[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 112 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35013-35014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-14683]
[[Page 35013]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket 72-16]
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
Related to Virginia Electric and Power Company's Proposed Amendment to
License No. SNM-2507
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is
considering issuance of an amendment, pursuant to 10 CFR 72.56, to
Special Nuclear Material License No. 2507 (SNM-2507) held by Virginia
Electric and Power Company (Dominion) for the North Anna independent
spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). The requested amendment would
revise the Technical Specifications (TS) of SNM-2507 to specifically
permit the use of the TN-32 storage cask to store spent fuel with a
higher initial enrichment and burnup than currently specified in the TS
for the North Anna ISFSI. An environmental assessment (EA) was
performed by the NRC staff in support of its review of the license
amendment request, in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part
51. The conclusion of the EA is a Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI).
Environmental Assessment
Identification of Proposed Action: By letter dated May 28, 2002, as
supplemented, Dominion requested an amendment to revise the TS of SNM-
2507 for the North Anna ISFSI. The changes would specifically permit
the use of the TN-32 storage cask to store spent fuel with a higher
initial enrichment and burnup than currently specified in the TS.
Currently, the TS for the North Anna ISFSI limit the fuel to be stored
in the TN-32 to the following: initial enrichment of <=3.85% (wt U-
235), assembly average burnup of <=40,000 MWD/MTU, and heat generation
of <=0.847 Kw/assembly. This amendment requests the limits be amended
as follows: initial enrichment of <=4.35% (wt U-235), assembly average
burnup <=45,000 MWD/MTU, and heat generation of <=1.02 Kw/assembly.
Need for the Proposed Action: The proposed action is necessary to
allow continued storage of spent fuel in dry casks at the North Anna
ISFSI. Without this amendment, North Anna will be unable to load spent
fuel in TN-32 casks because the remaining spent fuel at the site has
the higher enrichment and burnup. If unable to store spent fuel in TN-
32 casks, North Anna will not be able to retain full core offload
capability. North Anna would eventually have to find an alternate means
to store fuel, or shut down.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: The NRC has completed
its evaluation of the proposed action and concludes that granting the
request for amendment to allow the storage of spent fuel assemblies
with burnup and initial enrichment of up to 45,000 MWD/MTU and 4.35%
(wt U-235), respectively, in TN-32 casks used at the North Anna ISFSI,
will not increase the probability or consequence of accidents beyond
that bounded by previous analysis. No changes are being made in the
types of any effluents that may be released offsite. With regard to
radiological impacts, the addition of higher burnup and initial
enrichment spent fuel assemblies was calculated to yield an average
surface dose rate of 218 mrem/hour at the TN-32 cask side surface. A
re-evaluation of occupational doses based on actual operating
experience and the revised surface dose rate, indicates that the
overall exposure to workers during cask loading, transport, and
emplacement will increase from the original estimate of 7.19 person-rem
to 14.30 person-rem. The dose to the nearest permanent resident due to
ISFSI operations was calculated to be 2.10 mrem/yr. If the proposed
amendment is approved, the total annual dose for all site sources
(ISFSI, Unit 1 and Unit 2) would be 5.10 mrem/yr. This is well below
the 25 mrem/yr limit cited in 10 CFR 72.104(a). Based on the
occupational and public dose analysis results, there are no significant
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
The amendment only affects the requirements associated with the
contents of the casks and does not affect non-radiological plant
effluents or any other aspects of the environment. Therefore, there are
no significant non-radiological environmental impacts associated with
the proposed action.
Accordingly, the Commission concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Environmental Impact of the Alternative to the Proposed Action: The
alternative to the proposed action would be to deny the request for
amendment (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of the proposed
action would result in North Anna having to store its remaining spent
fuel in the spent fuel pool. Without dry cask storage, North Anna would
lose the capability to maintain full core offload and eventually both
units would have to shut down due to lack of storage space. The
electrical generating capacity lost would have to be replaced by
another source of power, which could result in greater environmental
impact and/or higher electricity rates for customers. Increased storage
in the spent fuel pool could potentially lead to greater occupational
exposure than dry cask storage due to the proximity of workers to the
fuel. The environmental impacts of the alternative action could be
greater than the proposed action.
Given that the alternative action of denying the approval for the
amendment has no lesser environmental impacts associated with it, the
Commission concludes that the preferred alternative is to grant this
amendment.
Agencies and Persons Consulted and Sources Used: On April 9, 2003,
Mr. Les Foldese of the Virginia Department of Health, Radiological
Health Programs, was contacted regarding the proposed action and had no
concerns. The NRC staff have determined that the proposed amendment
will not introduce any new effects on listed species, critical habitat,
or historical properties. Therefore no further consultation is
required. 10 CFR part 51 was used as a source.
Finding of No Significant Impact
The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed
in accordance with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR part 51. Based
upon the foregoing Environmental Assessment, the Commission finds that
the proposed action of granting an amendment to permit the use of the
TN-32 dry storage casks to store spent fuel with a higher initial
enrichment (<=4.35% wt U-235) and burnup (<=45,000 MWD/MTU) at the
North Anna ISFSI will not significantly impact the quality of the human
environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined not to prepare
an environmental impact statement for the proposed amendment.
The request for the amendment was docketed under 10 CFR part 72,
Docket 72-16. For further details with respect to this action, see the
amendment application dated May 28, 2002, as supplemented, which is
available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document
Room, One White Flint North Building, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
MD or from the publicly available records component of NRC's Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). The NRC maintains
ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents.
These documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic
Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
[[Page 35014]]
If you do not have access to ADAMS, or if there are problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public
Document Room Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-
mail to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of June, 2003.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mary Jane Ross-Lee,
Senior Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 03-14683 Filed 6-10-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P