[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16689-16691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7507]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-237 and 50-249]


Exelon Generation Company, LLC; 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-19 and 
DPR-25, issued to Exelon Generation Company, LLC, (EGC, or the 
licensee), for operation of Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Units 2 and 
3 (Dresden), respectively, located in Grundy County, Illinois. The 
original application was submitted by Commonwealth Edison Company 
(ComEd), which merged to form EGC. By letter dated February 7, 2001, 
EGC assumed responsibility for all pending NRC actions that were 
requested by ComEd.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The proposed amendment would be a full conversion from the current 
Technical Specifications (CTS) to a set of improved Technical 
Specifications (ITS) based on NUREG-1433, ``Standard Technical 
Specifications--General Electric Plants, BWR/4,'' Revision 1, dated 
April 1995. The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application dated March 3, 2000, as supplemented by letters dated March 
24, June 5 (two letters), July 18, July 31, September 1, September 22, 
October 5, October 9, November 20, and December 18, 2000; and February 
15 and February 28, 2001.

The Need for the Proposed

    It has been recognized that nuclear safety in all plants would 
benefit from improvement and standardization of Technical 
Specifications (TSs). The

[[Page 16690]]

``NRC Interim Policy Statement on Technical Specification Improvements 
for Nuclear Power Reactors'' (52 FR 3788) contained proposed criteria 
for defining the scope of TSs. Later, the ``NRC Final Policy Statement 
on TS Improvement for Nuclear Power Reactors'' (58 FR 39132) 
incorporated lessons learned since publication of the interim policy 
statement and formed the basis for a revision to 10 CFR 50.36. The 
``Final Rule'' (60 FR 36953) codified criteria for determining the 
content of TSs. To facilitate the development of ITS, each reactor 
vendor owners group and the NRC staff developed standard TSs (STS). The 
NRC Committee to Review Generic Requirements reviewed the STS, made 
note of their safety merits, and indicated its support of conversion by 
operating plants to the STS. For Dresden, the STS are NUREG-1433, 
Revision 1, ``Standard Technical Specifications, General Electric 
Plants BWR/4,'' dated April 1995. This document formed the basis for 
the Dresden ITS conversion.

Description of the Proposed Change

    The proposed changes to the CTS are based on NUREG-1433, and on 
guidance provided in the Final Policy Statement. Its objective is to 
completely rewrite, reformat, and streamline the CTS (i.e., to convert 
the CTS to the ITS). Emphasis is placed on human factors principles to 
improve clarity and understanding. The Bases section has been 
significantly expanded to clarify and better explain the purpose and 
foundation of each specification. In addition to NUREG-1433, portions 
of the CTS were also used as the basis for the development of the 
Dresden ITS. Plant-specific issues (unique design features, 
requirements, and operating practices) were discussed at length with 
the licensee.
    The proposed changes from the CTS can be grouped into four general 
categories. These groupings are characterized as administrative 
changes, technical changes--relocations, technical changes--more 
restrictive, and technical changes--less restrictive. They are 
described as follows:
    1. Administrative changes are those that involve restructuring, 
renumbering, rewording, interpretation, and complex rearranging of 
requirements and other changes not affecting technical content or 
substantially revising an operating requirement. The reformatting, 
renumbering, and rewording process reflects the attributes of NUREG-
1433 and does not involve technical changes to the existing TSs. The 
proposed changes include: (a) Identifying plant-specific wording for 
system names, etc., (b) changing the wording of specification titles in 
the CTS to conform to STS, (c) splitting up requirements that are 
currently grouped, or combining requirements that are currently in 
separate specifications, (d) deleting specifications whose 
applicability has expired, and (e) wording changes that are consistent 
with the CTS but that more clearly or explicitly state existing 
requirements. Such changes are administrative in nature and do not 
impact initiators of analyzed events or assumed mitigation of accident 
or transient events.
    2. Relocation changes are those involving relocation of 
requirements and surveillances for structures, systems, components, or 
variables that do not meet the criteria for inclusion in TSs. Relocated 
changes are those CTS requirements that do not satisfy or fall within 
any of the four criteria specified in the NRC's policy statement and 
may be relocated to appropriate licensee-controlled documents.
    The licensee's application of the screening criteria to Dresden is 
described in Volume 1 of Enclosure A to the March 3, 2000, submittal. 
The affected structures, systems, components, or variables are not 
assumed to be initiators of analyzed events and are not assumed to 
mitigate accident or transient events. The requirements and 
surveillances for these affected structures, systems, components, or 
variables will be relocated from the TSs to administratively controlled 
documents such as the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR), the 
ITS Bases, or other licensee-controlled documents. Once these items 
have been relocated to other licensee-controlled documents, the 
licensee may revise them under the provisions of 10 CFR 50.59 or other 
NRC-approved control mechanisms, which provide appropriate procedural 
means to control changes by the licensee.
    3. More restrictive changes are those involving more stringent 
requirements compared to the CTS for operation of the facility. These 
more stringent requirements do not result in operation that will alter 
assumptions relative to the mitigation of an accident or transient 
event. The more restrictive requirements will not alter the operation 
of process variables, structures, systems, and components described in 
the safety analyses.
    4. Less restrictive changes are those where CTS requirements are 
relaxed, relocated or eliminated, or new plant operational flexibility 
is provided. The more significant ``less restrictive'' requirements are 
justified on a case-by-case basis. When requirements have been shown to 
provide little or no safety benefit, their removal from the TSs may be 
appropriate. In most cases, relaxations previously granted to 
individual plants on a plant-specific basis were the result of (a) 
generic NRC actions, (b) new NRC staff positions that have evolved from 
technological advancements and operating experience, or (c) resolution 
of the Owners Groups' comments on the Improved Standard Technical 
Specifications. Generic relaxations contained in NUREG-1433 were 
reviewed by the staff and found to be acceptable because they are 
consistent with current licensing practices and NRC regulations. Each 
less restrictive change in the Dresden conversion was justified by the 
licensee in a Discussion of Change and reviewed by the NRC staff.
    In addition, there are 11 changes that are different from the 
requirements in both the CTS and NUREG-1433, or that are beyond the 
changes that are needed to meet the overall purpose of the conversion. 
These changes are as follows:
    1. The test interval of certain surveillance requirements is 
changed from 18 months to 24 months to permit a longer fuel cycle. 
Justification for the proposed change follows the guidance of Generic 
Letter 91-04, ``Changes in Technical Specification Surveillance 
Intervals to Accommodate a 24-Month Fuel Cycle,'' and includes a 
revision to the instrument setpoint methodology.
    2. The requirements in CTS 4.2.F are changed to allow 6 hours to 
perform surveillance testing of the post-accident monitoring 
instrumentation channels prior to entering action statements.
    3. The reactor power level at which the rod worth minimizer is 
required to be operable (CTS 3.3.L) is reduced from 20 percent to 10 
percent of rated thermal power.
    4. The requirements (CTS 3.9.G) for the reactor protection system 
electric power monitoring system assemblies to be operable in Modes 1, 
2, 3, and also Modes 4 and 5 with any control rod withdrawn, are 
changed to only include Modes 1 and 2, and also Mode 5 with any control 
rod withdrawn from a core cell containing one of more fuel assemblies, 
to coincide with the conditions where the safety function is required.
    5. The requirement (CTS 3.6.C Action 2) to trip one of the 
recirculation pumps when the speed mismatch is not within limits is 
replaced with a requirement to declare the loop with the low flow ``not 
in operation'' and take the required actions for that condition (e.g., 
use the

