[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 192 (Wednesday, October 3, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50458-50459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-24705]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-325 and 50-324]
Carolina Power & Light Company; Brunswick Steam Electric 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 from Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Appendix G, for Facility Operating
License Nos. DPR-71 and DPR-62 issued to Carolina Power & Light Company
(CP&L, the licensee), for operation of the Brunswick Steam Electric
Plant, Units 1 and 2, located in Brunswick County, North Carolina. As
required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is
[[Page 50459]]
issuing this environmental assessment and finding of no significant
impact.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would allow CP&L to use American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Case N-640 as the basis for
establishing the fracture toughness values used in pressure-temperature
(P-T) limit calculations. Code Case N-640 permits application of the
lower bound static initiation fracture toughness value equation
(KIc equation) as the basis for establishing the P-T curves
in lieu of using the lower bound crack arrest fracture toughness value
equation (i.e., the KIa equation, the method invoked by
Appendix G to Section XI of the ASME Code) as the basis for the curves.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application dated May 1, 2001, as supplemented by letter dated August
20, 2001.
The Need for the Proposed Action
10 CFR 50.60 requires that all light-water nuclear power reactors
must meet the fracture toughness requirements of Appendix G of 10 CFR
50. 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G requires P-T limit curves to be at least
as conservative as limits obtained by following the methods of analysis
and the margins of safety of Appendix G of Section XI of the ASME Code.
Requests for exemptions to the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50,
Appendices G and H, may be submitted pursuant to 10 CFR 50.60(b), which
allows licensees to use alternatives to the respective fracture
toughness and reactor vessel material surveillance program requirements
of the appendices, if an exemption to use the alternatives is granted
by the Commission pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12. According to 10 CFR
50.12(a)(1), the Commission may grant exemptions to the requirements of
10 CFR Part 50 if the exemptions are authorized by law, and will not
present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and are
consistent with the common defense and security.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that the proposed action involves an administrative activity
(a recalculation of a required table in technical specifications.)
The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability
or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types of
effluents that may be released off site, and there is no significant
increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there
are no significant radiological environmental impacts associated with
the proposed action.
With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. It does
not affect nonradiological plant effluents and has no other
environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant
nonradiological 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 action, the 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 resource than
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for
the Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, dated January 1974.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On August 27, 2001, the staff consulted with Mr. Johnny James of
the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
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 May 1, 2001, as supplemented by letter dated
August 20, 2001. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at
the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly
available records will be accessible electronically from the ADAMS
Public Library component on the NRC Web site,
http://www.nrc.gov (the Public Electronic Reading Room). If you do not
have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC PDR Reference staff at 1-
800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day of September 2001.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Richard P. Correia,
Chief, Section 2, Project Directorate II, Division of Licensing Project
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-24705 Filed 10-2-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P