received before this date. 

In addition, the NRC will conduct a 

public scoping meeting in Madison, 

Indiana, to assist in defining the 

appropriate scope of the EIS, and to 

help identify the significant 

environmental issues that need to be 

addressed in detail. The meeting will be 

transcribed to record the NRC staff 

presentations and public comments. 

The meeting date, time, and location are 

listed below: 

Meeting Date: December 3, 2014. 

Meeting Time: 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. 

(In addition, the NRC staff will host 

informal discussions for 1 hour prior to 

the start of the public meeting.) 

Meeting Location: The Livery Stable, 

309 Broadway Street, Madison, Indiana 

47250. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

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–2014–0097. 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. 

• Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, 

Office of Administration, Mail Stop: 

3WFN–06–A44M, U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001. 

For additional direction on obtaining 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stephen Lemont, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, 

telephone: 301–415–5163, email: 

Stephen.Lemont@nrc.gov, 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– 

0097 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information regarding 

this action. You may obtain information 

related to this action by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2014–0097. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

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

ADAMS Public Document collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.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 (if it is 

available in ADAMS) is provided the 

first time that it is mentioned in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. 

• 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. 

• Jefferson County Public Library: 

Documents are also available for public 

viewing at the Madison Branch of the 

Jefferson County Public Library, located 

at 420 W. Main Street, Madison, Indiana 

47250. 

B. Submitting Comments. 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2014– 

0097 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 in 

comment submissions that you do not 

want to be publicly disclosed in your 

comment submission. The NRC will 

post all comment submissions at 

http://www.regulations.gov as well as 

enter the comment submissions into 

ADAMS, and 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 into ADAMS. 

II. Additional Information 

A. Background 

The NRC received, by letter dated 

August 28, 2013 (ADAMS accession 

number ML13247A549), the Army’s 

application in support of its request to 

terminate Materials License SUB–1435 

under restricted conditions, in 

accordance with section 20.1043 of Title 

10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 

(10 CFR). Materials License SUB–1435 

authorizes the licensee to possess 

depleted uranium (DU) 1 at Jefferson 

Proving Ground (JPG), kept onsite in the 

restricted area known as the ‘‘Depleted 

Uranium Impact Area.’’ 

JPG is located in Jefferson, Jennings, 

and Ripley Counties in southeastern 

Indiana. The DU Impact Area at JPG is 

located entirely within Jefferson County. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 212 / Monday, November 3, 2014 / Notices 65257 

JPG was established in 1941, and was 

used by the Army as a proving ground 

between 1941 and 1995 for the test 

firing of a wide variety of conventional 

munitions. A firing line with 268 fixedgun positions was used to test 

munitions. Approximately 1.5 million 

rounds did not detonate upon impact, 

remaining as unexploded ordnance 

(UXO) either on or beneath the ground 

surface. An additional 3 to 5 million 

rounds with live detonators, primers, or 

fuzes remain onsite north of the firing 

line. 

As part of its munitions testing 

program at JPG, the Army test fired DU 

projectiles into the DU Impact Area, 

which is also located north of the firing 

line. The DU proof test firings were 

conducted under NRC Materials License 

SUB–1435. The test firing of DU 

projectiles began on March 18, 1984, 

and concluded on May 2, 1994. 

Approximately 100,000 kilograms (kg) 

(220,462 pounds [lb]) of DU projectiles 

were fired at soft targets in the 8.4- 

square kilometer (km2) (2,080-acre [ac]) 

DU Impact Area. Approximately 26,500 

kg (58,423 lb) of DU projectiles and 

projectile fragments were recovered 

during periodic surface sweeps of the 

DU Impact Area. Approximately 73,500 

kg (162,040 lb) of DU remain in the DU 

Impact Area. Also, specifically within 

the DU Impact Area, a ‘‘very high’’ 

density of high-explosive UXO (i.e., 85 

UXO/acre) is suspected by the Army to 

be present. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(FWS) established the Big Oaks National 

Wildlife Refuge (NWR) at JPG in the 

area north of the firing line in June 

2000. Under a negotiated Memorandum 

of Agreement between the Army, U.S. 

Air Force, and FWS, the Army retains 

ownership of the land and FWS 

operates the NWR on a 25-year lease 

with 10-year renewal options. The Big 

Oaks NWR encompasses approximately 

206 km2 (51,000 ac), including the DU 

Impact Area. Access to approximately 

97 km2 (24,000 ac) of land is restricted 

by the FWS within the refuge primarily 

because of the occurrence of high levels 

of UXO, but also because of both UXO 

and DU in and near the DU Impact Area. 

The Army submitted a DP and an ER 

to the NRC in support of its request to 

terminate Materials License SUB–1435. 

