[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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