[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 25, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-12728]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: May 25, 1994]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-482]

 

Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp.; Notice of Issuance of 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering issuance of an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 
part 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2 to Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating 
Corporation, (the licensee), for operation of the Wolf Creek Generating 
Station, Unit 1, located in Coffey County, Kansas.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

    Section IV.F.2 of Appendix E to 10 CFR Part 50 states ``Each 
license at each site shall annually exercise its emergency plan.'' By 
letter dated March 8, 1994, the licensee requested an exemption from 
the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Section IV.F.2, that would delay 
the exercise scheduled for 1994 until early 1995. The delay was 
requested in order to allow for the approval and implementation of 
revised emergency classification criteria submitted to the NRC by 
letter dated December 15, 1993, and to avoid conflict with the seventh 
refueling outage currently scheduled to begin in September 1994.
    Section 50.12(a)(2)(v) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations provides an example of a special circumstance for which the 
NRC will consider granting exemptions that involve cases providing only 
temporary relief from the applicable regulation and for which the 
licensee has made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation. The 
licensee completed an annual exercise in December 1993 and had 
scheduled the 1994 exercise for June 29, 1994. The proposed exemption 
would delay the 1994 exercise until early 1995, approximately fourteen 
months after the 1993 exercise, and would not affect the requirement to 
conduct the normally scheduled 1995 annual exercise.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed exemption provides temporary relief to delay an annual 
emergency exercise in order to provide the licensee an opportunity to 
implement revised emergency classification procedures and avoid 
conflict with a scheduled refueling outage. The transition to the 
revised emergency action levels includes NRC review and additional 
training of licensee personnel. Although these activities are expected 
to be completed during 1994, scheduling of the exercise for late 1994 
would result in its coinciding with activities associated with the 
seventh outage. Both activities, the exercise and refueling outage, are 
resource intensive and therefore, it is undesirable to schedule them 
for the same time period.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The Commission has completed its evaluation of the proposed 
exemption and concludes that granting of the temporary relief does not 
affect the configuration of plant systems or any manner of their 
operation. The proposed exemption is limited to a delay in the conduct 
of an annual emergency exercise such that the interval between the 1993 
exercise and the delayed exercise is extended to approximately fourteen 
months. The delay in the exercise does not constitute a significant 
degradation in emergency planning and would therefore not result in an 
increase in radiological consequences in the event of a major accident 
involving the release of radioactive materials. Accordingly, the 
Commission concludes that this proposed action would result in no 
significant radiological evironmental impact.
    With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
exemption only involves the action of emergency plan exercises. It does 
not affect nonradiological plant effluents and there are no other 
nonradiological environmental impact associated with the proposed 
exemption.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    Since the Commission concluded that there are no significant 
environmental impacts that would result from the proposed action, any 
alternatives with equal or greater environmental impacts need not be 
evaluated. The principal alternative would be to deny the requested 
exemption and require the licensee to conduct an emergency exercise 
during the 1994 calendar year. Conducting an exercise prior to 
implementation of the revised emergency action levels would reduce 
potential benefits since key event classification procedures would be 
superseded shortly following the exercise. Conducting the exercise late 
in 1994 would result in conflicts with the planning and execution of 
the seventh refueling outage.

Alternate Use of Resource

    This action does not involve the use of any resources not 
previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement in the Wolf 
Creek Generating Station dated June 1982.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's request and consulted with 
the Kansas State official. The State official had no comments regarding 
the NRC's proposed action.
Finding of No Significant Impact
    The NRC staff has determined not to prepare an environmental impact 
statement for the proposed exemption.
    Based upon the foregoing environmental assessment, the Commission 
concludes that the proposed action will not have a significant effect 
on the quality of the human environment.
    For further details with respect to this action, see the request 
for exemption dated March 8, 1994, which is available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, The Gelman 
Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20555, and at the Local 
Public Document Rooms, Emporia State University, William Allen White 
Library, 1200 Commercial Street, Emporia, Kansas 66801 and the Washburn 
University School of Law Library, Topeka, Kansas 66621.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of May 1994.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James E. Lyons,
Acting Director, Project Directorate IV-2, Division of Reactor Projects 
III/IV, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 94-12728 Filed 5-24-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-M