[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 131 (Monday, July 10, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35577-35579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-16848]



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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

Adoption of Final Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Adoption of Final Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with TVA's procedures implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and consistent with 40 CFR 1506.3 
(1993), TVA has decided to adopt a Final Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (FSEIS) that was issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) in late April 1995. This FSEIS is entitled, ``Final 
Environmental Statement related to the operation of Watts Bar Nuclear 
Plant Units 1 and 2, Supplement No. 1.'' Notice of the availability of 
this FSEIS was published in the Federal Register on May 5, 1995 (60 FR 
22,389). TVA has determined that the FSEIS meets the standards for an 
adequate FSEIS and can be adopted.

ADDRESSES: The FSEIS can be inspected by the public at the following 
places:

TVA Corporate Library, East Tower Building, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, 
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902;
TVA Corporate Library, Signal Place, 1101 Market Street, Chattanooga, 
Tennessee 37402;
    and

TVA Technical Library, A100 National Environmental Research Center, CTR 
1E, Muscle Shoals, Alabama 35660.

    Copies of the FSEIS may also be obtained by writing or calling: 
Dale V. Wilhelm, Team Leader, Environmental Management Staff, 400 West 
Summit Hill Drive, WT 8C-K, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902, (615) 632-6693.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jon M. Loney, Manager, Environmental Management Staff, Tennessee Valley 
Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 8C-K, Knoxville, Tennessee 
37902, (615) 632-2201.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On or about April 21, 1995, NRC released a 
FSEIS on the operation of TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN). The 
supplement addresses changes in the plant design and the environment 
that occurred after NRC issued its ``Final Environmental Statement'' in 
1978 on the operation of the plant. NRC concluded in the FSEIS that 
there have been no significant changes in potential environmental 
impacts associated with plant operation from those evaluated in its 
1978 document. The FSEIS also concluded that TVA's preoperational and 
operational environmental and radiological monitoring programs were 
appropriate for establishing baseline conditions and for assessing 
resulting environmental impacts. Finally, the FSEIS concluded that the 
analysis of severe accident mitigation design alternatives for the 
plant demonstrated that none would be cost beneficial for further 
mitigating environmental impacts beyond the procedural changes which 
TVA had already committed to implement.

Background

    TVA is the electric supplier to an 80,000 square mile area 
containing parts of seven States. It and the distributors of the 
electricity, which TVA generates, serve about 7.5 million people. TVA 
currently has 25,600 megawatts of generating capacity on its system. 
This includes coal-fired units, nuclear units, hydro-electric units, 
combustion turbines, and pumped storage hydro units.
    TVA's WBN is located in Rhea County, Tennessee, approximately 13 
kilometers (8 miles) southeast of Spring City, Tennessee, and 80 
kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The site is 
located adjacent to TVA's Watts Bar Dam Reservation at Tennessee River 
Mile 528. WBN is a two unit pressurized water reactor nuclear plant. 
Each of its units has a nameplate capacity of 1,170 megawatts. TVA 
expects to load fuel in Unit 1 in the Fall of 1995. Unit 2 is 
approximately 65 percent complete. Alternatives to TVA completing Unit 
2 are being evaluated as part of an integrated resource planning (IRP) 
process and an associated EIS. The IRP is scheduled to be completed in 
December 1995. In December 1994, the TVA Board of Directors announced 
that based on interim data from the IRP, it would not be in TVA's or 
its customers' interests for TVA itself to complete Unit 2.
    In August 1970, TVA proposed to construct and operate WBN in order 
to meet forecasted power needs in the TVA region. The Atomic Energy 
Commission (AEC), now NRC, issued construction permits for the two 
units on January 23, 1973. TVA commenced construction of WBN in 1973. 
In 1976, TVA applied to NRC for licenses to operate WBN.
    At the time TVA sought operating licenses, construction of WBN Unit 
1 was 85 percent complete and Unit 2 was 65 percent complete. TVA's 
proposed fuel loading dates for the units were December 1979 and 
September 1980, respectively. However, licensing of the plant was 
delayed and the construction permits for the units were extended by 
NRC. The delay was due in part to installation of modifications that 
NRC ordered for most nuclear plants following the 1979 incident at the 
Three 

