[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16653-16655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-06463]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Production of Tritium in Commercial Light Water Reactors

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Record of decision.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice is provided in accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality's regulations and the Tennessee Valley 
Authority's (TVA) procedures for implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). TVA has decided to implement the 
preferred alternative identified in the Final Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Production of Tritium in 
a Commercial Light Water Reactor, issued March 4, 2016, prepared by the 
U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration 
(DOE/NNSA). The decision allows for the production of tritium using TVA 
reactors at both the Watts Bar and Sequoyah sites in eastern Tennessee 
and continues an interagency agreement with DOE/NNSA under The Economy 
Act to provide irradiation services for producing tritium in TVA light 
water reactors.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Higdon, Tennessee Valley 
Authority, NEPA Specialist, 400 West Summit Hill Drive (WT11D), 
Knoxville,

[[Page 16654]]

Tennessee 37902; telephone (865) 632-8051; or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: TVA adopted the Final SEIS on March 4, 2016 
(81 FR 11557-11558) in accordance with 40 CFR 1506.3. As a cooperating 
agency, TVA provided subject matter expertise, independent review and 
evaluation, and close coordination with DOE/NNSA during the 
environmental review process, including preparation of the Draft SEIS 
and the Final SEIS. DOE/NNSA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) based on 
the Final SEIS on June 22, 2016 (81 FR 40685). By this notice, TVA is 
providing notification of its decision and agency reasoning.