Specifically, the Army proposes to 

decommission the DU Impact Area at 

the JPG facility under restricted 

conditions, leaving the DU and UXO in 

place, while the Army continues to 

maintain institutional controls in the 

area north of the firing line at JPG 

(which includes the DU Impact Area), 

based on Army ownership of the land 

and the existence of DU and UXO. 

According to the Army, since the DU is 

commingled with UXO, cleanup of the 

DU would be both hazardous and 

expensive. Institutional controls include 

physical access restrictions to prevent 

unauthorized entry into the area (e.g., 

perimeter chain-link fence with pad 

locked chain-link fence gates, security 

warning signs placed around the 

property to caution persons not to 

enter), as well as legal controls (e.g., the 

Army as an agency of the Federal 

Government and an enduring entity 

retains property ownership of JPG north 

of the firing line) and administrative 

controls (e.g., restricted and limited 

public access and hunting prohibitions) 

over the DU Impact Area. 

A notice of receipt of the application, 

solicitation of comments, and 

opportunity to request a hearing and 

petitions for leave to intervene was 

published in the Federal Register on 

April 28, 2014 (79 FR 23384). The NRC 

staff intends to prepare an EIS, to 

include conducting a scoping process, 

to evaluate the potential environmental 

impacts of the proposed action and 

alternatives to the proposed action. 

B. Alternatives To Be Evaluated 

The alternatives identified below will 

be evaluated in the EIS. Other 

alternatives not listed here may be 

identified through the scoping process. 

No-Action—Under the no-action 

alternative, NRC Materials License 

SUB–1435 would remain in effect. 

Licensed material would remain in the 

DU Impact Area; the Army’s semiannual Environmental Radiation 

Monitoring program for surface soil, 

groundwater, surface water, and 

sediment and associated reporting 

would continue; and the Army’s 

existing Radiation Safety Plan would 

continue to be implemented to 

minimize unauthorized entries into the 

DU Impact Area. The no-action 

alternative serves as a baseline for 

comparison with other alternatives. 

Proposed Action—The proposed 

action is for the NRC to terminate 

Materials License SUB–1435 subject to 

the Army’s commitments for 

institutional controls in the area north 

of the firing line at JPG, which includes 

the DU Impact Area. The material 

currently in the DU Impact Area would 

remain in place. Concurrent with 

license termination, the Army would 

discontinue implementation of its 

present Environmental Radiation 

Monitoring program. 

C. Environmental Impact Areas To Be 

Analyzed 

The following areas have been 

tentatively identified for detailed 

analysis in the EIS: 

• Land Use: Plans, policies, and 

controls; 

• Geology and Soils: Physical 

geography, topography, geology, and 

soil characteristics; 

• Water Resources: Surface and 

groundwater hydrology, water use and 

quality, and the potential for 

degradation; 

• Ecological Resources: Wetlands, 

aquatic and terrestrial, economically 

and recreationally; important species; 

and threatened and endangered species; 

• Air Quality: Meteorological and 

climatological conditions, ambient 

background, pollutant sources, and the 

potential for degradation; 

• Environmental Justice: Potential 

disproportionately high and adverse 

impacts to minority and low-income 

populations; 

• Public and Occupational Health: 

Potential public and occupational 

health consequences from normal, 

expected case scenarios and abnormal 

or accidental scenarios; and 

• Cumulative Effects: Potential 

impacts in the above areas resulting 

from the incremental impacts of the 

proposed action when added to the 

impacts of other past, present and 

reasonably foreseeable future actions at 

and near the site. 

This list is not intended to be all 

inclusive, nor is it a predetermination of 

potential environmental impacts. The 

list is presented to facilitate comments 

on the scope of the EIS. Additions to, or 

deletions from, this list may occur as a 

result of the public scoping process. For 

example, additional areas for possible 

detailed consideration in the EIS may 

include one or more of the following: 

transportation, noise, historic and 

cultural resources, visual and scenic 

resources, socioeconomics, waste 

management. 

D. Scoping Process and Scoping Meeting 

The NRC encourages public 

involvement in the EIS process and 

solicits public comments on the scope 

and content of the EIS. Scoping is an 

early and open process designed to 

determine the range of issues, 

alternatives, and potential 

environmental impacts to be considered 

in the EIS and to identify the significant 

issues related to the proposed action. It 

is intended to solicit input from the 

public and governmental and private 

sector agencies/organizations so that the 

analysis can be more clearly focused on 

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65258 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 212 / Monday, November 3, 2014 / Notices 

issues of genuine concern. The principal 

goals of the scoping process are to: 

• Ensure that important issues and 

concerns are identified early and are 

properly studied; 

• Identify alternatives to be 

examined; 

• Identify significant issues to be 

analyzed; 

• Eliminate unimportant issues from 

detailed consideration; and 

• Identify public concerns. 

