[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 172 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56860-56861]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-22598]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-254]


Exelon Generation Company, LLC; Quad Cities Nuclear Power 
Station, Unit 1; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant 
Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an exemption from certain requirements of 10 CFR 
50.55a(g)(4)(ii) for Facility Operating License No. DPR-29, issued to 
Exelon Generation

[[Page 56861]]

Company, LLC (the licensee), for operation of the Quad Cities Nuclear 
Power Station, Unit 1, located in Rock Island County, Illinois. 
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 grant a schedular extension for Quad 
Cities Nuclear Power Station (Quad Cities), Unit 1, from implementation 
of inservice examinations of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) nozzle-
to-vessel welds and nozzle inside radius sections, per American Society 
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (Code), 
Section XI, Table IWB-2500, Examination Category B-D, Item Nos. B3.90 
and B3.100, by the end of the current 120-month inspection interval, as 
required by 10 CFR 50.55a, ``Codes and standards,'' paragraph 
(g)(4)(ii). The current interval ends on February 17, 2003 for Quad 
Cities Unit 1. This schedular exemption requests an extension for the 
performance of the third interval inspections until the completion of 
the Unit 1 refueling outage in January 2005.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application dated July 10, 2002.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is needed to prevent unnecessary radiation 
worker exposure. Quad Cities Unit 1 was not specifically designed or 
constructed to permit easy access to the RPV nozzle-to-vessel welds and 
nozzle inside radius sections for inservice inspection, from the inside 
or outside surface. The task to access a nozzle for inservice 
examination employs several work groups and a significant number of 
man-hours with the attendant large radiation exposure accumulation. The 
estimated radiation dose avoided by exempting the nine nozzles until 
the fourth inspection interval is a minimum of 60 man-rem.
    The licensee wishes to extend the inspection schedule in order to 
reduce unnecessary radiation exposure. Such an extension requires an 
exemption because 10 CFR 50.55a(g)(4)(ii) requires inservice 
examinations of the RPV nozzle-to-vessel welds and nozzle inside radius 
sections, per the ASME Code, Section XI, Table IWB-2500, Examination 
Category B-D, Item Nos. B3.90 and B3.100, by the end of the current 
120-month inspection interval.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that there are no significant adverse environmental impacts 
associated with the proposed action.
    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 
the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2, dated September 
1972.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On July 25, 2002, the staff consulted with the Illinois State 
official, Mr. F. Niziolek of the Department of Nuclear Safety, 
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 July 10, 2002. 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 27th day of August 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Anthony J. Mendiola,
Chief, Section 2, Project Directorate III, Division of Licensing 
Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-22598 Filed 9-4-02; 8:45 am]
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