80 FR 37662 - Proposed License Renewal of License No. SNM-2506 for the Prairie Island Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 126 (July 1, 2015)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the renewal of License No. SNM-2506, issued in 1993 and held by Northern States Power Company, a Minnesota Corporation (NSPM) (doing business as Xcel Energy) for the operation of the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant (PINGP) site-specific Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), for an additional 20 years.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 126 (Wednesday, July 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37662-37664]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16238]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-0010; NRC-2013-0251]


Proposed License Renewal of License No. SNM-2506 for the Prairie 
Island Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
the renewal of License No. SNM-2506, issued in 1993 and held by 
Northern States Power Company, a Minnesota Corporation (NSPM) (doing 
business as Xcel Energy) for the operation of the Prairie Island 
Nuclear Generating Plant (PINGP) site-specific Independent Spent Fuel 
Storage Installation (ISFSI), for an additional 20 years.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0251 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain 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

[[Page 37663]]

for Docket ID NRC-2013-0251. Address questions about NRC dockets to Ms. 
Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-3463; email: 
[email protected]. 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 [email protected]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (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: Jean Trefethen, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0867, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of a renewal of License No. SNM-
2506 to Northern States Power Company (NSPM) for the operation of the 
Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant (PINGP) site-specific 
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) located within the 
city limits of Red Wing in Goodhue County, Minnesota for an additional 
40 years. Therefore, as required by part 51 of Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Environmental Protection Regulations 
for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,'' which 
implement the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended 
(NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq), the NRC prepared an environmental 
assessment (EA) (ADAMS Accession No. ML15098A026). Based on the results 
of the EA, the NRC has determined that an environmental impact 
statement is not required for the proposed license renewal, and is 
issuing a finding of no significant impact (FONSI).
    In 1993, the NRC issued a 20-year license to NSPM to receive, 
possess, store, and transfer spent nuclear fuel generated at the PINGP, 
Units 1 and 2, in the Prairie Island (PI) ISFSI. License SNM-2506 
currently allows NSPM to store up to 48 transnuclear-40 (TN-40) casks 
and TN-40 high thermal (TN-40HT) casks at the PI ISFSI. The PI ISFSI is 
located within the facility boundary of the PINGP, which is located 
within the city limits of Red Wing in Goodhue County, Minnesota, 
approximately 45 kilometers (km) [28 miles (mi)] southeast of the 
Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
    On October 20, 2011, the licensee submitted their application for a 
40-year license renewal for the PI ISFSI (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML113140518). This application was supplemented by letter(s), dated 
February 29, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12065A073) and dated April 26, 
2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML121170406).
    In October 2012, the NRC and the Prairie Island Indian Community 
(PIIC) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML12284A456). The MOU acknowledges the PIIC's special 
expertise in the areas of historic and cultural resources, 
socioeconomics, land use, and environmental justice as they relate to 
license renewal for the PI ISFSI, and establishes a cooperating agency 
relationship between the NRC and the PIIC. The MOU also defines the 
roles and responsibilities of both entities and the process used to 
prepare an EA that incorporates and reflects the PIIC's views in the 
areas of special expertise.
    In November 2013 (78 FR 69460), to further the environmental review 
process, the NRC published the draft EA and the draft FONSI for the 
proposed PI ISFSI license renewal in the Federal Register for public 
review and comment). Comments were received from the applicant (NSPM), 
the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the City of Red Wing, 
and the PIIC. Appendix B of the final EA contains the NRC's responses 
to those comments.

