[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 23, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48211-48212]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-18521]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-423]


Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc., Millstone Nuclear Power 
Station, Unit No. 3; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No 
Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering

[[Page 48212]]

issuance of an amendment to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR) Part 50 for Facility Operating License No. NPF-49 issued to 
Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (the licensee), for operation of the 
Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. 3 (MP3), located in 
Waterford, Connecticut. 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 revise the Final Safety Analysis Report 
(FSAR) description of the Supplementary Leakage Collection and Release 
System (SLCRS) operation after a postulated accident. As a result, this 
revision modifies the licensing basis for the post-accident operation 
of the SLCRS.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application dated June 6, 1998, as supplemented by letters dated April 
5, 1999; April 7, April 19, July 31, and September 28, 2000; March 19, 
June 11, September 21, and December 20, 2001.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is necessary because the SLCRS is used to 
maintain a negative pressure relative to atmospheric in the secondary 
containment by collecting air from the enclosure building and 
connecting areas, filtering it to remove iodine, and discharging the 
filtered air to the atmosphere. The licensee has identified potential 
release pathways from secondary containment to the environment that 
could bypass the SLCRS filter following a design-basis accident due to 
non-nuclear safety-grade (NNS) exhaust fan operation after the 
accident. These additional pathways are not included in the current 
design-basis accident dose analyses as documented in the MP3 FSAR, 
therefore making them non-conservative. The proposed action would 
include the additional pathway in the current design-basis accident 
dose analyses.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that issuance of the proposed amendment would not have a 
significant environmental impact. The proposed changes to the FSAR 
provide documentation of a combination of events not previously 
included in the FSAR. Based on the licensee's use of acceptable 
methodologies and assumptions, and staff confirmation of the licensee's 
dose results, the staff has determined that the licensee's revised 
design-basis accident radiological consequences analyses for the Loss 
of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and rod ejection accident, which take into 
account additional SLCRS bypass release pathways, are acceptable. The 
analyses show that the radiological consequences of a postulated 
design-basis LOCA are within 10 CFR part 100 dose limits for offsite 
doses and 10 CFR part 50, appendix A, General Design Criterion 19, dose 
limits with regard to control room habitability.
    The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability 
or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types of 
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 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 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

    The action does not involve the use of any different resource than 
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for 
MP3, dated December 1984.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On June 12, 2002, the staff consulted with the Connecticut State 
official, Mr. Michael Firsick of the Connecticut Department of 
Environmental 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 letter dated June 6, 1998, as supplemented by letters dated 
April 5, 1999; April 7, April 19, July 31, and September 28, 2000; 
March 19, June 11, September 21, and December 20, 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 10th day of July 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Victor Nerses,
Sr. Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate I, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-18521 Filed 7-22-02; 8:45 am]
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