[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 243 (Monday, December 20, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71155-71157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-32881]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-271]


Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation; Vermont Yankee Nuclear 
Power Station Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant 
Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. DPR-28, 
issued to Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation, (the licensee), for 
operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont Yankee), 
located in Windham County, Vermont.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would modify the spent fuel pool (SFP) by 
installation of additional rack modules. The additional rack modules 
will increase the Vermont Yankee SFP capacity from 2870 to 3353 fuel 
assemblies.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for amendment dated September 4, 1998, as supplemented on 
February 8, April 16, August 26, September 16, and November 17, 1999.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    Vermont Yankee currently has full-core discharge reserve storage 
capability in the SFP through the Spring 2001 refueling outage. Since 
there are no immediate options for the shipment of spent fuel to a 
permanent repository, the proposed action is required to maintain full-
core reserve discharge capability to the SFP through the Fall 2008 
refueling outage.

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Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The Commission has completed its evaluation of the proposed action 
and concludes there are no significant environmental impacts. The 
factors considered in this determination are discussed below.
Radioactive Waste Treatment
    Vermont Yankee uses waste treatment systems designed to collect and 
process gaseous, liquid, and solid waste that might contain radioactive 
material. These radioactive waste treatment systems are evaluated in 
the Final Environmental Statement (FES) dated July 1972. The proposed 
SFP expansion will not involve any change in the waste treatment 
systems described in the FES.
Radioactive Material Released to the Atmosphere
    The storage of additional spent fuel assemblies in the SFP is not 
expected to affect the releases of radioactive gases from the SFP. 
Gaseous fission products such as Krypton-85 and Iodine-131 are produced 
by the fuel in the core during reactor operation. A small percentage of 
these fission gases is released to the reactor coolant from the small 
number of fuel assemblies which are expected to develop leaks during 
reactor operation. During refueling operations, some of these fission 
products enter the SFP and are subsequently released into the air. 
Since the frequency of refuelings (and therefore the number of freshly 
offloaded spent fuel assemblies stored in the SFP at any one time) will 
not increase, there will be no increase in the amount of radioactive 
material released to the atmosphere as a result of the increased SFP 
fuel storage capacity.
    The storage of additional fuel assemblies in the SFP will not 
increase the SFP bulk water temperature beyond the existing design 
temperature. Therefore, radioactive material airborne release rates due 
to evaporation from the SFP are not expected to increase.
Solid Radioactive Wastes
    Spent resins are generated by the processing of SFP water through 
the SFP Purification System. The licensee does not expect the resin 
change-out frequency of the SFP purification system to be permanently 
increased as a result of the storage of additional spent fuel 
assemblies in the SFP. In order to maintain the SFP water as clean as 
possible, and thereby minimize the generation of spent resins, the 
licensee will vacuum the floor of the SFP to remove any radioactive 
crud and other debris before the new fuel rack modules are installed. 
The staff does not expect that the additional fuel storage made 
available by the increased storage capacity will result in a 
significant change in the generation of solid radioactive waste.
Liquid Radioactive Wastes
    The release of radioactive liquids will not be affected directly as 
a result of the modifications. The SFP ion exchanger resins remove 
soluble radioactive materials from the SFP water. When the resins are 
changed out, the small amount of resin sluice water which is released 
is processed by the radwaste system. As stated above, the licensee does 
not expect the resin change-out frequency of the SFP purification 
system to be permanently increased as a result of the storage of 
additional spent fuel assemblies in the SFP. The amount of radioactive 
liquid released to the environment as a result of the proposed SFP 
expansion is expected to be negligible.
Radiological Impact Assessment
    The staff has reviewed the licensee's plan for the modification of 
Vermont Yankee spent fuel racks with respect to occupational radiation 
exposure. For this modification the licensee plans to add three new 
fuel rack modules to the SFP. A number of facilities have performed 
similar operations in the past. On the basis of the lessons learned 
from these operations, the licensee estimates that the proposed fuel 
rack installation can be performed for between 1.6 and 3 person-rem.
    All of the operations involved in the fuel rack installation will 
utilize detailed procedures prepared with full consideration of ALARA 
(as low as reasonably achievable) principles. The Radiation Protection 
Department will prepare Radiation Work Permits (RWPs) for the various 
jobs associated with the SFP rack installation operation. These RWPs 
will instruct the project personnel in the areas of protective 
clothing, general dose rates, contamination levels (including potential 
exposure to hot particles), and dosimetry requirements. Each member of 
the project team will attend an ALARA Pre-Plan meeting and each team 
member will be required to attend daily pre-job briefings on the scope 
of the work to be preformed. Personnel will wear protective clothing 
and will be required to wear personnel monitoring equipment including 
alarming dosimeters.
    Since this license amendment does not involve the removal of any 
spent fuel racks, the licensee does not plan on using divers for this 
project. However, if it becomes necessary to utilize divers to remove 
any interferences which may impede the installation of the new spent 
fuel racks, the licensee will equip each diver with radiation detectors 
with remote, above surface, readouts which will be continuously 
monitored by Radiation Protection personnel. The licensee will conduct 
radiation surveys of the diving area prior to each diving operation and 
following the movement of any irradiated hardware. In order to minimize 
diver dose, the licensee will use visual barriers (such as streamers 
fastened to rope, nets, or enclosure) as much as practical. The 
licensee will monitor and control personnel traffic and equipment 
movement in the SFP area to minimize contamination and to ensure that 
exposure is maintained ALARA.
    On the basis of our review of the Vermont Yankee proposal, the 
staff concludes that the Vermont Yankee SFP rack modification can be 
performed in a manner that will ensure that doses to workers will be 
maintained ALARA. The projected dose for the project of 1.6 to 3 
person-rem is in the range of doses for similar SFP modifications at 
other plants and is a small fraction of the annual collective dose 
accrued at Vermont Yankee.

