[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 179 (Monday, September 16, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58437-58438]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-23462]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-338, 50-339, 50-280, 50-281, 72-16 and 72-2]


North Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2 and Surry Power Station, 
Units 1 and 2, North Anna and Surry Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installations; 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) Part 40, Section 40.64(b) for Facility Operating 
License Nos. NPF-4, NPF-7, DPR-32, and DPR-37, issued to Virginia 
Electric and Power Company (the licensee) for operation of the North 
Anna and Surry Power Stations, Units 1 and 2, and Special Nuclear 
Material License Nos. SNM-2507 and SNM-2501 for the Independent Spent 
Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSIs) at the North Anna and Surry Power 
Stations, respectively. As required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing 
this environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.

[[Page 58438]]

Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is an exemption from the reporting requirements 
of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 40, 
Section 40.64(b) regarding the schedule for reporting foreign origin 
material inventory. The proposed exemption would allow the licensee to 
change the schedule for reporting its foreign origin source material 
inventory. Instead of reporting within 30 days after September 30 each 
year, the licensee proposes to submit a statement of their foreign 
origin source material inventory once each year concurrently with 
submittal of their material status report.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for an exemption dated November 5, 2001.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action will enable the licensee to make more effective 
use of its human resources. Utilities generally schedule refueling 
outages to occur during seasons of lower demand for electric power, 
i.e., fall and spring. Currently, the September 30 reporting schedule 
for foreign origin material inventory competes with refueling outages 
for human resources. Changing the reporting schedule will free up 
resources to assist with refueling outages.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that the proposed action involves an administrative activity 
(a schedular change in reporting foreign origin material inventory) 
unrelated to plant operations.
    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 resources than 
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statements for 
the Surry and North Anna facilities.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On July 18, 2002, the staff consulted with the Virginia State 
official, Les Foldesi, of the Virginia Department of Health, 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 November 5, 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 September 2002.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Herbert N. Berkow,
Director, Project Directorate II, Division of Licensing Project 
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-23462 Filed 9-13-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P