II. Environmental Assessment

    The proposed action is whether to renew the site-specific ISFSI 
license for an additional 40 years provided that NRC requirements are 
met. If approved, NSPM would continue to possess and store the PINGP, 
Units 1 and 2, spent fuel at the PI ISFSI for an additional 40 years 
under the requirements in 10 CFR part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for 
the Independent Storage of Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, 
and Reactor-Related Greater than Class C Waste.''
    The PI ISFSI is needed to provide additional spent fuel storage 
capacity so that the PINGP Units 1 and 2 can continue to operate. The 
PINGP Units 1 and 2 operate under separate NRC licenses (DPR-42 and 
DPR-60, respectively) that will expire in 2033 and 2034, respectively. 
Spent fuel assemblies from PINGP Units 1 and 2 not already stored at 
the PI ISFSI are currently stored onsite in a spent fuel pool. The 
PINGP spent fuel pool does not have the needed capacity to store all 
the spent nuclear fuel that the PINPG Units 1 and 2 would generate 
through the end of their license term. The PI ISFSI provides additional 
spent fuel storage capacity necessary for NSPM to continue to operate 
the PINGP Units 1 and 2 until a permanent facility (or facilities) is 
available for offsite disposition of the spent fuel.
    In the EA, the NRC staff describes the affected environment and 
evaluates the potential environmental impacts from the proposed 40-year 
renewal of license SNM-2506 on land use; transportation; 
socioeconomics; climatology, meteorology and air quality; geology and 
soils; water resources; ecology and threatened and endangered species; 
visual and scenic resources; noise; historic and cultural resources; 
public and occupational health and safety; waste management; and 
environmental justice. The EA also discusses the alternatives to the 
proposed action, including the no-action alternative. The NRC staff 
also evaluated the potential environmental impacts from decommissioning 
of the PI ISFSI, taking into consideration an additional 40 years of 
operation. Additionally, the NRC staff analyzed the cumulative impacts 
from past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions when 
combined with the potential environmental impacts of the proposed 
action.
    The NRC staff evaluated potential environmental impacts and 
categorized the impacts as follows:
     SMALL-environmental effects are not detectable or are so 
minor that they will neither destabilize nor noticeably alter any 
important attribute of the resource.
     MODERATE-environmental effects are sufficient to alter 
noticeably, but not to destabilize important attributes of the 
resource.
     LARGE-environmental effects are clearly noticeable and are 
sufficient to destabilize important attributes of the resource.
    The NRC staff finds that the impacts from the proposed action would 
be small for all environmental resource areas. In addition, the NRC 
staff

[[Page 37664]]

concludes that there would be no disproportionately high and adverse 
impacts to minority and low-income populations and that federally 
listed threatened and endangered species would not be affected by the 
continued operation of the PI ISFSI during the proposed license renewal 
period.
    The NRC staff is also performing a detailed safety analysis of the 
NSPM's license renewal application to assess compliance with 10 CFR 
part 20, ``Standards for Protection Against Radiation,'' and 10 CFR 
part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of Spent 
Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater 
Than Class C Waste.'' The NRC staff's analysis will be documented in a 
separate safety evaluation report (SER). The NRC staff's decision 
whether to renew the NSPM's PI ISFSI license as proposed will be based 
on the results of the NRC staff's review as documented in the final EA, 
the final FONSI, and in the SER.
    Based on its review of the proposed action in the EA relative to 
the requirements set forth in 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has 
determined that renewal of NRC license SNM-2506, which would authorize 
continued operation of the PI ISFSI in Goodhue County, Minnesota, for a 
an additional 40 years, will not significantly affect the quality of 
the human environment. No significant changes in NSPM's authorized 
operations for the PI ISFSI were requested as part of the license 
renewal application. Approval of the proposed action would not result 
in any new construction or expansion of the existing ISFSI footprint 
beyond that previously approved. The ISFSI is a passive facility that 
produces no liquid or gaseous effluents. No significant radiological or 
nonradiological impacts are expected from continued normal operations. 
Occupational dose estimates from routine monitoring activities and 
transfer of spent fuel for disposal are expected to be at as low as 
reasonably achievable levels and are expected to be within the limits 
of 10 CFR 20.1201. The estimated annual dose to the nearest potential 
member of the public from ISFSI activities is 0.02 millisieverts/year 
(mSv/yr) [2.20 millirem/year (mrem/yr)], which is below the 0.25 mSv/yr 
[25 mrem/yr] limit specified in 10 CFR 72.104(a) and the 1 mSv/yr (100 
mrem/yr) limit in 10 CFR 20.1301(a)(1).

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    Based on its review of the proposed action, in accordance with the 
requirements in 10 CFR part 51, the NRC staff has concluded that the 
proposed action, amendment of NRC Special Nuclear Materials License No. 
SNM-2506 for the PI ISFSI located in Goodhue County, Minnesota, will 
not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. 
Therefore, the NRC staff has determined, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31, that 
preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required for 
the proposed action and a FONSI is appropriate.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of June, 2015.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marissa G. Bailey,
Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Environmental Review, 
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2015-16238 Filed 6-30-15; 8:45 am]
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