[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 104 (Tuesday, May 31, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34382-34383]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12742]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-280 and 50-281; NRC-2016-0105]
Virginia Electric and Power Company; Surry Power Station, Unit
Nos. 1 and 2
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant
impact; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing for
public comment a draft environmental assessment and finding of no
significant impact regarding the request for temporary exemption from
specific requirements of acceptance criteria for emergency core cooling
systems and evaluation models for Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-
32 and DPR-37, issued to Virginia Electric and Power Company (the
licensee) for the Surry Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (Surry).
DATES: Submit comments by June 30, 2016. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this
date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting
comments on a specific subject):
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0105. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section
of this document.
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Office of Administration,
Mail Stop: OWFN-12-H08, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Cotton, telephone: 301-415-1438;
email: [email protected]; or V. Sreenivas, telephone: 301-415-2597;
email: [email protected]. Both are staff members of the Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0105 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0105.
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 it is available
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.
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.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2016-0105 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into
ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove
identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.
II. Introduction
The NRC is considering issuance of an exemption from Sec. 50.46 of
title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Acceptance
criteria for emergency core cooling systems [(ECCS)] for light-water
nuclear power reactors,'' and appendix K to 10 CFR part 50, ``ECCS
Evaluation Models,'' for Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-32 and
DPR-37, issued to the licensee for operation of Surry, located in the
southeastern part of Virginia, in Surry County, Virginia. In accordance
with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC prepared an environmental assessment
documenting
[[Page 34383]]
its findings. The NRC concluded that the proposed actions will have no
significant environmental impact.
III. Draft Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant
Impact
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would exempt the licensee from certain
requirements contained in 10 CFR 50.46 and appendix K to 10 CFR part 50
to allow the use of up to eight AREVA AGORA[supreg] lead test
assemblies (LTAs) containing fuel rods fabricated with M5[supreg]
cladding material at Surry. The proposed action is in accordance with
the licensee's application dated September 30, 2015 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML15282A036).
The Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed temporary exemption to 10 CFR 50.46 and appendix K to
10 CFR part 50 is needed to allow Surry to use up to eight LTAs
containing fuel rods fabricated with M5[supreg] advanced zirconium
cladding. The requested exemption is required since Surry's technical
specifications do not currently include the use of M5[supreg] advanced
zirconium cladding material for use in its reactors.
The regulations in 10 CFR 50.46(a)(1)(i) and appendix K to 10 CFR
part 50 require the demonstration of adequate ECCS performance for
light-water reactors that contain fuel consisting of uranium oxide
pellets enclosed in Zircaloy or ZIRLO tubes. In addition, 10 CFR
50.44(a) addresses requirements to control hydrogen generated by
Zircaloy or ZIRLO fuel after a postulated loss-of-coolant accident.
Each of these three regulations, either implicitly or explicitly,
assume that either Zircaloy or ZIRLO is used as the fuel rod cladding
material.
The proposed temporary exemption is needed by Surry to allow the
use of M5 alloy clad LTAs to evaluate cladding material for use in up
to eight fuel assemblies and to provide a more robust design to
eliminate grid to rod fretting fuel failures. The regulations specify
standards and acceptance criteria only for fuel rods clad with Zircaloy
or ZIRLO. Consistent with 10 CFR 50.46, a temporary exemption is
required to use fuel rods clad with an advanced alloy that is not
Zircaloy or ZIRLO. Therefore, the licensee needs a temporary exemption
to insert up to eight LTAs containing new cladding material into the
Surry, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, reactor cores.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that the proposed action will not present any undue risk to
public health and safety. The details of the NRC staff's safety
evaluation will be provided in the exemption that, if approved by the
NRC, will be issued as part of the letter to the licensee approving the
exemption to the regulation.
The proposed action does not exempt the licensee from complying
with the acceptance and analytical criteria of 10 CFR 50.46 and
appendix K to 10 CFR part 50 applicable to the M5 alloy cladding. The
exemption solely allows the criteria set forth in these regulations to
apply to the M5 cladding material, which is similar in design and
function to the Zircaloy and ZIRLO cladding material required by NRC
regulations. Consequently, no changes are being made in the types of
effluents that may be released offsite and there is no significant
increase in the amount of any effluent released offsite, nor a
significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure
because this exemption will not change the criteria set forth in the
present regulations, since the M5-clad fuel has been shown by the
licensee to be capable of meeting this criteria. 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 any foreseeable impacts to historic properties,
land, air, or water resources, including impacts to biota, because the
exemption only allows the application of the acceptance criteria in the
regulations to the new fuel assemblies, rather than fuel assemblies
with Zircaloy or ZIRLO cladding material. The exemptions do not allow
any changes that will impact any offsite or onsite resources. 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 change in current
environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed
temporary 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 Operation of Surry Power Station Unit 1''; ``Final
Environmental Statement Related to Operation of Surry Power Station
Unit 2,'' dated 1972; and NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Supplement 6,
Regarding Surry Power Station Units 1 and 2, Final Report,'' dated
November 2002 (ADAMS Accession No. ML023310717).
Agencies and Persons Consulted
The staff did not enter into consultation with any other Federal
agency or with the State of Virginia regarding the environmental impact
of the proposed action.
IV. Finding of No Significant Impact
The licensee has requested an exemption from certain requirements
contained in 10 CFR 50.46 and appendix K to 10 CFR part 50 to allow the
use of up to eight AREVA AGORA[supreg] LTAs containing fuel rods
fabricated with M5[supreg] cladding material. 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 23rd day of May 2016.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Anne T Boland,
Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2016-12742 Filed 5-27-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P