[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 65 (Monday, April 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 16831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8915]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-133]


Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact; 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit No. 3)

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of a license amendment to Facility License No. DPR-7, issued 
to Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E or the licensee), for the 
Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit No. 3, a permanently shut down plant, 
located near Eureka, California.

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would revise the Technical Specifications to 
incorporate the requirements of Appendix I to 10 CFR Part 50, into the 
Radiological Effluents Technical Specification (RETS) and to relocate 
the controls and limitations on RETS and radiological environmental 
monitoring (currently in the Technical Specifications) to the Offsite 
Dose Calculation Manual and the Process Control Program. The proposed 
action would also revise the Technical Specifications to implement 
Generic Letter 89-01 (GL 89-01) and to incorporate the requirements of 
the revised 10 CFR Part 20.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    On July 29, 1996, the NRC published a Federal Register notice 
containing decommissioning regulation amendments that became effective 
August 28, 1996. Contained within these amendments were revisions to 10 
CFR 50.36a and 10 CFR 50, Appendix I, making the Appendix I 
requirements applicable to decommissioning activities as well as 
operating nuclear power reactors.

Alternative to the Proposed Action

    There is no alternative to this proposed action. PG&E, the Humboldt 
Bay licensee must comply with the recently revised NRC decommissioning 
regulations which require the technical specification changes contained 
in the proposed license amendment.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    Although the proposed limits on radiological effluents are much 
more stringent that the limits in the current technical specifications, 
the previous radiological effluents from Humboldt Bay decommissioning 
were so low that they would have been in compliance with the proposed 
new limits. Thus, the proposed action does not involve any measurable 
environmental impacts, since neither the facility configuration nor 
SAFSTOR decommissioning mode will change. The staff has also determined 
that the proposed action will not have any significant radiological 
impacts on air, water, land, or biota in the area or any other 
significant environmental impact.
    With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not affect non-radiological plant effluents and has no 
other environmental impact. Therefore, the Commission concludes that 
there are no significant non-radiological environmental impacts 
associated with the proposed action.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    The Commission has determined not to prepare an environmental 
impact statement for the proposed action based on the foregoing 
environmental assessment. The Commission concludes that the proposed 
action will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human 
environment for the reason given above.
    For detailed information with respect to this proposed action, see 
the application for a license amendment dated December 9, 1996, as 
supplemented on June 12, 1997 and March 13, 1998. These documents are 
available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document 
Room, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of March 1998.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marvin M. Mendonca,
Acting Director, Non-Power Reactors and Decommissioning Project 
Directorate, Division of Reactor Program Management, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 98-8915 Filed 4-3-98; 8:45 am]
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