[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12132-12133]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05134]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-369 and 50-370; NRC-2016-0049]


Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 
2; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

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 
issuance of an exemption for Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-9 and 
NPF-17, issued to Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (Duke, the licensee) for 
operation of McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 (McGuire), located 
near Huntersville, North Carolina. The licensee requested an exemption 
from certain physical inventory requirements because the inventory 
items are no longer in service and are not readily accessible. The NRC 
prepared an environmental assessment (EA) documenting its finding. The 
NRC concluded that the proposed actions will have no significant 
environmental impact. Accordingly, the NRC staff is issuing its final 
EA and a final finding of no significant impact (FONSI) associated with 
the proposed exemption.

DATES: The environmental assessment referenced in this document is 
available on March 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0049 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0049. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected].
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 (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: G. Edward Miller, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 
20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-2481, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of an exemption from section 
74.19(c) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), for 
Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-9 and NPF-17, issued to Duke for 
operation of McGuire, located near Huntersville, North Carolina. 
Consistent with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC has reviewed the requirements in 
10 CFR 51.20(b) and 10 CFR 51.22(c) and determined that an EA is the 
appropriate form of environmental review for the requested action. In 
accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC prepared an EA documenting its 
finding. Based on the results of the EA, the NRC concluded that the 
proposed actions will have no significant environmental impact and is 
issuing this final FONSI.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The regulation in 10 CFR 74.19(c) requires, in part, ``Other than 
licensees subject to sections 74.31, 74.33, 74.41, or 74.51, each 
licensee who is authorized to possess special nuclear material, at any 
one time and site location, in a quantity greater than 350 grams of 
contained uranium-235, uranium-233, or plutonium, or any combination 
thereof, shall conduct a physical inventory of all special nuclear 
material in its possession under license at intervals not to exceed 12 
months.'' By application dated August 17, 2015, as supplemented by 
letter dated October 6, 2015 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML15239B240 and 
ML15300A282, respectively), the licensee requested an exemption from 
certain recordkeeping requirements in 10 CFR 74.19(c).
    Specifically, the licensee requested an exemption for conducting a 
physical inventory of the moveable incore detectors in their Moveable 
Incore Detector (MIDS) system. The moveable incore detectors are no 
longer in service and are stored in a location where they are not 
readily accessible except during plant outages.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed exemption to the recordkeeping requirements of 10 CFR 
74.19(c) is needed to grant the licensee relief from the physical 
inventory requirements for the movable incore detectors in their MIDS 
system, which contain special nuclear material and are required to be 
listed on their physical inventory. The licensee states that the 
moveable incore detectors have been removed from service and are stored 
inside shielded storage pipes (sleeves) located inside the reactor 
buildings concrete inner shield wall, making them physically 
inaccessible. The licensee also states that modifications are being 
made to ensure that the moveable incore detectors meet the requirements 
of inaccessibility. The modifications involve installing tamper-evident 
seals to ensure the incore detectors are not accessed and the seals 
will be verified every outage.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and 
concludes that the proposed exemption would not significantly increase 
the probability or consequences of accidents. No changes would be made 
in the types of effluents that may be released offsite. There would be 
no significant increase in the amount of any effluent released offsite. 
There would be no significant increase in occupational or public 
radiation exposure. Therefore, there would be no significant 
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
    With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action would not have any foreseeable impacts to land, air, or water 
resources, including impacts to biota. In addition, there are also no 
known socioeconomic or environmental justice impacts associated with 
such proposed action. 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 actions, the NRC staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Denial of the exemption request would result in no

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change in current environmental impacts. 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 previously considered in the ``Final Environmental Statement 
Related to the Operation of William B. McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 
and 2,'' dated January, 1981, and NUREG-1437, Supplement 8, ``Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, 
Regarding McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, Final Report,'' dated 
December 2002 (ADAMS Accession No. ML030020184).

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    The staff did not enter into consultation with any other Federal 
Agency or with the State of North Carolina regarding the environmental 
impact of the proposed action.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes 
that the proposed exemption 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. Other than the licensee's letter dated August 17, 2015, and 
supplemented October 6, 2015, there are no other environmental 
documents associated with this review.
    This document is available for public inspection as indicated 
above.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of February 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
G. Edward Miller,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch II-1, Division of Operating 
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-05134 Filed 3-7-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P