[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 246 (Friday, December 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77071-77072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-21938]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-369 And 50-370]


Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact; 
Duke Power Company Llc; Mcguire Nuclear Station, Units 1 And 2

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an amendment for Facility Operating Licenses Nos. NPF-9 and 
NPF-17, issued to Duke Power Company LLC (the licensee), for operation 
of the McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 (McGuire 1 and 2), 
located in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. As required by Title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 51, Section 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 revise the McGuire 1 and 2 licensing 
basis to adopt a selective implementation of the alternative source 
term radiological analysis methodology in accordance with 10 CFR 50.67. 
The proposed action would also revise Technical Specification 3.9.4, 
``Containment Penetrations.''
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application dated December 20, 2005, as supplemented by letters dated 
May 4 and August 31, 2006.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would provide the licensee more flexibility in 
scheduling outage tasks when moving fuel that has been afforded 72 
hours of fission product decay time. The proposed action would also 
revise the applicability of the specification to apply only during 
movement of recently irradiated fuel. The licensee committed to 
developing administrative controls to adequately close containment 
penetrations during refueling operations, if necessary. If the 
application is not approved, the current Technical Specification would 
unnecessarily restrict movement of irradiated fuel.

[[Page 77072]]

 Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that there are no environmental impacts associated with 
adopting a selective implementation of the alternative source term 
radiological analysis methodology.
    The details of the staff's safety evaluation will be provided in 
the license amendment that will be issued as part of the letter to the 
licensee approving the license amendment.
    The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability 
or consequences of accidents. The NRC amended its regulations to allow 
holders of operating licenses at currently operating reactors to 
voluntarily amend their design basis to replace the current accident 
source term with an alternative source term. The proposed rule was 
published for public comment and availability of the draft 
environmental assessment was noticed on March 11, 1999 (64 FR 12117). 
The NRC's finding of no significant environmental impact for revision 
of 10 CFR Parts 21, 50 and 54 (Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML993430370), confirms that the 
use of an alternative source term alone does not increase core damage 
frequency, large early release frequency or actual offsite or onsite 
doses. The NRC's safety evaluation of the licensee's amendment request 
reassured the values met dose criteria. No changes are being made in 
the types of effluents that may be released off site. There is no 
significant increase in the amount of any effluent 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 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 NUREG-0063, ``Final Environmental 
Statement Related to the Operation of William B. McGuire Nuclear 
Station, Units 1 and 2,'' April 1976, and the Addendum to NUREG-0063 
issued in January 1981; and in NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental 
Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 8, 
Regarding McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, Final Report,'' dated 
December 2002.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on November 14, 2006, the 
staff consulted with the North Carolina State official, Mr. Jeffrey 
Bethea of the Division of Environmental Health, Radiation Protection 
Section, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural 
Resources, 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 December 20, 2005, as supplemented by letters 
dated May 4 and August 31, 2006. 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 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 send 
an e-mail to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of December 2006.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John Stang,
Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch 2-1, Division of 
Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E6-21938 Filed 12-21-06; 8:45 am]
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