[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1911-1912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-479]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 72-11]
Sacramento Municipal Utility District; Rancho Seco Independent
Spent Fuel Storage Installation; Issuance of Environmental Assessment
and Finding of No Significant Impact Regarding a Proposed Exemption and
Conforming Amendment
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy M. Snyder, Project Manager, Spent
Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone:
(301) 415-8580; fax number: (301) 425-8555; e-mail: ams3@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
is considering issuance of an exemption, pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from
the provisions of 10 CFR 72.44(d)(3), to the Sacramento Municipal
Utility District (SMUD or the licensee). The requested exemption (in
conjunction with a conforming license amendment) would relieve SMUD
from the requirement to submit an annual radioactive effluent report
for the Rancho Seco Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
(ISFSI). SMUD submitted the exemption request by letter dated July 19,
2004, in which it also requested an amendment to the Rancho Seco ISFSI
license; specifically, the deletion of Technical Specification 5.5.2.,
Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program, item (d). The licensee
is currently storing spent nuclear fuel at the Rancho Seco ISFSI on the
site of the decommissioned Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in
Sacramento County, California.
Environmental Assessment (EA)
Identification of Proposed Action: SMUD has requested both an
exemption and a conforming license amendment to obtain relief from the
requirement to submit an annual radioactive effluent report for the
Rancho Seco ISFSI. According to 10 CFR 72.44(d), each 10 CFR part 72
license must include technical specifications regarding radioactive
effluents. Specifically, 10 CFR 72.44(d)(3) requires that an annual
report be submitted to the NRC, specifying the quantity of each of the
principal radionuclides released to the environment in liquid and in
gaseous effluents during the previous 12 months of ISFSI operation. In
addition to the regulation itself, the Rancho Seco ISFSI Technical
Specifications (Appendix to License No. SNM-2510), section 5.5.2,
Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program, item d., requires an
annual report to be submitted pursuant to 10 CFR 72.44(d)(3).
The proposed action before the NRC is whether to grant the
exemption and conforming amendment.
Need for the Proposed Action: The requirements of 10 CFR
72.44(d)(3) and Rancho Seco ISFSI Technical Specification 5.5.2.d.
impose certain regulatory obligations, with associated costs, on the
licensee. In its Safety Evaluation Report related to the ISFSI license,
the staff found that there are no credible scenarios by which liquid or
gaseous effluents could be released from the dry shielded canister. The
licensee further stated that any concerns over small quantities of
gaseous or liquid effluent that may be produced during cask loading and
transfer decontamination activities are no longer relevant, since all
the spent fuel has been transferred to the ISFSI, and that the NUHOMS-
24P dry cask storage system used at the Rancho Seco ISFSI is a passive
system which, by design, produces no gaseous or liquid effluent.
Granting the requested exemption and approving the conforming
amendment will relieve the licensee from the requirement to submit an
annual radioactive effluent report pursuant to 10 CFR 72.44(d)(3). The
requirement to submit an annual radioactive effluent monitoring report
is not needed for this facility in its current configuration and is an
unnecessary administrative burden. Thus, the licensee would not have to
incur the costs associated with preparing and submitting an annual
ISFSI radioactive effluent report.
[[Page 1912]]
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: The NRC has reviewed
the exemption request submitted by the licensee and determined that not
requiring the licensee to submit an annual report pursuant to 10 CFR
72.44(d)(3) is an administrative change and would have no significant
impacts to the environment.
Further, NRC has evaluated the impact to public safety that would
result in granting the requested exemption. NRC determined that not
requiring the licensee to submit an annual report specifying principal
radionuclides released to the environment in liquid and in gaseous
effluents does not impact pubic safety because the design basis for the
Rancho Seco ISFSI is such that it is a passive system that generates no
effluents during fuel storage. Thus, there should be no releases to the
environment of either liquid or gaseous effluents from normal
operations of the Rancho Seco ISFSI.
The proposed actions would not increase the probability or
consequences of accidents, no changes would be made to the types of
effluents that may be released offsite, and there would be no increase
in occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no
significant radiological environmental impacts associated with the
proposed action. Additionally, the proposed action would have no
significant non-radiological impacts.
Alternative to the Proposed Action: As an alternative to the
proposed action, the staff considered denial of the exemption and
conforming amendment requests (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative).
Approval or denial of the exemption and conforming amendment requests
would result in no change in the environmental impacts. Therefore, the
environmental impacts of the proposed action and the alternative action
are similar.
Agencies and Persons Consulted: The NRC staff prepared this
environmental assessment (EA); no other sources were used. On September
28, 2004, the staff contacted Mr. Steven Hsu of the California
Department of Health Services, Radiologic Health Branch, and
subsequently provided him a draft copy of this EA for review. The State
of California responded to the NRC by e-mail on October 1, 2004, and
stated it had no comments at this time on the EA or the Finding of No
Significant Impact. The NRC staff has determined that consultation
under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act is not required for this
specific exemption, which involves an administrative change and will
not affect listed species or critical habitat. The NRC staff has also
determined that the proposed action is not a type of activity having
the potential to cause effects on historic properties. Therefore, no
consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act.
Conclusions: The staff has reviewed the exemption and conforming
amendment requests submitted by SMUD and has determined that relieving
the licensee from the requirement to submit an annual radioactive
effluent report pursuant to 10 CFR 72.44(d)(3) and the Rancho Seco
ISFSI Technical Specifications is an administrative change, and would
have no significant impact on the environment.
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 EA, the NRC finds that the proposed action of
granting the exemption and approving the conforming amendment to the
license will not significantly impact the quality of the human
environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that an environmental
impact statement for the proposed exemption and conforming amendment is
not warranted.
The request for the exemption and amendment was docketed under 10
CFR Part 72, Docket 72-11. For further details with respect to this
action, see the request for the exemption and proposed license
amendment dated July 19, 2004. The NRC maintains an Agencywide
Documents Access Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and
image files of NRC's public documents. However, as of October 25, 2004,
the NRC initiated an additional security review of publicly available
documents to ensure that potentially sensitive information is removed
from the ADAMS database accessible through the NRC's Web site.
Interested members of the public should check the NRC's Web pages for
updates on the availability of documents through the ADAMS system. When
public availability is restored, 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. After resumption of public
access to ADAMS, copies of the referenced documents will also be
available for review at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. PDR reference staff can be
contacted at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of January, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Amy M. Snyder,
Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 05-479 Filed 1-10-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P