Environmental Considerations in the Licensing Process
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Pre-Application Interactions and Activities
The NRC's regulations at 10 CFR 51.40 encourage prospective applicants to confer with the NRC staff prior to submitting environmental information or filing an environmental report (i.e., submitting a licensing application). This dialogue ensures that the prospective applicant clearly understands the NRC staff's expectations for a complete application. The objective of pre-application interactions is to foster communication regarding complex technical or regulatory issues and plant-specific topics that may be part of the application. Pre-application interactions with the staff enable the prospective applicant to resolve questions regarding regulatory guidance and processes before submitting the application.

Acceptance Review
Once an application is submitted to the NRC, the NRC staff conducts an acceptance review to determine whether the application meets regulatory requirements and contains sufficient information to allow the staff to perform its technical review. In addition to the acceptance decision, the acceptance review provides information that facilitates review planning and the development of the environmental review schedule.
The standard for acceptance depends upon the specific licensing action being requested and circumstances of the review. Some NRC offices state that in order to for an application to be acceptable for docketing, any missing information is expected to require no more than a reasonable round of requests for additional information (RAIs) in order to support a predictable schedule. Sometimes applications will be accepted without the information necessary to set a schedule, especially if there are unique issues or if the application is a first of a kind. In such a case, the application is accepted (i.e., docketed), but the review schedule is not set until the applicant has provided the required information.

Scoping
NRC regulations at 10 CFR 51.29 require the staff to conduct scoping for any project involving an environmental impact statement (EIS). Scoping refers to a public process that gathers information to identify significant issues, eliminate non-significant issues from further study, and determine the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts to be considered in the EIS. Following completion of the acceptance review and docketing of the application, a notice of intent is published to initiate scoping. The environmental review team, consisting of project managers and subject matter experts for environmental resource areas, engages agencies, Tribes, the public, and other parties and stakeholders during the scoping period.
Although environmental assessments (EAs) do not require a formal public scoping process, scoping may be conducted for licensing actions that are more complex, are similar to licensing actions that require preparation of an EIS, or that have significant public interest. Although scoping is not conducted for most EAs, the NRC may still have statutory obligations to engage in interagency consultations and interact with Indian Tribes.

Preparing the Draft National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Document
In accordance with 10 CFR 51.70, the NRC staff is required to prepare a draft EIS or supplemental EIS (SEIS) as soon as practicable after publication of the Federal Register notice of intent to prepare an EIS and completion of the scoping process. In most cases, the preparation of the draft NEPA document (including EAs) begins once the application is accepted. This step includes activities that staff typically perform to confirm and better understand information in the application and to obtain any additional information to address data gaps or resolve issues to make NEPA findings.
In accordance with 10 CFR 51.70(b), the NRC staff will independently evaluate and be responsible for the reliability of all information in the draft EIS. While preparing the draft NEPA document, the review team will identify information needed to complete and document their environmental evaluations. The review team typically relies upon various sources for obtaining information for its independent evaluation, including information from other agencies with consultation, permitting responsibilities, or expertise for the project. For information best obtained from the applicant, the staff uses site audits or visits, RAIs, requests for confirmatory information (RCIs), and public meetings to obtain the required information.
The environmental staff have found that a site audit or visit is an efficient way to gain the necessary understanding and confirmation of information in the application necessary for environmental evaluations. Site audits or visits are conducted as part of the environmental review for most major licensing actions.

Completing and Issuing the Draft NEPA Document
The activities and effort required to complete and issue the draft NEPA document depend on the scope of the NEPA review and the type of document being prepared. For many NEPA documents, coordination and consultation with other Federal or State agencies is necessary to define environmental impacts. For simple EAs, the process is straightforward and may not require significant coordination other than during concurrence. However, completing an EIS, supplement EIS (SEIS), or complex EA often includes activities (such as writing sessions) to consolidate the individual sections of the document and to ensure the document is consistent and high quality. A complex EA is one that may involve more detailed discussion, additional information, or additional analyses in certain resource areas due to the potential uncertainties about the effects of the proposed action. The EA should provide sufficient evidence and analysis of impacts to support a determination of a finding of no significant impacts. The concurrence and issuance of an EIS, SEIS, or complex EA includes numerous activities involving the team and internal stakeholders.

Preparing the Final NEPA Document
Per 10 CFR 51.91, EISs must be issued as drafts for public comment. Thus, the first step in preparing the final NEPA document is to receive and process the public comments on the draft document. A draft EA is generally issued only to the State affected by the action for review and comment. However, NRC staff may sometimes decide to issue a draft EA for public comment. The NRC follows the same public comment process for draft EAs as for draft EISs.
To prepare the final NEPA document sections (i.e., update the draft NEPA document), the staff must:
- address public comments received on the draft document
- update the status of consultations, permits, and authorizations
- incorporate, as appropriate, any new information.
The time and effort required for the staff to address public comments and prepare the final NEPA document for concurrence depends on the number and complexity of comments received. When addressing public comments, the review team will also determine whether the comments warrant additional analyses, clarifications, or revisions to the final NEPA document. The review team may again coordinate with other Federal and State agencies in revising the final NEPA document. Responses to public comments are included in the final NEPA document.
Similar to the previous step of updating the draft NEPA document, to prepare the final NEPA document the level of effort for coordinating the technical editing and concurrence depends upon the number and complexity of public comments and the amount of revision that has been made to the draft NEPA document.

Completing Post-Review Activities
For EISs or SEISs, the staff prepares a Record of Decision (ROD) after publication of the final EIS or SEIS (in contrast to a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), which accompanies the issuance of the EA). Following the issuance of the final NEPA document, the staff is obligated to consider emerging information until the agency makes a final decision on the action. If potentially significant new information is identified after the issuance of the final NEPA document, the staff must evaluate the significance of that information and determine if the ROD should reflect the new information or if the new information warrants the preparation of a supplemental EIS (or if an EIS must be prepared at all if the NEPA document was an EA).

Contested Hearings
The adjudicatory process established under the Atomic Energy Act promotes public involvement in hearings on civilian nuclear matters. For most licensing actions, the licensing division issues a notice for opportunity for hearing in the Federal Register shortly after the application has been accepted for review. If a contention is submitted that is categorized as relating to the environmental review, the review is then considered a contested proceeding. The staff and Office of General Counsel are then responsible for carrying out certain contested hearing activities. The extent of the hearing activities depends upon the nature of the contention or contentions, whether the contention or contentions are admitted, and if the ruling body determines that it should hold oral arguments. For more information, see Adjudications (Hearings).