[[Page 35578]]
Mile Island nuclear plant. In addition, the need for power in the TVA 
region and elsewhere in the country dramatically changed from the need 
forecasted in the early 1970s. After the Arab oil embargo in the mid-
1970s, energy consumption in the country substantially declined. In the 
mid-1980's, plant licensing was delayed while TVA resolved a number of 
WBN-specific safety concerns that were raised by employees and the 
public. TVA implemented a series of corrective actions and plant 
modifications to prepare WBN Unit 1 for operation.
    It takes many years to plan, permit, and construct new energy 
sources or to plan and deploy energy conservation programs (demand-side 
management programs). Years before the demand for electric energy 
arises, electric utilities have typically had to make decisions about 
the energy resource mix that they want on their systems to meet future 
demands. If no action is taken, a utility risks being unable to meet 
demand and the customers in its service territory would not be served. 
TVA, like most utilities, projects or forecasts the future demand for 
power in its region. Determining the need for power of future ``load'' 
on an utility system depends on two factors: (1) The capabilities of 
currently available energy resources, and (2) the forecast of future 
energy needs. If the forecasted need for power exceeds available 
capabilities to provide that power, additional energy resources must be 
obtained by the utility. These resources can be in the form of self-
built generating facilities, purchases from other energy generators, or 
energy conservation measures that reduce the potential demand to levels 
capable of being met with existing energy resources.
    TVA routinely produces three load forecasts to help in making 
energy resource decisions--a high-, medium-, and low-load forecast. The 
high forecast is designed to project a level of future energy demand 
for which there is a 90 percent chance or probability of not being 
exceeded. For the medium forecast, there is a 50 percent probability of 
not being exceeded; for the low forecast, a 10 percent probability of 
not being exceeded.
    Under all of TVA's current forecasts, there is a need for 
additional energy resources in the immediate future to meet the demand 
for energy in the TVA region. In the medium-load forecast, there is a 
need in 1996 for the capacity of WBN Unit 1 (1170 megawatts) as well as 
an additional 850 megawatts. Under the high-load forecast, there is a 
need beyond WBN Unit 1's capacity for an additional 1500 megawatts in 
1996. Only under the low-load forecast is there a slight surplus of 
capacity in 1996 of 300 megawatts with the capacity of WBN Unit 1 
online.
    Operating WBN Unit 1 will help meet projected future loads on the 
TVA power system at a very economically competitive cost. TVA has 
invested $6.4 billion in the construction of WBN Unit 1 and facilities 
which are shared in common with Unit 2. These costs have already been 
incurred and cannot be avoided even if TVA now chooses to meet future 
needs some other way. Operating the unit will allow TVA the opportunity 
of earning a return on the agency's investment. Compared to purchasing 
power or meeting demand with coal-fired generation or combustion 
turbine units, operation of WBN Unit 1 will be among TVA's lowest cost 
generating sources. WBN Unit 1's operating costs are projected to be 
approximately 1.7 cents/kwh. In contrast, the operating costs of 
alternative generating sources would range from 2.0 to 6.0 cents/kwh.

