[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 143 (Friday, July 25, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44110-44111]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18961]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-285]


Omaha Public Power District; Fort Calhoun 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 Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Appendix G for Facility Operating License 
No. DPR-40, issued to Omaha Public Power District (the licensee), for 
operation of the Fort Calhoun Station, Unit No. 1 (FCS), located in 
Washington County, Nebraska. 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 certain 
requirements of Appendix G to 10 CFR Part 50 to allow the application 
of the methodology in Combustion Engineering (CE) Topical Report NPSD-
683-A, Revision 6, ``Development of a RCS Pressure and Temperature 
Limits Report for the Removal of P-T Limits and LTOP Requirements from 
the Technical Specifications,'' for the calculation of flaw stress 
intensity factors due to thermal stress loadings (Klt).
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application dated October 8, 2002.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    In the associated exemption, the staff has determined that, 
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), the underlying purpose of the 
regulation will continue to be served by the implementation of the 
alternative methodology. The proposed action would revise the 
currently-approved methodology for pressure temperature (P-T) limit 
calculations to incorporate the methodology approved for use in CE 
NPSD-683-A, Revision 6. CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, allows the use of an 
alternate methodology to calculate the flaw stress intensity factors 
due to thermal stress loadings (Klt). The exemption is 
needed because the methodology in CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, could not 
be shown to be conservative with respect to the methodology for the 
determination of Klt provided in Editions and Addenda of 
ASME Code, Section XI, Appendix G, through the 1995 Edition and 1996

[[Page 44111]]

Addenda (the latest Edition and Addenda of the ASME Code which had been 
incorporated into 10 CFR 50.55a at the time of the staff's review of CE 
NPSD-683-A, Revision 6). Therefore, in conjunction with the licensee's 
October 8, 2002, license amendment request, the licensee also submitted 
an exemption request, consistent with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.60, 
to apply the Klt calculational methodology of CE NPSD-683-A, 
Revision 6 as part of the FCS pressure temperature limit report (PTLR) 
methodology.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that the exemption described above would provide an adequate 
margin of safety against brittle failure of the reactor pressure vessel 
at FCS. The details of the staff's evaluation will be provided in the 
exemption to Appendix G, which will allow the use of the methodology in 
Topical Report NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, to calculate the flaw stress 
intensity factors due to thermal stress loadings (Klt), that 
will be issued in a future letter to the licensee.
    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 FCS dated August 1972.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On July 18, 2003, the staff consulted with the Nebraska State 
official, Howard Shuman of the Nebraska Consumer Health Services 
Agency, 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 October 8, 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, Public File Area O1 F21, 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 18th day of July, 2003.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen Dembek,
Chief, Section 2, Project Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project 
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-18961 Filed 7-24-03; 8:45 am]
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