Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 32 / Thursday, February 15, 2001 / Notices 10557

budgets in accordance with the needs of

the program and the availability of

funds. Awards made will be subject to

periodic reporting and evaluation

requirements.

Notification

Final awards cannot be made until

funds have been appropriated by

Congress, allocated and committed

through internal ECA procedures.

Dated: February 9, 2001.

Helena Kane Finn,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Educational

and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of

State.

[FR Doc. 01–3879 Filed 2–14–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

Supplemental Environmental Impact

Statement: Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

Operating License Renewal

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

SUMMARY: This notice is provided in

accordance with the Council on

Environmental Quality’s regulations (40

CFR parts 1500–1508) and TVA’s

procedures for implementing the

National Environmental Policy Act. The

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will

prepare a supplemental environmental

impact statement (SEIS) to address the

environmental impacts associated with

obtaining license extensions for the

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFN)

located in Limestone County, Alabama.

Renewal of the operating licenses will

allow the plant to continue to operate

for an additional 20 years beyond the

expiration dates of the current operating

licenses. The regulations of the Nuclear

Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 10

CFR part 54 set forth the applicable

license extension requirements. This

SEIS will also consider the impacts of

the possible restart of Unit 1, which has

been in a non-operational status since

1985, with an extended operating

license. At this early stage, TVA

contemplates that the action alternatives

in the EIS could include a combination

of license renewal and restart of Unit 1.

The no-action alternative considered is

a decision by TVA to not seek renewal

of the operating licenses for the BFN

units. Public comment is invited

concerning both the scope of

alternatives and environmental issues

that should be addressed as part of the

SEIS.

DATES: Comments on the scope of the

SEIS must be postmarked or e-mailed no

later than March 23, 2001 to ensure

consideration.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or emails on the scope of issues to be

addressed in the SEIS should be sent to

Bruce L. Yeager, Senior Specialist,

National Environmental Policy Act,

Environmental Policy and Planning,

Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West

Summit Hill Drive, Mail Stop WT 8C–

K, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 (e-mail:

blyeager@tva.gov).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Charles L. Wilson, Nuclear Licensing

Staff, Tennessee Valley Authority, 1101

Market Street, Mail Stop BR 4X–C,

Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37402 (e-mail:

clwilson@tva.gov), Roy V. Carter,

Tennessee Valley Authority, Mail Stop

CEB 4C–M, Muscle Shoals, Alabama,

35662 (e-mail: rvcarter@tva.gov) or

Bruce Yeager, Tennessee Valley

Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive,

Mail Stop WT 8C–K, Knoxville,

Tennessee 37902 (e-mail:

blyeager@tva.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The proposal to renew the operating

licenses for the Browns Ferry Nuclear

Plant (BFN) was part of a system-wide

evaluation of future power needs. A

range of options to meet those needs

was evaluated in TVA’s Integrated

Resource Plan and Environmental

Impact Statement, Energy Vision 2020,

released on December 21, 1995.

The Final Environmental Statement

for BFN was published in 1972. BFN

was TVA’s first nuclear power plant.

The facility is located on an 840-acre

tract adjacent to Wheeler Reservoir in

Limestone County, Alabama, 10 miles

southwest of Athens, Alabama. BFN has

three General Electric boiling water

reactors and associated turbinegenerators that can produce more than

3,000 megawatts (MW) of power. Unit 1

began commercial operation in August

1974, Unit 2 in 1975 and Unit 3 in 1977.

An extended shutdown of all units at

Browns Ferry began in 1985 to review

the TVA nuclear power program. Unit 2

returned to service in May 1991 and

Unit 3 in November 1995. Unit 1 has

been idled since 1985, and changes

would be necessary prior to restarting

the unit. The current operating

characteristics of Units 2 and 3 are

considered representative of future

operations at Browns Ferry because of

the changes in personnel, procedures,

and equipment that occurred during and

following the extended regulatory

outage which began in 1985. For

example, since return to service from

the regulatory outage, Units 2 and 3

have performed well with consistently

higher levels of availability and

generating capacity than before the

outage.

Proposed Action

TVA proposes to submit an

application to the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) requesting renewal

of BFN operating licenses. Renewal of

the current operating licenses would

permit operation for an additional

twenty years past the current (original)

40-year operating license terms which

expire in 2014 and 2016 for Units 2 and

3, respectively. The Unit 1 operating

license expires in 2013. License renewal

of the operating BFN facilities does not

involve new major construction or

modifications beyond normal

maintenance and minor refurbishment.

The SEIS will also examine the

impacts associated with the possible

recovery and restart of Unit 1, which

has been in a non-operational status for

15 years. Among the impacts to be

examined in this SEIS are those

resulting from thermal (heat) discharges

to Wheeler Reservoir associated with

three-unit operation. The cooling

capaicity necessary to mitigate thermal

impacts under the various alternatives

would also be examined in the SEIS.

Other aspects of the actions under

consideration include the impacts

associated with a spent fuel storage

facility and a few new office buildings.

Independent of the matters

considered in the SEIS, TVA is

considering a project which would

uprate the maximum operating power

level of Units 2 and 3 to 120 percent of

their originally licensed power levels. If

this project is approved, the various

alternatives in the SEIS will be modified

as appropriate to reflect the higher

operating levels. If Unit 1 is returned to

service, it is currently contemplated that

it would also be operated at 120 percent

of its originally licensed power level.

Additional information about the uprate

project is available from the contacts

listed above.