Background

    The DOE is responsible for supplying nuclear materials for national 
security needs and ensuring that the nuclear weapons stockpile remains 
safe and reliable. Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is an 
essential component of every weapon in the current and projected U.S. 
nuclear weapons stockpile. Unlike other nuclear materials used in 
nuclear weapons, tritium decays at a rate of 5.5 percent per year. 
Accordingly, as long as the Nation relies on a nuclear deterrent, the 
tritium in each nuclear weapon must be replenished periodically.
    In March 1999, DOE/NNSA published the Final EIS for Production of 
Tritium in a Commercial Light Water Reactor, which addressed the 
proposed interagency agreement with TVA to produce tritium at TVA 
reactors using tritium-producing burnable absorber rods (TPBARs). In 
May 1999, DOE published the ROD for the 1999 EIS, identifying its 
decision to implement the agreement for tritium production at the Watts 
Bar Unit 1 reactor (Watts Bar 1) in Rhea County, Tennessee, and 
Sequoyah Units 1 and 2 reactors (Sequoyah 1 and 2) in Hamilton County, 
Tennessee. Under the proposal, TVA would irradiate up to 3,400 TPBARs 
per reactor per fuel cycle, which lasts about 18 months. The agreement 
was needed by DOE/NNSA because at the time the U.S. nuclear weapons 
complex did not have the capability to produce the amounts of tritium 
that were needed to support the Nation's current and future nuclear 
weapons stockpile.
    Following the environmental review, an agreement with DOE/NNSA was 
approved by the TVA Board of Directors in late 1999 and, in May 2000, 
TVA issued a ROD and adopted the DOE/NNSA's EIS (65 FR 26259). In 2000, 
TVA entered into an interagency agreement with DOE/NNSA under The 
Economy Act to provide irradiation services for producing tritium in 
TVA light water reactors through November 2035.
    In explaining its decision in the ROD, TVA noted that the preamble 
to the TVA Act of 1933 identifies national defense as one of the 
purposes for its enactment, that Sections 15d(h) and 31 of the TVA Act 
declare that the Act should be liberally construed to aid TVA in 
discharging its responsibilities for the advancement of national 
defense, and that there have been numerous occasions on which TVA 
supported the Nation's defense efforts. In the ROD, TVA stated that 
this mandate to support the national defense was among the factors for 
consideration in approving the production of tritium.
    TVA received license amendments from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) in 2002 to produce tritium in Watts Bar 1 reactor and 
both Sequoyah reactors and has been producing tritium at the Watts Bar 
1 reactor since 2003 (TVA has not produced tritium in Sequoyah 1 or 2; 
that has remained a viable option). Since 2003, irradiation experience 
at Watts Bar has shown that the permeation rate per TPBAR per year has 
been higher than the estimate that was included and analyzed in the 
1999 EIS by DOE/NNSA. In the 1999 EIS, DOE/NNSA estimated that tritium 
permeated through the wall of the TPBARs into the reactor coolant at a 
rate of one curie per TPBAR per year. However, experience at Watts Bar 
has shown that the actual permeation rate is 3-4 curies per TPBAR per 
year (there are approximately 10,000 curies of tritium produced by a 
TPBAR). The higher-than-expected permeation rate has resulted in 
limitations on the number of TPBARs that TVA can irradiate in its 
reactors to meet DOE/NNSA's projected tritium requirements. Watts Bar 
Unit 2 (Watts Bar 2), which began commercial operation in late 2016, is 
not currently licensed for tritium production.
    DOE/NNSA initiated the SEIS in 2011 to supplement its previous 
analysis to address the higher rates of permeation of tritium from 
TPBARs at TVA sites and to evaluate increasing tritium production 
quantities to meet requirements. In the SEIS analysis, DOE/NNSA used a 
conservative (i.e., bounding) estimate of tritium permeation rate, as 
well as a conservative interpretation of the DOE/NNSA's revised 
estimate of the maximum number of TPBARs necessary to support current 
tritium supply requirements.
    Six alternatives were analyzed in the SEIS, including alternatives 
to utilize Watts Bar 2. The No Action Alternative assumed irradiation 
of up to a total of 2,040 TPBARs every 18 months using Watts Bar 1 and 
Sequoyah 1 and 2. This alternative was based on the estimate in the 
1999 EIS that a maximum of 3,400 curies of tritium would be released 
from any reactor in a given year, combined with an assumption of a 
conservative release of 5 curies for each TPBAR annually, or a total of 
680 TPBARs in any given reactor. Alternatives 1 and 2 assumed TVA would 
irradiate up to a total of 2,500 TPBARs every 18 months at only one 
site--only at the Watts Bar site under Alternative 1 and only at the 
Sequoyah site under Alternative 2. Alternative 3 assumed TVA would 
irradiate up to a total of 2,500 TPBARs every 18 months using both the 
Watts Bar and Sequoyah sites. Alternatives 4 and 5 assumed TVA would 
irradiate up to a total of 5,000 TPBARs every 18 months at only one 
site--only at the Watts Bar site using Watts Bar 1 and 2 under 
Alternative 4 and only at the Sequoyah site using Sequoyah 1 and 2 
under Alternative 5.
    In its Final SEIS, DOE/NNSA identified Alternative 6 as the 
preferred alternative. Under this alternative, TVA would irradiate up 
to a total of 5,000 TPBARs every 18 months using both the Sequoyah and 
Watts Bar sites. Because TVA would irradiate a maximum of 2,500 TPBARs 
in any one reactor, one or both reactors at each of the sites may be 
involved. In discussing its preference, DOE/NNSA acknowledged that 
while the irradiation of a total of 2,500 TPBARs every 18 months is 
likely to continue to meet near-term national security requirements, 
implementing Alternative 6 provides DOE/NNSA with the greatest 
flexibility to address potential future scenarios because it 
encompasses the full numerical range of TPBARs that could, under any 
currently foreseeable circumstances, be irradiated in an 18-month 
period at the TVA reactors to satisfy national security requirements.

Environmental Consequences

    In the SEIS, DOE/NNSA provided supplemental analysis of the 
potential impacts of each alternative on land use, aesthetics, climate 
and air quality, geology and soils, water resources, biological 
resources, cultural resources, transportation, infrastructure and 
utilities, socioeconomics and environmental justice, and human health 
and safety. Also addressed were impacts associated with potential 
accidents and intentional destructive acts and those associated with 
waste and spent nuclear fuel management. The potential environmental 
impacts of each alternative are summarized for

[[Page 16655]]

comparison in the Summary and Section 2.5 of the Final SEIS.
    The key findings of the SEIS are (1) Tritium releases from normal 
operations with TPBAR irradiation would have an insignificant impact on 
the health of workers and the public; (2) tritium releases from TPBAR 
irradiation would increase tritium concentrations in the Tennessee 
River in comparison with not irradiating TPBARs; however, the tritium 
concentration at any drinking water intake would remain well below the 
maximum permissible Environmental Protection Agency drinking water 
limit of 20,000 picocuries per liter; (3) TPBAR irradiation would not 
have a significant adverse impact on the operation and safety of TVA 
reactor facilities, and the potential risks from accidents would remain 
essentially the same whether TPBARs were irradiated in a TVA reactor or 
not; and (4) irradiation of 2,500 TPBARs in a single reactor would 
increase spent nuclear fuel generation by about 24 percent per fuel 
cycle and irradiation of 5,000 TPBARs at a single site would increase 
spent nuclear fuel generation at either Watts Bar or Sequoyah by about 
48 percent per fuel cycle; however, TVA has a plan to manage the 
increased volume of spent nuclear fuel assemblies.

