[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59266-59267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29448]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-250 and 50-251]


Florida Power and Light Company; Turkey Point Plant, Units 3 and 
4; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an exemption from the requirements of Title 10, Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), section 50.44, and 10 CFR part 50, 
appendix A, General Design Criteria 41, 42, and 43, for Facility 
Operating License Nos. DPR-31, and DPR-41, issued to Florida Power and 
Light Company (the licensee), for operation of the Turkey Point Plant, 
Units 3 and 4, located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. 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 the Proposed Action

    The proposed exemption would exempt the Turkey Point Plant, Units 3 
and 4, from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.44; 10 CFR part 50, appendix 
A, General Design Criteria 41, 42, and 43; and 10 CFR part 50, appendix 
E, section IV; related to combustible gas control systems. The purpose 
of the exemption request is to remove the requirements for the hydrogen 
control systems from the Turkey Point Plant design basis. The staff has 
reviewed the information

[[Page 59267]]

provided and concluded that the requested exemption for the hydrogen 
recombiners and the post-accident containment vent system is justified 
because special circumstances necessary to meet the criteria of 10 CFR 
50.12(a)(2)(ii) do exist to justify the exemption from certain parts of 
10 CFR 50.44 and General Design Criteria 41, 42, and 43. The staff will 
act on the exemption request for the containment hydrogen monitors and 
their associated Technical Specification revision by separate 
correspondence. The proposed exemption is in accordance with the 
licensee's application dated October 23, 2000.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The requested exemption to remove the requirements pertaining to 
recombiners and the post-accident containment vent system would improve 
the safety focus at Turkey Point during an accident and would represent 
a more effective and efficient method of maintaining adequate 
protection of public health and safety by simplifying the Emergency 
Response Plan Procedures. In a postulated loss-of-coolant accident, the 
Turkey Point emergency operating procedures (EOPs) direct the control 
room operators to monitor and control the hydrogen concentration inside 
the containment after they have carried-out the steps to maintain and 
control the higher priority critical safety functions. These hydrogen 
control activities could distract operators from more important tasks 
in the early phases of accident mitigation and could have a negative 
impact on the higher priority critical operator actions. An exemption 
from the hydrogen recombiner and the post-accident containment vent 
system requirements will eliminate the need for these systems in the 
EOPs and, hence, simplify the EOPs. The staff still expects the 
licensee's severe accident management guidelines to address combustible 
gas control. Therefore, this simplification would provide a safety 
benefit, and this action reduces unnecessary regulatory burden on the 
licensee, which is one of the NRC's outcome goals of effective 
regulation.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes, as set forth below, that there are no significant 
environmental impacts associated with the removal of the recombiners 
and the post-accident containment vent system from the Turkey Point 
Plant design basis.
    The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability 
or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types or 
amounts 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 action.
    With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect 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.

Environmental Impacts on the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    There are two alternatives to the proposed action. The first one is 
the 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 denial of the action are similar. The second 
alternative is to grant the exemption as requested by the licensee in 
its submittal of October 23, 2000. The NRC does not endorse the second 
alternative at this time. Nevertheless, the environmental impacts of 
the second alternative and the environmental impacts of the proposed 
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 Turkey Point Plant, Units 3 and 4, dated July 1972.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On September 18, 2001, the staff consulted with the Florida State 
official, Mr. William A. Passetti of the Bureau of Radiation Control, 
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 October 23, 2000. Documents may be examined, 
and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), 
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 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 PDR Reference staff at 1-
800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of November, 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kahtan N. Jabbour,
Senior Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate II, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-29448 Filed 11-26-01; 8:45 am]
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