Advanced Nuclear Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS)
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Proposed Rule
Advanced Nuclear Reactor Generic Environmental Impact Statement Rulemaking
Key Documents
NRC Docket NRC-2020-0101
Includes preliminary proposed rule language, schedule information and stakeholder comments.
Abstract
As discussed in SECY-21-0098 the NRC staff has prepared a proposed rule that would amend the regulations that govern the NRC’s environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by codifying the findings of the Advanced Nuclear Reactor (ANR) Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS). The ANR GEIS uses a technology-neutral regulatory framework and performance-based values and assumptions to determine those environmental impacts that could result in the same (generic) impact for different advanced nuclear reactor designs that fit within the parameters set forth in the ANR GEIS and those environmental impacts that would require a project-specific analysis.
If an applicant for an advanced nuclear reactor permit or license appropriately relied upon the generic findings in the ANR GEIS, as determined by the staff, then the staff’s draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) prepared for the advanced nuclear reactor application would incorporate those findings. The staff expects that the proposed rule would streamline the NEPA reviews for future advanced nuclear reactor applications.