In addition to submission of written 

comments as described in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice, the 

NRC scoping process will include a 

transcribed public scoping meeting, to 

be held on December 3, 2014, at The 

Livery Stable in Madison, Indiana, to 

solicit both oral and written comments 

from interested parties. The meeting 

will convene at 7:00 p.m. and will 

continue until approximately 10:00 p.m. 

In addition, the NRC staff will host 

informal discussions for 1 hour prior to 

the start of the public meeting. No 

formal oral comments on the proposed 

scope of the EIS will be accepted during 

the informal discussions. 

During the public meeting, a 

description of the NRC’s role and 

mission and an overview of the license 

termination safety review process and of 

the environmental review process will 

be provided. Time will be allotted for 

attendees to make oral comments. To be 

considered, comments must be provided 

either at the transcribed public meeting 

or in writing. 

Persons may register to attend or 

present oral comments at the scoping 

meeting by contacting Antoinette 

Walker-Smith at 301–415–6390, or by 

email to Antoinette.Walker-Smith@

nrc.gov, no later than November 21, 

2014. Members of the public may also 

register to attend or to speak at the 

meeting location prior to the start of the 

session. Individual oral comments may 

be limited by the time available, 

depending on the number of persons 

who register. Members of the public 

who have not registered may also have 

an opportunity to speak, if time permits. 

If special equipment or accommodations 

are needed to attend or present 

information at the public meeting, 

please contact Antoinette Walker-Smith 

no later than November 21, 2014, so that 

the NRC staff can determine whether the 

request can be accommodated. 

At the conclusion of the scoping 

process, the NRC staff will prepare a 

summary of public comments regarding 

the scope of the environmental review 

and significant issues identified. The 

NRC staff will send this summary to 

each participant in the scoping process 

for whom the staff has an address. Also, 

this summary and other project-related 

material will be available for public 

review in ADAMS at http://

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 

E. The NEPA Process 

The EIS for the proposed JPG DU 

Impact Area license termination will be 

prepared pursuant to NEPA and the 

NRC’s NEPA-implementing regulations 

at 10 CFR Part 51. After the scoping 

process is complete, the NRC staff will 

prepare a draft EIS. There will be a 45- 

day comment period on the draft EIS 

and a public meeting to receive 

comments. Availability of the draft EIS, 

the dates of the public comment period, 

and information about the public 

meeting will be announced in the 

Federal Register, the local news media, 

and the NRC Web site: (http://

www.nrc.gov). The final EIS will be 

prepared based on consideration of any 

comments received on the draft EIS and 

will include responses to the comments 

received. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th 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. 2014–26060 Filed 10–31–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket Nos. 52–027 and 52–028; NRC– 

2008–0441] 

Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station, 

Units 2 and 3; South Carolina Electric 

& Gas Company; Tier 1 Editorial and 

Consistency Changes 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Exemption and combined 

license amendment; issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is granting an 

exemption to allow a departure from the 

certification information of Tier 1 of the 

generic design control document (DCD) 

and issuing License Amendment No. 15 

to Combined Licenses (COL), NPF–93 

and NPF–94. The COLs were issued to 

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company 

(SCE&G), and South Carolina Public 

Service Authority (the licensee), for 

construction and operation of the Virgil 

C. Summer Nuclear Station (VCSNS), 

Units 2 and 3 located in Fairfield 

County, South Carolina. The 

amendment consists of changes to 

Figure 2.2.5–1, Tables; 2.6.3–4, 3.5–3, 

3.5–7, 2.2.3–1, 3.5–1, 3.3–6, 2.7.1–4, 

2.6.6–1, 2.2.3–4, 2.3.10–2, and 2.1.1–1, 

and Section 3.2, Item 1.e) of Appendix 

C to the COLs. The granting of the 

exemption allows the changes to Tier 1 

information asked for in the 

amendment. Because the acceptability 

of the exemption was determined in 

part by the acceptability of the 

amendment, the exemption and 

amendment are being issued 

concurrently. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2008–0441 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this document. 

You may obtain information related to 

this document, which the NRC 

possesses and is publicly-available, 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2008–0441. 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 publiclyavailable documents online in 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.’’ 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. The request 

for the amendment and exemption was 

submitted by the letter dated July 2, 

2013 (ADAMS Accession No. 

ML13189A285). The licensee 

supplemented this request by letter 

dated September 26, 2013 (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML13273A394). 

• 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: 

Denise McGovern, Office of New 

Reactors, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001; telephone: 301–415–0681; email: 

Denise.Mcgovern@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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