Draft Final Environmental Statement, Related to the Operation of Watts
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NUREG-0498 *U.S.NRC Supplement 2 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ProtectingPeople and the Environment Draft Final Environmental Statement Related to the Operation of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2 Supplement 2 Docket Number 50-391 Tennessee Valley Authority Draft Report for Comment Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation AVAILABILITY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS IN NRC PUBLICATIONS NRC Reference Material Non-NRC Reference Material As of November 1999, you may electronically access Documents available from public and special technical NUREG-series publications and other NRC records at libraries include all open literature items, such as NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at books, journal articles, and transactions, Federal http://www.nrc.qov/reading-rm.html. Register notices, Federal and State legislation, and Publicly released records include, to name a few, congressional reports. 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NUREG-0498 *U.S.NRC Supplement 2 United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission ProtectingPeople and the Environment Draft Final Environmental Statement Related to the Operation of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 2 Supplement 2 Docket Number 50-391 Tennessee Valley Authority Draft Report for Comment Manuscript Completed: September 2011 Date Published: October 2011 1 ABSTRACT 2 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) prepared this draft supplemental final 3 environmental statement related to the operating license in response to its review of the 4 Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) application for a facility operating license. The proposed 5 action requested is for the NRC to issue an operating license for a second light-water nuclear 6 reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear (WBN) Plant in Rhea County, TN. 7 In 1978, the NRC issued a final environmental statement related to the operating license for 8 WBN Units 1 and 2. On March 4, 2009, the NRC received an update to the application from 9 TVA for a facility operating license to possess, use, and operate WBN Unit 2. The NRC 10 published the notice of the receipt of application and the opportunity for hearing in the Federal 11 Register on May 1, 2009. The NRC's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 12 (10 CFR) 51.92, "Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement," require the NRC 13 staff to prepare a supplement to the final environmental statement if there are substantial 14 changes in the proposed action relevant to environmental concerns or if there are significant 15 new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the 16 proposed action or its impacts. The same regulation permits the staff to prepare a supplement 17 when, in its opinion, preparation of a supplement will further the interests of the National 18 Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 19 This supplement documents the staff's environmental review. The staff evaluated a full scope- 20 of environmental topics, including land and water use, air quality and meteorology, terrestrial 21 and aquatic ecology, radiological and nonradiological impacts on humans and the environment, 22 historic and cultural resources, socioeconomics, and environmental justice. The staff's 23 evaluations are based on (1) the application submitted by TVA, including the environmental 24 report and previous environmental impact statements and historical documents, (2) consultation 25 with other Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies, (3) the staff's independent review, and 26 (4) the staff's consideration of comments related to the environmental review received during 27 the public scoping process. July 2011 iii Draft NUREG-0498, Supplement 2 1 CONTENTS 2 A b s tra c t ..................................................................................................................................... iii 3 E xe c u tive S u m m a ry ................................................................................................................. xv ii 4 Abbreviations/Acronyms ......................................................................................................... xxi 5 1 .0 In tro d u c tio n .................................................................................................................... 1 -1 6 1 .1 B a c k g ro u n d ........................................................................................................... 1 -2 7 1.2 NRC Operating License Application Review .......................................................... 1-4 8 1.3 Com pliance and Consultations .............................................................................. 1-5 9 1 .4 R e p o rt C o nte nts .................................................................................................... 1-5 10 1 .5 R e fe re n ce s ............................................................................................................ 1-6 11 2.0 Affected Environment ..................................................................................................... 2-1 1 2 2 .1 La n d U s e ................................................................................................................ 2 -1 13 2 .1 .1 S ta tio n Lo c atio n ....................................................................................... 2 -1 14 2.1.2 The Site and Vicinity ................................................................................ 2-1 15 2.1.3 Transmission Corridors and Offsite Areas ................................................ 2-4 1 6 2 .1 .4 T h e R e g io n ........................................... .................................................. 2 -4 1 7 2 .2 W a te r ...................................................................................................................... 2 -5 1 8 2 .2 .1 Hy d ro lo g y ................................................................................................. 2 -5 19 2.2.1.1 Surface-W ater Hydrology ......................................................... 2-5 20 2.2.1.2 Groundwater Hydrology ........................................................... 2-7 2 1 2 .2 .2 W a te r Use ................................................................................................ 2 -9 22 2.2.2.1 Regional W ater Use ................................................................. 2-9 23 2.2.3 W ater Quality ......................................................................................... 2-11 24 2.2.3.1 Surface-W ater Quality ............................................................ 2-11 25 2.2.3.2 Groundwater Quality .............................................................. 2-12 2 6 2 .3 E c o lo g y ...............................................................................................................