Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: e5306f4f-dc8c-4f60-a71c-af7ad4080384
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Aquatic Environmental Studies for Nuclear Power Stations + HISTORY - HISTORY 12/2014 – DG-4023 -Proposed New Guide
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1318/ML13186A085.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.24
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CFR Title: 

Content:
pond, with or without assistance of a cooling tower, as long as the water usage rates comply with the CWA. Regardless of the type of closed- cycle system, closed-cycle cooling consumes more water than once-through cooling. Water consumption, or loss, is an impact that must be addressed, usually including predictive modeling, particularly in locations where water availability is a concern. Beyond CWA requirements, no common specific aquatic ecology regulatory criteria are used to compare the alternative heat dissipation systems with the proposed system. Instead, aquatic resources potentially affected by each alternative typically are described and compared at a coarse level of resolution (e.g., general habitat types (e.g., freshwater, estuarine, marine, soft-substrate, hard-substrate) that would be affected by siting, building, or operating the heat dissipation system), including quantitative data when possible. Sources of Information Some information sources useful for identifying aquatic ecological resources in a project study area include: • topographic maps (7.5-minute) from the U.S. Geological Survey and other online mapping products • EFH mapper from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) • National Wetland Inventory Maps (they include water features in addition to wetlands) DG-4023, Page 6 • State (e.g., Natural Heritage Program) and federal (e.g., NMFS or Fish and Wildlife Service) data on potential occurrence of threatened, endangered, and other protected species and habitats • State Coastal Zone Management plans • fishery management plans from NMFS and the regional fishery management councils • coastal and marine spatial plans from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the regional planning bodies • nautical charts • remote sensing data from Landsat and SeaWiFS imagery from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) • data on marine protected areas (MPAs) from the National Marine Protected