Accident Considerations

    On April 25, 1986, Vermont Yankee submitted an amendment request to 
increase the SFP capacity from 2000 to 2870. The staff approved that 
amendment request on May 20, 1988. The staff's safety evaluation 
supporting the issuance of that amendment concluded that the licensee's 
fuel handling accident dose analysis was acceptable. For this amendment 
request (3353 storage locations), the licensee concluded that analysis 
was still valid because no parameters of the analysis were affected by 
the increase in storage capacity. After reviewing the licensee's 
current submittal and the 1988 safety evaluation, the staff agrees with 
the licensee's conclusion. Because the proposed SFP modification at 
Vermont Yankee will not affect any of the assumptions or inputs used in 
evaluating the dose consequences of a fuel handling accident, it will 
not result in an increase in the doses from a postulated fuel handling 
accident.

Conclusion

    The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability 
or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types of 
any effluents that may be released offsite, and there is no significant 
increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there 
are no significant radiological environmental

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impacts associated with the proposed action.
    With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not involve any historic sites. It does not affect 
nonradiological plant effluents and has no other environmental impact. 
Therefore, there are no significant nonradiological environmental 
impacts associated with the proposed action.
    Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to increasing the spent fuel storage capacity at 
Vermont Yankee, the licensee considered shipment to another reactor 
site or away-from-reactor storage facility, e.g. shipment of spent fuel 
to a Federal fuel storage or disposal facility. This alternative was 
determined not to be feasible due to the unavailability of an offsite 
storage facility.
    As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Denial of the application would result in no change in current 
environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action 
and the alternative action are similar.

Alternative Use of Resources

    This action does not involve the use of any resources not 
previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for the 
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on December 13, 1999, the 
staff consulted with the Vermont State Official, William Sherman, 
regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The State 
official had no comments.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes 
that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the 
quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined 
not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed 
action.
    For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's letter dated September 4, 1998, as supplemented on February 
8, April 16, August 26, September 16, and November 17, 1999.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of December 1999.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Richard P. Croteau,
Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate I, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 99-32881 Filed 12-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P