80 FR 22231 - Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 76 (April 21, 2015)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, are issuing for public comment NUREG-2179, ``Environmental Impact Statement for the Combined License (COL) for the Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant'' to support the environmental review for the COL. PPL Bell Bend, LLC (PPL) submitted an application for the COL to construct and operate one new nuclear power plant at its Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant (BBNPP) site, located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 76 (Tuesday, April 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22231-22232]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09274]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 52-039; NRC-2008-0603]


Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Draft environmental impact statement; public meeting and 
request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, are issuing for public 
comment NUREG-2179, ``Environmental Impact Statement for the Combined 
License (COL) for the Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant'' to support the 
environmental review for the COL. PPL Bell Bend, LLC (PPL) submitted an 
application for the COL to construct and operate one new nuclear power 
plant at its Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant (BBNPP) site, located in 
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.

DATES: Submit comments by July 7, 2015. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2008-0603. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, 
individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration, 
Mail Stop: OWFN-O12-H8, 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: Tomeka Terry, telephone: 301-415-1488, 
email: [email protected], or Patricia Vokoun, telephone: 301-415-
3470, email: [email protected]. Both are staff of the Office of 
New Reactors, 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-2008-0603 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information regarding this document. You may 
obtain publicly-available 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-2008-0603.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the

[[Page 22232]]

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 [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if it available in 
ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is referenced. The 
draft environmental impact statement (EIS) is available in ADAMS under 
accession Nos. ML15103A012 and ML15103A025, respectively.
     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.
     Project Web site: The draft EIS can be accessed online at 
the Bell Bend COL specific Web page at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/bell-bend.html.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID NRC-2008-0603 in the subject line of your 
comment submission.
    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.

II. Background

    The NRC is issuing for public comment NUREG-2179, ``Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement for the Combined License (COL) for the 
Bell Bend Nuclear Power Plant.'' The PPL submitted an application for 
the COL to construct and operate one new nuclear power plant at its 
BBNPP site, located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The application 
was submitted by letter dated October 10, 2008, pursuant to part 52 of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A notice of receipt 
and availability of the application including the environmental report 
was published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2008 (73 FR 
67214). A notice of acceptance for docketing of the COL application was 
published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2008 (73 FR 79519). A 
notice of intent to prepare a draft EIS and to conduct scoping was 
published in the Federal Register on January 6, 2009 (74 FR 470). On 
March 30, 2012, PPL submitted a revised environmental report (Part 3 of 
the COL application), in accordance with 10 CFR 51.45 and 51.50, to 
provide detailed information regarding the revised site layout that was 
developed in order to avoid wetland impacts by relocating the power 
block footprint and other plant components. A notice of intent to 
conduct a supplemental scoping process on the revised site layout was 
published in the Federal Register on June 15, 2012 (77 FR 36012).
    The draft EIS also supports the USACE's review and was prepared in 
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended. The draft EIS also supports the USACE's review of the 
Department of the Army permit application from PPL (CENAB-OP-RPA-2008-
01401). The USACE's Public Interest Review will be part of its Record 
of Decision and is not addressed in the draft EIS. As part of the USACE 
public comment process, the USACE will publish a notice (in the Federal 
Register) within 30 days of the publication of the draft EIS to solicit 
comments from the public regarding PPL's Department of the Army permit 
application for proposed work at the BBNPP site.

II. Request for Comment and Public Meetings

    The NRC is requesting public comments on the draft EIS. The NRC and 
USACE staff will conduct two public meetings to present an overview of 
the draft EIS and to accept public comments on both the document and 
the associated Department of the Army permit application on Thursday, 
June 4, 2015, at Bloomsburg University, Monty's Building Upper Campus, 
400 East Second Street, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania 17815. The first 
meeting will convene at 3:00 p.m. and will continue until 5:30 p.m., as 
necessary. The second meeting will convene at 7:30 p.m., with a repeat 
of the overview portions of the first meeting, and will continue until 
10:00 p.m., as necessary. For additional information regarding the 
meetings, see the NRC's Public Meeting Schedule Web site at https://meetings.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg. The agenda will be posted no later than 10 
days prior to the meetings.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of April 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark Delligatti,
Deputy Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of New 
Reactors.
[FR Doc. 2015-09274 Filed 4-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P