[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 169 (Thursday, August 30, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45875-45876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21937]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-369 and 50-370]


Duke Energy Corporation; McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of amendments to Duke Energy Corporation (DEC), for operation 
of the McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, Facility Operating 
License (FOLs) Nos. NPF-9 and NPF-17, respectively, located in 
Mecklenberg County, North Carolina. Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 
51.21, the NRC is issuing this environmental assessment and finding of 
no significant impact.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

    The proposed action would amend the Facility Operating Licenses for 
McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, by (a) deleting the license 
conditions that have been fulfilled by actions that have been completed 
or are imposed by other regulatory requirements, (b) changing the 
license conditions that have been superseded by the current plant 
status, and (c) incorporating other administrative changes. This 
includes the following license conditions; for Unit 1: 1.H 
Environmental Protection Plan, 2.C(1) Maximum Power Level, 2.C(3) 
Initial Test Program, 2.C(4) Fire Protection Program, 2.C(5) Compliance 
with Regulatory Guide 1.97, 2.C(6) Steam Generator Inspection, 2.C(7) 
Environmental Qualification, 2.C(8) Radioactive Waste Treatment System, 
2.C(9) Piping System Reanalysis, 2.C(10) Category I Masonry Walls, 
2.C(11) NUREG-0737 Conditions for ``Fuel Loading and Low Power 
Testing'', ``Full Power Requirements'', ``NRC Actions'' and ``Dated 
Requirements'', 2.C(12) Steam Generator Design Modification, 2.C(13) 
Additional Conditions, 2.D Exemptions from Appendix G to 10 CFR part 
50, 2.E Security and Safeguards Plans, 2.F Deleted by prior amendment, 
2.G Reporting of Violations, 2.H Notification of Accident, Appendix C: 
Additional Conditions. For Unit 2: 1.H Environmental Protection Plan, 
2.C(1) Maximum Power Level, 2.C(4) Thermal Sleeves, 2.C(5) Model D-3 
Steam Generator, 2.C(6) Environmental Qualification, 2.C(7) Fire 
Protection, 2.C(8) Heavy Loads, 2.C(9) Initial Test Program, 2.C(10) 
NUREG-0737 Conditions, items (a)-(f), 2.C(11) Protection of the 
Environment, 2.C(12) Reactor Trip breakers, 2.C(13) Additional 
Conditions, Table 1: Reactor Trip Breakers and Reactor Trip Bypass 
Breakers, 2.D Exemptions from Appendix G to 10 CFR Part 50, 2.E 
Security and Safeguards Plans, 2.F Reporting of Violations, 2.G 
Notification of Accident, 2.J Storage of Oconee spent fuel assemblies, 
Attachment 1: Pre-operational Tests, Appendix D: Additional Conditions.
    The proposed action is in accordance with DEC's application for an 
amendment dated June 13, 2000.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    When the FOLs, NPF-9 and NPF-17, were issued to the licensee, the 
NRC staff deemed certain issues essential to safety and/or essential to 
meeting certain regulatory interests. These issues were imposed as 
license conditions in the FOLs. Since the units were licensed to 
operate in the 1980s, most of these license conditions have been 
fulfilled. For the license conditions that have been fulfilled, DEC 
proposes to have them deleted from the FOLs.
    The licensee also proposed to make changes to correct 
administrative errors such as words inadvertently omitted, documents 
erroneously cited, etc.
    The proposed amendments involve administrative changes to the FOLs 
only. No actual plant equipment, regulatory requirements, operating 
practices, or analyses are affected by these proposed amendments. This 
would eliminate unnecessary license conditions from the Facility 
Operating Licenses.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that there is no significant environmental impact if the 
amendments are granted. No changes will be made to the design and 
licensing bases, and applicable procedures at the two units at McGuire 
Nuclear Station will remain the same. Other than the administrative 
changes, no other changes will be made to the FOLs, including the 
Technical Specifications.
    The staff has concluded that the proposed action will not 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. Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant 
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
    With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. The 
proposed action does not affect non-radiological plant effluents and 
has no other environmental impact. Accordingly, the NRC concludes that 
there are no significant non-radiological environmental impacts 
associated with the proposed action.

Environmental Impacts of the 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 different resources 
than those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement 
for the McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, dated April 1976 and 
Addendum dated January 1981.

Agencies and Persons Contacted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on January 10, 2001, the 
staff consulted with the North Carolina State official, Jonny James of 
the Bureau of Radiological Health, North Carolina Department of Health 
and Environmental Control, regarding the environmental impact of the 
proposed amendments. 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 
amendments.
    For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's letter dated June 13, 2000. 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. Publically available records will be accessible 
electronically from the ADAMS Public Library component on the NRC Web 
site, http://www.nrc.gov (the Public Electronic Reading Room). If you 
do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) 
Reference

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staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at [email protected]. 

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of August 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Robert E. Martin,
Senior Project Manager, Section 1, Project Directorate II, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-21937 Filed 8-29-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P