Range of Alternatives

As required by Council on

Environmental Quality (CEQ)

regulations (40 CFR 1502.14), TVA will

evaluate a reasonable range of

alternatives in this SEIS. Action

alternatives TVA is currently

considering include license extensions

for Units 2 and 3 to continue power

operation for an additional 20 years, and

the possible return to service of Unit 1

with a 20-year license extension. TVA

will also consider a ‘‘no action’’

alternative which would be a decision

by the TVA Board of Directors to not

10558 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 32 / Thursday, February 15, 2001 / Notices

pursue license renewal. Under the no

action alternative the plant would cease

to produce power and TVA would

choose one of the decommissioning

options. Under this alternative, the

power no longer being produced by

Browns Ferry may or may not be

generated or obtained by other means.

Preliminary Identification of

Environmental Issues

This SEIS will discuss the need to

continue to operate the plant and will

describe the existing environmental,

cultural, recreational, and

socioeconomic resources. The SEIS will

consider the potential environmental

impacts resulting from refurbishment,

operation and maintenance of the

existing facilities, as well as any

additional impacts from returning Unit

1 to service. TVA’s evaluation of

environmental impacts to resources will

include, but not necessarily be limited

to, the potential impacts on air quality,

surface and ground water quality and

resources, vegetation, wildlife, aquatic

ecology, endangered and threatened

species, floodplains, wetlands and

wetland wildlife, aesthetics and visual

resources, land use, cultural and

historic resources, light, noise,

socioeconomics, transportation, spent

fuel management, and radiological

impacts. These concerns and other

important issues identified during the

scoping process will be addressed as

appropriate in the SEIS.

Additionally, TVA will review the

Generic Environmental Impact

Statement for License Renewal of

Nuclear Plants (GEIS), NUREG–1437, in

which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) considered the

environmental effects of renewing

nuclear power plant operating licenses

for a 20-year period (results are codified

in 10 CFR Part 51). The GEIS identifies

92 environmental issues and reaches

generic conclusions on environmental

impacts for 69 of those issues that apply

to all plants or to plants with specific

design or site characteristics. It is

expected that the generic assessment in

NRC’s EIS would be relevant to the

assessment of impacts of the proposed

actions at the Browns Ferry Plant.

Information from NRC’s EIS that is

relevant to the current assessment

would be incorporated by reference

following the procedures described in

40 CFR 1502.21. Alternatively, TVA

may choose to tier off this EIS after first

adopting this EIS in accordance with 40

CFR 1506.3. Additional plant-specific

review would likely be necessary for the

remaining issues, which are

encompassed by the range of resource

issue areas identified above.

Public Participation

This Supplemental Environmental

Impact Statement (SEIS) is being

prepared to provide the public an

opportunity to provide input to TVA’s

assessment of the environmental

impacts of the suite of proposals at BFN

including the request for license

renewal and the possible return to

service of Unit 1. The SEIS will also

serve to inform the public and the

decision-makers of the reasonable

alternatives that would minimize

adverse impacts.

The scoping process will include both

interagency and public scoping. The

agencies expected to participate in

interagency scoping include the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, various State of

Alabama agencies including the

Department of Environmental

Management, and other federal, state

and local agencies as appropriate.

The public is invited to submit

written comments or e-mail comments

on the scope of this SEIS no later than

the date given under the DATES section

of this notice.

Comments may also be provided in an

oral or written format at the public

scoping meeting. TVA will conduct a

public meeting on the scope of the SEIS

in Limestone County, Alabama, on

Tuesday, March 6, 2001. The meeting

will be held at the Aerospace

Technology Building Auditorium on the

campus of Calhoun State Community

College on Highway 31 North.

Registration for the meeting will be from

6 to 6:30 p.m. There will be visual

displays and information handouts

available during the registration period.

The meeting will begin with brief

presentations by TVA staff explaining

the SEIS process and the proposed

license renewal project. Following these

presentations there will be group

discussions facilitated by staff of TVA

and Calhoun State Community College

to record the issues and concerns that

the public believes should be

considered in the SEIS.

Upon consideration of the scoping

comments, TVA will develop

alternatives and identify important

environmental issues to be addressed in

the SEIS. Following analysis of the

environmental consequences of each

alternative, TVA will prepare a draft

SEIS for public review and comment.

Notice of availability of the draft SEIS

will be published in the Federal

Register. TVA will solicit written

comments on the draft SEIS through this

Federal Register notice. Any meetings

that are scheduled to comment on the

draft SEIS will be announced by TVA.

TVA expects to release a final SEIS by

January 2002.

Dated: February 9, 2001.

Kathryn J. Jackson,

Executive Vice President, River System

Operations & Environment.

[FR Doc. 01–3823 Filed 2–14–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8120–08–U

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Notice of Intent To Request From the

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) of Six Current Public

Collections of Information

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.

3501 et seq.), the FAA invites public

comment on six currently approved

public information collections which

will be submitted to OMB for renewal.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before April 16, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed

or delivered to the FAA at the following

address: Ms. Judy Street, Room 613,

Federal Aviation Administration,

Standards and Information Division,

APF–100, 800 Independence Ave., SW.,

Washington, DC 20591.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Judy Street at the above address or on

(202) 267–9895.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: the FAA

solicits comments on the following six

current collections of information in

order to evaluate the necessity of the

collection, the accuracy of the agency’s

estimate of the burden, the quality,

utility, and clarity of the information to

be collected, and possible ways to

minimize the burden of the collection.

Following are short synopses of the

information collection activities which

will be submitted to OMB for review

and request for renewal:

1. 2120–0001, Notice of Proposed

Construction or Alteration and Notice of

Actual Construction or Alteration, and

Project Status Request. Federal

regulations require all persons to report

proposed or actual construction/

alteration of structures affecting air

safety. The reporting requirements as

prescribed in 14 CFR Part 77 affects any

persons or business planning to

construct or alter a structure that may

affect air safety. The information is used

to ensure the safe and efficient use of

the navigable airspace by aircraft. The