[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 72 (Friday, April 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19553-19554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3594]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-361 and 50-362]
Southern California Edison Company and San Diego Gas and Electric
Company, the City of Riverside, California and the City of Anaheim,
California, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 and 3;
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
No. NPF-10 and NPF-15, issued to Southern California Edison (the
licensee), for operation of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station,
Units 2 and 3 (SONGS 2 and 3), located in San Diego County, California.
Therefore, as provided by 10 CFR 51.21 and 51.33, the NRC is issuing
this environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action
By letter dated January 28, 2005, the licensee submitted a license
amendment request where, among other changes, the licensee requested
the use of an alternate methodology for calculating the stress
intensity factor KIm due to internal pressure loading. As
required by the safety evaluation on topical report Combustion
Engineering (CE) Topical Report NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, dated March 16,
2001, the licensee, by its supplement dated January 12, 2006, included
a request for an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50,
Appendix G for pressure temperature (P-T) limits since the alternate
methodology applies the CE Nuclear Steam Supply System method for
calculating KIm stress intensity values.
The proposed action would exempt the licensee from certain
requirements of Appendix G to 10 CFR Part 50 to allow the application
of the methodology in CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, ``The Development of a
RCS [Reactor Coolant System] Pressure and Temperature Limits Report for
the
[[Page 19554]]
Removal of P-T Limits and LTOP [Low-Temperature Overpressure
Protection] Setpoints from the Technical Specifications,'' for the
calculation of flaw stress intensity factors due to internal pressure
loadings (KIm).
The Need for the Proposed Action
In the associated exemption, the staff has determined that,
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), the application of the regulation
in the particular circumstances is not necessary to achieve the
underlying purpose of the rule, based on the alternative methodology
proposed in the licensee's amendment request. The proposed action would
revise the currently-approved methodology for P-T limit calculations to
incorporate the methodology approved for use in CE NPSD-683-A, Revision
6. The topical report allows the use of an alternate methodology to
calculate the flaw stress intensity factors due to internal pressure
loadings (KIm). The exemption is needed because the
methodology in CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, could not be shown to be
conservative with respect to the methodology for the determination of
KIm provided in Editions and Addenda of ASME Code, Section
XI, Appendix G, through the 1995 Edition and 1996 Addenda (the latest
Edition and Addenda of the ASME Code which had been incorporated into
10 CFR 50.55a at the time of the staff's review of CE NPSD-683-A,
Revision 6). Therefore, along with the supplement dated January 12,
2006, the licensee submitted an exemption request, consistent with the
requirements of 10 CFR 50.60, to apply the KIm calculational
methodology of CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, as part of the SONGS 2 and 3
pressure temperature limit report (PTLR) methodology.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that the exemption described above would provide an adequate
margin of safety against brittle failure of the reactor pressure vessel
at SONGS 2 and 3. The details of the staff's safety evaluation will be
provided in the exemption to Appendix G, which will allow the use of
the methodology in Topical Report CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, to
calculate the flaw stress intensity factors due to internal pressure
loadings (KIm), that will be issued in a future letter to
the licensee.
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 resources than
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for
the SONGS 2 and 3 dated May 12, 1981.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On March 28, 2006, the staff consulted with the California State
official, Steve Hsu of the Department of Health Services, Radiologic
Health Branch, 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 exemption letter dated January 28, 2005, as supplemented by
letter dated January 12, 2006. Documents may be examined, and/or copied
for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One
White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first
floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be
accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the
Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by
e-mail to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of April 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
N. Kalyanam,
Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, Division of Operating
Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 06-3594 Filed 4-13-06; 8:45 am]
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