Environmental Reviews

    In accordance with NEPA, TVA prepared and released in November 1972 
a Final EIS on the potential environmental impacts associated with 
constructing and operating WBN. AEC relied on the TVA EIS when it 
issued construction permits to the plant in 1973. When TVA began the 
operating license application process for the WBN units in 1976, it 
updated the environmental analyses and information about the plant in a 
report entitled ``Environmental Information Statement,'' and 
supplemented this report in 1977 to respond to NRC questions. This 
report and supplement were made part of the public record for the 
plant. Relying in part on TVA's analyses and information, NRC then 
issued its 1978 Final EIS. This EIS supplemented the earlier TVA EIS, 
and focused on the potential environmental impacts associated with 
operating WBN.
    In 1993, TVA initiated an interdisciplinary environmental review of 
WBN. The purpose of this review was to determine if there were any new, 
significant environmental impacts related to WBN that had not been 
addressed in TVA's 1972 EIS. This review relied on the substantial 
amount of environmental-related data that TVA had collected through its 
preoperational monitoring programs at WBN and a number of special 
environmental studies that TVA had conducted over the years at WBN. 
Review findings were documented in an August 1993 report entitled 
``Review of Final Environmental Statement, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant 
Units 1 and 2.'' Based on this review, TVA determined:
    The [1972] EIS concluded that the principal ways the plant will 
interact with the environment are: (1) Releases of small quantities of 
radioactivity to air and water, (2) release of minor quantities of heat 
and non-radioactive waste waters to TVA's Chickamauga Reservoir and 
major quantities of heat and water vapor from the plant's cooling 
towers into the atmosphere, (3) loss of aquatic life (such as fish 
larvae and plankton) that is drawn into the water intake, and (4) a 
change in land use from farming to industrial. These conclusions remain 
valid today.
* * * * *
    Changes have occurred since the release of WBN's EIS in 1972. Most 
of these changes involve design modifications or changes in expected 
operational practices which improve safety or lessen potential 
environmental impacts. Additional information about environmental 
conditions in the vicinity of WBN has also been developed. None of the 
changes or new information materially affect impact projections in the 
EIS.
    In September 1994, NRC decided to issue a formal supplement to its 
1978 Final EIS. NRC released a Draft SEIS for public comment in 
November 1994. A public meeting to obtain comments on the Draft SEIS 
was held on January 10, 1995 in Sweetwater, Tennessee. NRC issued its 
FSEIS in late April 1995. Consistent with TVA's 1993 review, NRC did 
not identify any changes to WBN, significant new circumstances, or 
environmental concerns that substantially differed from those addressed 
earlier.
    The FSEIS reached the following conclusions:
     There are no changes in the design of WBN that result in 
significant change in environmental impacts.
     Changes in proposed WBN operations have occurred but these 
changes do not result in significant environmental impacts.
     Changes in the population and demographics of the region 
have occurred; however these changes are not significant and changes in 
employment at the plant have not had significant socioeconomic impacts.
     Land use and water use impacts essentially remain 
unchanged.
     Regional climatology and WBN site meteorology have not 
changed significantly.
     There have been no significant changes in the terrestrial 
and aquatic environments in the vicinity of WBN.
     There have been no significant changes to the background 
of 

[[Page 35579]]
radiological characteristics in the vicinity of the plant.
     Based on available data, it does not appear that any 
minority or low income communities would be disproportionally affected 
by WBN operations.
    The action before NRC is responding to TVA's request for an 
operating license for Watts Bar Unit 1. A favorable decision would 
allow the operation of the unit by TVA. Although the actions before the 
two agencies are essentially the same from the perspective of potential 
environmental consequences, it was deemed inappropriate for TVA to 
participate as a cooperating agency in the preparation and issuance of 
the SEIS because TVA is the applicant for the NRC operating license. 
However, TVA provided NRC and its contractor, Pacific Northwest 
Laboratory, substantial amounts of environmental data, information, and 
analyses that it had collected and prepared over the years for WBN. 
Much of this data and information were used in the FSEIS.
    In its regulations implementing NEPA, the Council on Environmental 
Quality (CEQ) strongly encourages agencies to reduce the paperwork and 
duplication that have frequently been the hallmarks of NEPA reviews. 
One of the methods identified by CEQ to accomplish these goals is 
adopting the environmental documents prepared by other agencies. 40 CFR 
1500.4(n) (1994). Under applicable regulations, TVA is allowed to adopt 
the NRC FSEIS as its own.
    TVA has carefully reviewed the FSEIS and has concluded that it 
adequately updates the earlier environmental reviews, adequately 
assesses the remaining environmental impacts associated with operation 
of WBN Unit 1, and is an adequate supplement. This review has been 
documented in a TVA publicly-available report entitled, ``Supplemental 
Environmental Review, Operation of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.'' 
Accordingly, TVA hereby adopts NRC's ``Final Environmental Statement 
related to the operation of Wattts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, 
Supplement No. 1.''

    Dated: June 30, 1995.
Kathryn J. Jackson,
Senior Vice President, Resource Group.
[FR Doc. 95-16848 Filed 7-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8120-01-M