[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 187 (Friday, September 26, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55662-55663]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24357]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-302]


Florida Power Corporation, Crystal River Unit 3; Environmental 
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an exemption from certain provisions of Title 10 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Sections 50.44, 10 CFR 50.46, and 
10 CFR Part 50, Appendix K for Facility Operating License No. DPR-72, 
issued to Florida Power Corporation (the licensee) for operation of 
Crystal River Unit 3 (CR-3) located in Citrus County, Florida. 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 licensee requests an exemption from the provisions of: (1) 10 
CFR 50.44, ``Standards for combustible gas control system in light-
water-cooled power reactors,'' which provides requirements to control 
hydrogen generated by zircaloy or ZIRLO fuel cladding after a 
postulated loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA); (2) 10 CFR 50.46, 
``Acceptance criteria for emergency core cooling systems for light-
water nuclear power reactors,'' which requires the calculated emergency 
core cooling system (ECCS) performance for reactors with zircaloy or 
ZIRLO fuel cladding meet certain criteria; and (3) Appendix K, ``ECCS 
Evaluation Models,'' which presumes the use of zircaloy or ZIRLO fuel 
cladding when doing calculations for energy release, cladding 
oxidation, and hydrogen generation after a postulated LOCA.
    The proposed action would allow the licensee to use the M5 advanced 
alloy in lieu of zircaloy or ZIRLO, the materials assumed to be used in 
the cited regulations for fuel rod cladding in fuel assemblies at CR-3. 
M5 alloy would also be used in fuel assembly spacer grids, fuel rod end 
plugs, fuel assembly

[[Page 55663]]

guides, and instrument tubes. The fuel assemblies would be loaded into 
the CR-3 reactor core during the refueling outage in the fall of 2003, 
and used in operation during Cycle 14 and beyond.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for exemption dated October 23, 2002, as supplemented by 
letters dated July 25 and August 11, 2003.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The Commission's regulations in 10 CFR 50.46(a)(i) and 10 CFR Part 
50, Appendix K require the demonstration of adequate ECCS performance 
for light-water reactors that contain fuel consisting of uranium oxide 
pellets enclosed in zircaloy or ZIRLO tubes. In addition, 10 CFR 
50.44(a) addresses requirements to control hydrogen generated by 
zircaloy or ZIRLO fuel after a postulated LOCA. Each of these three 
regulations, either implicitly or explicitly, assumes that either 
zircaloy or ZIRLO is used as the fuel rod cladding material.
    In order to accommodate the high fuel rod burnups that are required 
for modern fuel management and core designs, Framatome Cogema Fuels 
(FCF) developed the M5 advanced fuel rod cladding and fuel assembly 
structural material. M5 is an alloy comprised primarily of zirconium 
([sim]99 percent) and niobium ([sim]1 percent) that has demonstrated 
superior corrosion resistance and reduced irradiation-induced growth 
relative to both standard and low-tin zircaloy. However, since the 
chemical composition of the M5 advanced alloy differs from the 
specifications of either zircaloy or ZIRLO, use of the M5 advanced 
alloy falls outside of the strict interpretation of these regulations. 
Therefore, approval of this exemption request is needed to permit the 
use of the M5 advanced alloy as a fuel rod cladding material at CR-3.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    Use of M5 clad fuel will not result in changes in the operations or 
configuration of the facility. There will be no change in the level of 
controls or methodology used for processing radioactive effluents or 
handling solid radioactive waste. The NRC staff has also determined 
that the M5 fuel cladding will perform similarly to the current 
resident fuel. Accordingly, the proposed action will not significantly 
increase the probability or consequences of accidents. No significant 
changes are being made in the types of any effluents that may be 
released off site. There is no significant increase in the amount of 
any effluents that may be released off site. 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 involve 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 NRC 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 denying the 
application and of the proposed alternative 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 Statement for 
Crystal River dated May 1973.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On September 17, 2003, the NRC staff consulted with the Florida 
State official, William Passetti, of the Florida Department of Health 
Bureau of Radiation Control, 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 23, 2002, as supplemented by letters 
dated July 25 and August 11, 2003. Documents may be examined, and/or 
copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room, 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 17th day of September 2003.

    For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Chandu P. Patel,
Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate II, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-24357 Filed 9-25-03; 8:45 am]
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