[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 148 (Thursday, August 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46616-46617]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18518]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-338, 50-339; 50-280 and 50-281; NRC-2013-0172]


Virginia Electric and Power Company; North Anna Power Station, 
Units 1 and 2; Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; 
issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
changes to the Emergency Plan, ``Conditions of licenses,'' for North 
Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2 (NAPS), for Renewed Facility 
Operating License Nos. NPF-4 and NPF-7, and Surry Power Station, Units 
1 and 2 (Surry) for Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-32 and 
DPR-37, issued to Virginia Electric and Power Company (the licensee), 
for operation of NAPS and Surry located in Louisa County, Virginia, and 
Surry County, Virginia, respectively.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0172 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access information related to this document, which the NRC 
possesses and is publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0172. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact 
the individual(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 
of this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC 
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The ADAMS accession number 
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. V. Sreenivas, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-2597, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Further Information

    The NRC is considering changes to the Emergency Plan, pursuant to 
Sec.  50.54(q) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
``Conditions of licenses,'' for North Anna Power Station, Units 1 and 2 
(NAPS), for Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-4 and NPF-7, 
and Surry Power Station, Units 1 and 2 (Surry) for Renewed Facility 
Operating License Nos. DPR-32 and DPR-37, issued to Virginia Electric 
and Power Company (the licensee), for operation of NAPS and Surry 
located in Louisa County, Virginia, and Surry County, Virginia, 
respectively. Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC performed 
an environmental assessment. Based on the results of the environmental 
assessment, the NRC is issuing a finding of no significant impact.

II. Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is a license amendment that would change the 
Emergency Action Levels (EALs), by adding a 15-minute threshold for 
isolation of reactor coolant system leaks based on NEI 99-01, Revision 
5, ``Methodology for Development of Emergency Action Levels,'' using 
the guidance of NRC Regulatory Issue Summary 2003-18, Supplement 2, 
``Use of Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 99-01, Methodology for 
Development of Emergency Action Levels.'' The proposed action is in 
accordance with the licensee's application, dated September 27, 2012, 
can be found in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12283A069.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is needed because amendments would change an 
EAL scheme based on NUREG-0654, ``Criteria for Preparation and 
Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plan and Preparedness in 
Support of Nuclear Power Plants,'' to one based on NEI 99-01, 
``Methodology for Development of Emergency Action Levels,'' Revision 4. 
This change would add 15 minutes to the EAL to preclude classification 
for brief and readily isolatable RCS leaks. The addition of a 15-minute 
period would allow plant operators to isolate the RCS leaks using 
readily accessible means available in the Control Room.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its environmental assessment of the proposed 
EAL changes to NAPS and Surry. The staff has concluded that the changes 
would not affect plant safety and would not have an adverse effect on 
the probability of an accident occurring. The proposed change has no 
effect on the consequences of any analyzed accident since the change 
does not affect any equipment related to accident mitigation. The 
addition of a 15-minute criteria to the emergency action level only 
serves to ensure the emergency action level declaration is based upon 
plant conditions that are more indicative of a (Notice of) Unusual 
Event (UE) emergency classification level. The brief delay in declaring 
the proposed action would not result in radiological hazard beyond 
those previously analyzed in the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report, 
as this emergency classification level is based upon plant events that 
have no radiological consequences. There will

[[Page 46617]]

be no change to radioactive effluents that affect radiation exposures 
to plant workers and members of the public. No changes will be made to 
plant buildings or the site property. Therefore, no changes or 
different types of radiological impacts are expected as a result of the 
proposed changes.
    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-Stevens Act 
are expected. There are no impacts to the air or ambient air quality.
    There are no impacts to historic and cultural resources. There 
would be no noticeable effect on socioeconomic conditions in the 
region.
    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 NRC 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 resources than 
those previously considered in the ``Final Environmental Statement 
Related to the Continuation of Construction and the Operation,'' for 
NAPS dated April 1973, and Surry dated May 1972 and June 1972, 
respectively, as supplemented through the ``Generic Environmental 
Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants: Supplements 6 
and 7 Regarding Surry and NAPS--Final Report (NUREG-1437, Supplements 6 
and 7),'' dated November 2002.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on July 3, 2013, the staff 
consulted with the Virginia State official, Steven A. Harrison, 
Director of the Division of Radiological Health, regarding the proposed 
EAL revision. The State official had no comments.

III. 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.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th day of July 2013.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
V. Sreenivas,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch 2-1, Division of Operating 
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2013-18518 Filed 7-31-13; 8:45 am]
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