[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 198 (Friday, October 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63458-63459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25991]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket 72-17]


Portland General Electric Company; Issuance of Environmental 
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Regarding the Proposed 
Amendment to Materials License No. SNM-2509

    The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is 
considering issuance of an amendment, pursuant to 10 CFR 72.56, to 
Special Nuclear Material License No. 2509 (SNM-2509) held by Portland 
General Electric Company (PGE) for the Trojan independent spent fuel 
storage installation (ISFSI). The requested amendment would revise the 
ISFSI license (SNM-2509) and the Technical Specifications (TS) of SNM-
2509 to specifically permit the use of portions of the Holtec 
International dry storage cask system to store spent fuel at the Trojan 
ISFSI.

Environmental Assessment (EA)

    Identification of Proposed Action: By letter dated October 26, 
2001, as supplemented, PGE requested an amendment to revise the license 
(SNM-2509) and the TS of SNM-2509 for the Trojan ISFSI. The changes 
would specifically permit the use of the Holtec International Multi-
Purpose Canister (MPC) to store spent fuel. The Holtec International 
MPC is proposed to be compatible, with minor modification, to the pre-
existing TranStor concrete cask design at the Trojan ISFSI currently 
designed for use with the TranStor pressurized water reactor fuel (PWR) 
basket. This amendment requests the TranStor PWR basket design be 
supplanted with the Holtec International MPC design. No changes to the 
specifications for the fuel to be stored at the Trojan ISFSI were 
requested.
    Need for the Proposed Action: The proposed action is necessary to 
allow for storage of spent fuel in dry casks. PGE was licensed to use 
the TranStor Storage System for SNF comprised of the concrete cask and 
PWR basket. The PWR basket design was subsequently determined to be 
unusable. Without this amendment PGE will be unable to load spent 
nuclear fuel (SNF) at the Trojan site. If unable to store SNF, PGE will 
not be able to continue decommissioning of the Trojan site unless an 
alternative means for storing SNF is found.
    Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: In 1999 the NRC 
issued a license to PGE to construct and operate the Trojan ISFSI. 
Prior to this action the NRC examined the environmental impacts of 
constructing and operating the Trojan ISFSI and issued an environmental 
assessment and finding of no significant impact. See 61 FR 64378, 
December 4, 1996. The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed 
action and concludes that granting the request for amendment to allow 
the storage of spent fuel assemblies using the TranStor concrete cask 
and Holtec International MPC, will not increase the probability or 
consequence of accidents beyond that bounded by previous analysis. No 
changes are being made in the types of any effluents that may be 
released offsite. With regard to radiological impacts, the change from 
the TranStor PWR basket design to the Holtec International MPC design 
will yield an increase in neutron and gamma dose rates at the cask 
surface. However, the dose rates remain below regulatory limits for 
occupational exposures and public radiation exposures. Moreover, the 
dose rates comply with the applicable regulatory criteria specified in 
10 CFR part 20, and 10 CFR 72.104 and 72.106. As a result, there are no 
significant radiological environmental impacts associated with the 
proposed action.
    The amendment only affects the requirements associated with the 
design of the fuel basket and does not affect non-radiological plant 
effluents or any other aspects of the environment. Therefore, there are 
no significant non-radiological environmental impacts associated with 
the proposed action.
    Accordingly, the Commission concludes that there are no significant 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
    Alternative to the Proposed Action: The alternative to the proposed 
action would be to deny the request for amendment (i.e., the ``no-
action'' alternative). Denial of the proposed action would result in 
PGE continuing to store SNF in the Trojan spent fuel storage pool. 
Without dry cask storage, PGE would be unable to continue with 
decommissioning of the Trojan site. The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant has 
been permanently shut down. Delaying decommissioning of the Trojan site 
and maintaining the SNF in the spent fuel storage pool could 
potentially lead to greater occupational exposure than dry cask storage 
due to the proximity of workers to the fuel. The environmental impacts 
of the alternative action could be greater than the proposed action.
    Given that the alternative action of denying the approval for 
amendment has no lesser environmental impacts associated with it, and 
considering that the proposed action would result in storage of fuel at 
the Trojan ISFSI, which has already been approved under a site specific 
license, the Commission concludes that the preferred alternative is to 
grant this amendment.
    Agencies and Persons Consulted: On September 17, 2002, Mr. Adam 
Bless of the Oregon Office of Energy, Energy Resources Division, was 
contacted regarding the proposed action and had no concerns.

Finding Of No Significant Impact

    The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed 
in accordance with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR part 51. Based 
upon the foregoing Environmental Assessment, the Commission finds that 
the proposed action of granting an amendment to permit the use of the 
Holtec International MPC and the TranStor concrete cask to store SNF at 
the Trojan ISFSI will not significantly impact the quality of the human 
environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined not to prepare 
an environmental impact statement for the proposed amendment.
    For further details with respect to this amendment, see the 
application dated October 26, 2001, which is available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, One White Flint 
North Building, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD or from the 
publically available records component of NRC's Agencywide Documents

[[Page 63459]]

Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession No. ML013060075. 
The NRC maintains ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's 
public documents. These documents may be accessed through the NRC's 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there 
are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the 
NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1 (800) 397-4209, 
(301) 415-4737 or by email to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of October, 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
E. William Brach,
Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-25991 Filed 10-10-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P