[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59824-59825]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-26279]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-440]


Firstenergy Corporation, Perry Nuclear Power Plant; Environmental 
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of a one-time schedular exemption from Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 50, Section 50.71(e)(4) for Facility 
Operating License No. NPF-58, issued to FirstEnergy Corporation (the 
licensee), for operation of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, located in 
Lake County, Ohio. Therefore, pursuant to 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 allow the licensee to extend the time for 
submitting the periodic update to the Final Safety Analysis Report 
(FSAR) by 120 days from September 10, 2003, to January 8, 2004. 
Specifically, 10 CFR part 50.71(e)(4) requires that licensees provide 
the NRC with updates to the FSAR annually or 6 months after each 
refueling outage provided the interval between successive updates does 
not exceed 24 months. The revisions must reflect changes up to 6 months 
prior to the date of filing. This regulation would require the 
submittal of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant (PNPP) FSAR update by 
September 10, 2003.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for exemption dated August 8, 2003.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    While preparing the scheduled submittal, a computer failure 
occurred affecting the PNPP electronic data management system which 
resulted in the loss of over 11,000 electronic documents. Updates to 
the FSAR that were being prepared were among the documents lost. Due to 
the need to reconstruct the updated FSAR information that was lost, 
additional time is needed to complete the submittal. The requirement to 
reflect changes up to 6 months prior to the date of filing would still 
apply. The exemption is requested to allow adequate time to complete 
the submittal.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that the exemption is administrative and would not affect any 
plant equipment, operation, or procedures. The FSAR contains the 
analysis, assumptions, and technical details of the facility design and 
operating parameters. Until the FSAR is updated, the recent changes are 
documented in the licensee's written evaluations of changes prepared 
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59, and in the Commission's Safety Evaluations 
for actions requiring prior approval. A delay in submitting the FSAR 
update will not change the plant design or the manner in which it is 
operated.
    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 
Perry Nuclear Power Plant, dated April 1974.

[[Page 59825]]

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On September 26, 2003, the staff consulted with the Ohio State 
official, Carol O'Claire of the Ohio Emergency Management 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 August 8, 2003. 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 O1F21, 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 30th day of September.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
L. Raghavan,
Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate III-1, Division of Licensing 
Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-26279 Filed 10-16-03; 8:45 am]
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