[[Page 16691]]

more restrictive core power limits that are required for single-loop 
operation).
    6. The frequency for monitoring primary containment sump flow rate 
(CTS 4.6.H.2) is changed from 8 to 12 hours, which is consistent with 
the Generic Letter 88-01, Supplement 1, guidance to perform the 
surveillance once every shift, not to exceed 12 hours.
    7. The CTS 3.5.A requirement to shut down within 7 days when both 
low-pressure coolant injection (LPCI) subsystems are inoperable is 
being changed to require a shutdown in 72 hours.
    8. The required number of operable automatic depressurization 
system valves (CTS 3.5.A.4) is reduced from five to four, consistent 
with the safety analysis assumptions.
    9. The CTS 4.7.D.4 requirement that the excess flow check valves 
must ``check flow'' is changed to require that the valves ``actuate to 
their isolation position.''
    10. The required spent fuel storage pool water level (CTS 3.10.H) 
is increased approximately 9 inches.
    11. The required voltage during the diesel generator surveillance 
tests (CTS 4.9.A.2.c, 4.9.A.7, 4.9.A.8.b, 4.9.A.8.d.2, 4.9.A.8.e, 
4.9.A.8.f.2, and 4.9.A.8.h) is changed from 4160 plus or minus 420 
volts to 4160 plus or minus 208 volts.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed revision to 
the CTS. Changes which are administrative in nature have been found to 
have no effect on the technical content of the TSs and are acceptable. 
The increased clarity and understanding these changes bring to the TSs 
are expected to improve the operators' control of the plant in normal 
and accident conditions. Relocation of requirements to other licensee-
controlled documents does not change the requirements themselves nor 
does 10 CFR 50.36(c)(2)(ii) mandate that the TSs include these 
requirements. Further changes to these requirements may be made by the 
licensee under 10 CFR 50.59 or other NRC-approved control mechanisms 
that ensure continued maintenance of adequate requirements. All such 
relocations have been found to be in conformance with the guidelines of 
NUREG-1433 and the Final Policy Statement and are, therefore, 
acceptable.
    Changes involving more restrictive requirements have been found to 
enhance plant safety and to be acceptable.
    Changes involving less restrictive requirements have been reviewed 
individually. When requirements have been shown to provide little or no 
safety benefit or to place unnecessary burden on the licensee, their 
removal from the TSs was justified. In most cases, relaxations 
previously granted to individual plants on a plant-specific basis were 
the result of a generic action, or of agreements reached during 
discussions with the Owners Groups, and have been found to be 
acceptable for Dresden. Generic relaxations contained in NUREG-1433 
have also been reviewed by the NRC staff and have been found to be 
acceptable.
    In summary, the proposed revisions to the CTS were found to provide 
control of plant operations such that reasonable assurance will be 
provided that the health and safety of the public will be adequately 
protected.
    These changes to the TSs 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 impacts 
associated with the proposed amendment.
    With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
amendment involves features located entirely within the restricted area 
as defined in 10 CFR Part 20 and does not involve any historical 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 
amendment.
    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 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 Dresden, 
dated November 1973.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on February 20, 2001, the NRC 
consulted with the Illinois State official, Mr. F. Niziolek, regarding 
the environmental impacts of the proposed action. The State official 
had no comments.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of this 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 application dated March 3, 2000, as supplemented by letters 
dated March 24, June 5 (two letters), July 18, July 31, September 1, 
September 22, October 5, October 9, November 20, and December 18, 2000; 
and February 15 and February 28, 2001. Documents may be examined, and/
or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room, located at One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically 
from the ADAMS Public Library component on the NRC Web site, 
http:\\www.nrc.gov (the Electronic Reading Room).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of March 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lawrence W. Rossbach,
Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate III, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-7507 Filed 3-26-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P