Environmentally Preferable Alternative

    In its June 2016 ROD, DOE/NNSA identified the No Action Alternative 
as the environmentally preferable alternative after considering the 
potential impacts to each resource area by alternative. TVA concurs 
with this determination. Fewer environmental impacts would result from 
the No Action Alternative because the alternative would have the lowest 
limiting value considered for the total number of TPBARs proposed to be 
irradiated (no more than 2,040 TPBARs every 18 months).

Decision

    In its June 2016 ROD, DOE/NNSA stated its intent to implement the 
preferred alternative, Alternative 6, under the terms of the existing 
interagency agreement with TVA. TVA has decided to implement 
Alternative 6 as well, which allows for the irradiation of a total of 
5,000 TPBARs every 18 months using both the Watts Bar and Sequoyah 
sites. Because TVA could irradiate a maximum of 2,500 TPBARs in any one 
reactor, one or both reactors at each of the sites could be used. In 
the SEIS, DOE/NNSA assumed for Alternative 6 that each site would 
irradiate 2,500 TPBARs every 18 months. However, because the SEIS 
analyzes the impacts of irradiating up to 5,000 TPBARs at a single 
site, Alternative 6 is not intended to limit the number of TPBARs 
irradiated at either the Watts Bar or Sequoyah site, so long as no more 
than a total of 5,000 TPBARs is irradiated every 18 months, with no 
more than 2,500 TPBARs in any reactor core. This decision allows for 
irradiation of TPBARs at the Sequoyah site in the future; however, TVA 
does not currently have plans to irradiate TPBARs at the Sequoyah site 
in the near term.
    In June 2016, TVA agreed to assess the potential for tritium 
production at Watts Bar 2. As a result of that assessment, TVA is 
planning to submit a license amendment to the NRC in late 2017 to 
authorize irradiation of up to 1,792 TPBARs in Watts Bar 2. Subject to 
approval of the license agreement, tritium production in Watts Bar 2 is 
currently projected to start in the fall of 2020 with the loading of 
approximately 600 to 704 TPBARs. Plans further call for Watts Bar 2 to 
be irradiating approximately 1,500 to 1,792 TPBARs by December 2025.
    The basis for TVA's decision is its commitment to provide 
irradiation services for producing tritium for DOE/NNSA based on the 
interagency agreement established in 2000 between the two agencies. TVA 
concurs that the proposal reflects responsible planning on the part of 
DOE/NNSA and provides the greatest flexibility for DOE/NNSA to meet 
future tritium production requirements through the potential 
availability of up to four reactors (i.e., the addition of Watts Bar 2) 
to assist in meeting national security requirements. No other 
alternative reviewed in the SEIS provided the desired flexibility. The 
decision represents TVA's continued commitment to support the Nation's 
defense efforts and national security requirements.

Mitigation Measures

    The SEIS identified several mitigation measures that would reduce 
potential impacts from tritium releases. In the event that TVA decides 
to irradiate TPBARs at Sequoyah site or facilitate routine tritium 
management, TVA would construct and operate a 500,000-gallon tritiated 
water tank system (similar to the system at the Watts Bar site) at 
Sequoyah to mitigate potential impacts from tritium releases. TVA would 
use the respective tank systems at both sites to store tritiated water 
after it passed through the liquid radioactive waste processing system. 
TVA would release the stored tritiated water to the Tennessee River by 
the existing pathways at the site. The tank systems would have 
sufficient capacity to store and release the water to the Tennessee 
River at appropriate times (that is, TVA will release stored tritiated 
water from the tank during times of higher river flows for better 
dilution), and it will enable TVA to minimize the potential impacts of 
tritiated water releases. The systems would enable TVA to plan fewer 
releases each year and to ensure that site effluents would continue to 
remain well below regulatory concentration limits. Additionally, TVA 
will continue to monitor its operations for emissions to air and water 
in accordance with NRC licensing requirements. TVA has adopted all 
practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm from the 
selected alternative.

David M. Czufin,
Senior Vice President, Nuclear Engineering and Operations Support.
[FR Doc. 2017-06463 Filed 4-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8120-08-P