[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 136 (Friday, July 17, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34803-34804]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-17050]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. STN 50-528, STN 50-529, and STN 50-530; NRC-2009-0316]


Arizona Public Service Company, et al.; Palo Verde Nuclear 
Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3; 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 55, Section 55.47, for Facility Operating 
License Nos. NPF-41, NPF-51, and NPF-74, issued to the Arizona Public 
Service Company (APS, or the licensee), for operation of the Palo Verde 
Nuclear Generating Station (PVNGS, the facility) Units 1, 2, and 3, 
respectively, located in Maricopa County, Arizona. 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 allow Mr. Mark A. Sharp, who was licensed 
as a senior reactor operator (SRO) at the PVNGS from December 1996 to 
December 2006, to be re-licensed as an SRO at the PVNGS without having 
to take and pass the NRC-required written examination or operating test 
specified in 10 CFR 55.43 or 10 CFR 55.45, respectively. The proposed 
action would exempt the SRO license candidate from meeting one specific 
criterion of 10 CFR 55.47, which allows NRC to grant waivers of the 
testing requirements.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for exemption dated February 6, 2009 (Agencywide Documents 
Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML091550607).

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed exemption would allow Mr. Mark A. Sharp to re-obtain 
an SRO license at PVNGS without the need to take the NRC-administered 
written examination and operating tests required by 10 CFR 55.43 and 10 
CFR 55.45, respectively. The NRC is authorized to grant a waiver from 
these requirements by 10 CFR 55.47; however, the operator license 
candidate in this case did not meet one specific waiver criterion, 10 
CFR 55.47(a)(1), which requires that the candidate have extensive 
actual operating experience at PVNGS (or a comparable facility) within 
2 years before the date of application. Therefore, an exemption to this 
waiver criterion was requested by APS to allow Mr. Sharp to receive his 
SRO license and resume licensed operator duties at PVNGS more quickly 
than he could if he had to take and pass the NRC-administered 
examinations, which are currently scheduled for November 2009. APS has 
initiated an effort to increase the number of licensed operators at 
PVNGS, in response to an NRC violation involving the excessive use of 
operator overtime, and the granting of this exemption would further 
that effort.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its environmental evaluation of the proposed 
action and concludes that re-licensing Mr. Sharp as a senior reactor 
operator at PVNGS without his taking and passing an NRC licensing 
examination will not result in an adverse impact on the environment. 
The details of the staff's safety evaluation will be provided in the 
exemption that will be issued as part of the letter to the licensee 
approving the exemption to the regulation.
    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 offsite. There is no significant 
increase in the amount of any effluent released offsite. 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 non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. It does 
not affect non-radiological plant effluents and has no other 
environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant non-
radiological 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 exemption (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Denial of the application for exemption would result in no change in 
current environmental impacts. Thus 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 resources than 
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for 
the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2, and 3, NUREG-
0841, dated February 1982.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on June 3, 2009, the staff 
consulted with the Arizona State official, Mr. Aubrey Godwin of the 
Arizona Radiation Regulatory 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.

[[Page 34804]]

    For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's letter dated February 6, 2009. 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 10th day of July 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James R. Hall,
Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, Division of 
Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E9-17050 Filed 7-16-09; 8:45 am]
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