july 7 meeting

Kryptonite's very important post from ADAM's earlier today was lost in the excitement of the announcement and then the sp shenanigans later in the day. The 7th July meeting will hopefully give the all clear for the safety and environmental acceptance review of the Ross license application. I expect there will be more RAI's but we can't be to far away from progressing to number seven below.

1. Letter of Intent

The staff has been encouraging potential applicants of major license applications to send a formal Letter of Intent (LOI) for a planned action so that the NRC may better plan for the application review.

2. Receipt of Major License Application

NRC places license applications in ADAMS for public examination. After the application becomes available in ADAMS, notice of receipt of the application is placed on NRC's Web site.

3. License Application Acceptance Review

Following receipt of a license application, the staff will perform an acceptance review to determine whether the application is sufficiently complete to begin the detailed safety and environmental reviews. The staff will generally complete the acceptance review within 90 days of receipt of the application.

4. Distribution of Accepted License Application

Following NRC's acceptance of the application, the applicant is required to serve a copy of the application, minus any information deemed sensitive and non-public, to the chief executive of the municipality or county in which the facility is located.

5. Notice of Opportunity for Hearing

Once a major license application has been formally accepted for review, an opportunity to request a hearing is normally noticed in the Federal Register and a copy of the notice is placed in ADAMS. A link to this notice is provided on NRC's Web site under the table "Opportunities to Request a Hearing or Petition to Intervene."

6. License Application Review

The license application contains technical information on the facility and an environmental report. NRC analyzes the health and safety impacts as documented in a Safety Evaluation Report (SER). The NRC evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the proposed actions in a separate environmental review document. Meetings may be arranged with the applicant early in the review process to facilitate preparation of the draft SER or a request for additional information (RAI). The environmental review can require preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or Environmental Assessment (EA) which also provides opportunities for public input. All meetings for either safety or environmental review purposes require public notification on the NRC Web site at least 10 days prior to the meeting. The NRC will notify known Federally-recognized tribal officials in the area by phone or e-mail of any posting of notices of planned early meetings of potential interest on NRC's Web site.


7. Environmental Review

In general, the environmental review process is approximately 22 months for an EIS and 9 - 12 months for an EA. NRC's environmental review process is described in 10 CFR Part 51. In some instances, Part 51 requires NRC staff to publish a notice of intent to prepare an EIS in the Federal Register. The NRC will notify known Federally-recognized tribal officials in the area by phone or e-mail of any Federal Register notices that NRC intends to prepare an EIS that may be of potential interest.
Federally-recognized tribal governments can participate in the environmental review process by the same process as any other member of the public, by commenting during the scoping period or commenting on draft EISs or EAs. Federally-recognized tribal governments can also request to participate as a cooperating agency to assist in preparation of the draft EIS or EA.
Public participation is encouraged during the scoping process for an EIS. The scoping process may include a public meeting near the location of the applicant's facility The public can also submit comments for the scoping report electronically or by mail. Following publication of the draft EIS, a public meeting may also be arranged near the site of the proposed facility to explain the contents of the draft EIS and receive public comments. NRC regulations require a public comment period for all draft EISs. The NRC also intends to make draft EAs for new ISL facilities available for public comment. NRC's goal is to use existing contact information to notify individuals or organizations that expressed an interest in commenting on the draft environmental documents when they are available for public review.

8. The Final Environmental Review and SER

The EIS or EA is finalized after addressing all comments on the draft document and will be publicly distributed with a notice of availability in the Federal Register. The SER is completed after the applicant adequately responds to any RAIs. A draft SER is completed within 12 months following acceptance of the application and the final SER will be completed concurrently with the final EIS or EA. The final SER will include discussion of all proposed license conditions.

9. Completion of the Licensing Action

Following the completion of the environmental review and the SER, NRC staff makes its decision on the licensing action and sends a letter to the applicant which documents the results of the staff=s safety and environmental reviews (final SER and EIS or EA) and provides the basis for the issuance of a license or an amendment to an existing license. For actions where an EA was developed, the licensing action will be completed after the Finding of No Significant Impact is published in the Federal Register. For actions requiring an EIS, the licensing action will be completed upon the issuance of a license or denial of a license request following publication of the final EIS.