[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 90 (Thursday, May 9, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31384-31385]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-11622]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-412]


Pennsylvania Power Company, Ohio Edison Company, FirstEnergy 
Nuclear Operating Company, Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit No. 2; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an exemption from Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), Section 54.17(c), for Facility Operating License 
No. NPF-73, issued to FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (the 
licensee), for operation of the Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit No. 2 
(BVPS-2), located in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. 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 action would exempt the licensee from the requirement 
of 10 CFR 54.17(c), which specifies that an applicant (for the purposes 
of license renewal the licensee is the applicant) may apply for a 
renewed operating license no earlier than 20 years before the 
expiration of the operating license currently in effect.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for an exemption dated December 17, 2001.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    In accordance with 10 CFR 54.17(c), the earliest date that the 
applicant could apply for a renewed operating license for BVPS-2 would 
be May 28, 2007. The proposed action would allow the applicant to file 
a license renewal application for BVPS-2 concurrent with the renewal 
application for Beaver Valley Power Station Unit No. 1 (BVPS-1), which 
has less than 20 years before expiration of its current operating 
license on January 29, 2016. The request seeks only schedular 
relaxation without any other substantive reliefs.

[[Page 31385]]

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that the issuance of the proposed exemption will not have a 
significant environmental impact. The exemption, if granted, will 
permit the applicant to apply for renewal of the BVPS-2 license sooner 
than the schedule specified by 10 CFR 54.17(c). When the applicant does 
apply for license renewal, the environmental impacts of operating the 
Beaver Valley units under the renewed licenses will then be submitted 
by the applicant and evaluated by the staff. In short, granting of the 
exemption will not necessitate, or lead to, changes to the as-built 
plant design, or to existing procedures at BVPS-2.
    The NRC staff evaluated potential radiological environmental 
impacts associated with granting the requested exemption. Since no 
plant design or procedure changes will be made, no new accident causal 
mechanisms would be introduced.
    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 off site, 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 the potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. The 
proposed action involves no plant design or procedure changes, it does 
not increase or decrease non-radiological plant effluents, and has no 
other environmental impact from those previously evaluated by the NRC 
staff in the Final Environmental Statement (FES) for BVPS-2 dated 
September 1985. Therefore, there are no significant non-radiological 
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 of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC 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

    The action does not involve the use of any different resources than 
those previously considered in the FES for BVPS-2 dated September 1985.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on March 20, 2002, the NRC 
staff consulted with Pennsylvania State official, Larry Ryan, Bureau of 
Radiation Protection, 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 request for exemption dated December 17, 2001. 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 Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the 
internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR 
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by 
e-mail to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of May 2002.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Daniel Collins,
Project Manager, Section 1, Project Directorate I, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-11622 Filed 5-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P