[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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