[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 15 (Monday, January 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3945-3946]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1304]
[[Page 3945]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2010-0019; Docket Nos. 50-390 and 50-391]
Tennessee Valley Authority; Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and
2; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of an Exemption, pursuant to Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) Section 73.5, ``Specific exemptions,'' from the
implementation date for certain new requirements of 10 CFR Part 73,
``Physical protection of plants and materials,'' for Facility Operating
License No. NPF-90, issued to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA, the
licensee), for operation of the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Unit 1,
located in Rhea County, Tennessee. This consideration is also
applicable to Unit 2, currently under licensing process. In accordance
with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC prepared an environmental assessment
documenting its finding. The NRC concluded that the proposed actions
will have no significant environmental impact.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would exempt the TVA from the required
implementation date of March 31, 2010, for several new requirements of
10 CFR Part 73. Specifically, WBN, Units 1 and 2 would be granted an
exemption from being in full compliance with certain new requirements
contained in 10 CFR 73.55 by the March 31, 2010, deadline. TVA has
proposed an alternate full compliance implementation date of September
24, 2012, approximately two and half years beyond the date required by
10 CFR Part 73. The proposed action, an extension of the schedule for
completion of certain actions required by the revised 10 CFR Part 73,
does not involve any physical changes to the reactor, fuel, plant
structures, support structures, water, or land at the WBN, Units 1 and
2 site that were not previously considered in the environmental
assessment and finding of no significant impact made by the Commission
in promulgating its revisions to 10 CFR Part 73, Power Reactor Security
Requirements, 74 FR 13926, 13967 (March 27, 2009).
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application dated November 6, 2009, as supplemented by letter dated
January 11, 2010.
The Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is needed to provide the licensee with
additional time to perform the required upgrades to the WBN, Units 1
and 2 security system because they involve new components and
engineering that cannot be obtained or completed by the March 31, 2010,
implementation date.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its environmental assessment of the proposed
exemption. The staff has concluded that the proposed action to extend
the implementation deadline would not significantly affect plant safety
and would not have a significant adverse effect on the probability of
an accident occurring.
The proposed action would not result in an increased radiological
hazard beyond those previously analyzed in the environmental assessment
and finding of no significant impact made by the Commission in
promulgating its revisions to 10 CFR Part 73 (74 FR 13967). There will
be no change to radioactive effluents that affect radiation exposures
to plant workers and members of the public. Therefore, no changes or
different types of radiological impacts are expected as a result of the
proposed exemption.
The proposed action does not result in changes to land use or water
use, or result in changes to the quality or quantity of non-
radiological effluents. No changes to the National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System permit are needed. No effects on the aquatic or
terrestrial habitat in the vicinity of the plant, or to threatened,
endangered, or protected species under the Endangered Species Act, or
impacts to essential fish habitat covered by the Magnuson-Steven's Act
are expected.
There are no impacts to the air or ambient air quality. There are
no impacts to historical and cultural resources. There would be no
impact to socioeconomic resources. Therefore, no changes to or
different types of non-radiological environmental impacts are expected
as a result of the proposed exemption.
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
The licensee currently maintains a security system acceptable to
the NRC and will continue to provide acceptable physical protection of
the WBN, Units 1 and 2 as TVA implements certain new requirements in 10
CFR Part 73. Therefore, the extension of the implementation date of the
new requirements of 10 CFR Part 73 to September 24, 2012, would not
have any significant environmental impacts.
The NRC 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, if granted.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed actions, the NRC staff considered
denial of the proposed actions (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative).
Denial of the exemption request would result in no change in current
environmental impacts. If the proposed action was denied, the licensee
would have to comply with the March 31, 2010, implementation deadline.
The environmental impacts of the proposed exemption and the ``no
action'' alternative are similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
The action does not involve the use of any different resources than
those considered in the Final Environmental Statement for the WBN,
Units 1 and 2, NUREG-0498, dated December 1978, and a supplement to the
Final Environmental Statement (NUREG-0498 Supplement 1), dated April
1995.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
In accordance with its stated policy, on December 24, 2009, the NRC
staff consulted with the Tennessee State official, Elizabeth Flanagan
of the Tennessee Bureau of Radiological Health, 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 November 6, 2009, as supplemented by letter
dated January 11, 2010. Portions of the November 6, 2009, submittal
contain safeguards and security sensitive information and, accordingly,
are not available to the public. Other parts of these 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 O-1F21, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville,
[[Page 3946]]
Maryland 20852. Publicly available records will be accessible
electronically from the Agencywide Document 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 send
an e-mail to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of January 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John G. Lamb,
Senior Project Manager, Watts Bar Special Projects Branch, Division of
Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2010-1304 Filed 1-22-10; 8:45 am]
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