[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 25, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-12728]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: May 25, 1994]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-482]
Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp.; Notice of Issuance of
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is
considering issuance of an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR
part 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2 to Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating
Corporation, (the licensee), for operation of the Wolf Creek Generating
Station, Unit 1, located in Coffey County, Kansas.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of Proposed Action
Section IV.F.2 of Appendix E to 10 CFR Part 50 states ``Each
license at each site shall annually exercise its emergency plan.'' By
letter dated March 8, 1994, the licensee requested an exemption from
the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Section IV.F.2, that would delay
the exercise scheduled for 1994 until early 1995. The delay was
requested in order to allow for the approval and implementation of
revised emergency classification criteria submitted to the NRC by
letter dated December 15, 1993, and to avoid conflict with the seventh
refueling outage currently scheduled to begin in September 1994.
Section 50.12(a)(2)(v) of Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations provides an example of a special circumstance for which the
NRC will consider granting exemptions that involve cases providing only
temporary relief from the applicable regulation and for which the
licensee has made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation. The
licensee completed an annual exercise in December 1993 and had
scheduled the 1994 exercise for June 29, 1994. The proposed exemption
would delay the 1994 exercise until early 1995, approximately fourteen
months after the 1993 exercise, and would not affect the requirement to
conduct the normally scheduled 1995 annual exercise.
The Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed exemption provides temporary relief to delay an annual
emergency exercise in order to provide the licensee an opportunity to
implement revised emergency classification procedures and avoid
conflict with a scheduled refueling outage. The transition to the
revised emergency action levels includes NRC review and additional
training of licensee personnel. Although these activities are expected
to be completed during 1994, scheduling of the exercise for late 1994
would result in its coinciding with activities associated with the
seventh outage. Both activities, the exercise and refueling outage, are
resource intensive and therefore, it is undesirable to schedule them
for the same time period.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The Commission has completed its evaluation of the proposed
exemption and concludes that granting of the temporary relief does not
affect the configuration of plant systems or any manner of their
operation. The proposed exemption is limited to a delay in the conduct
of an annual emergency exercise such that the interval between the 1993
exercise and the delayed exercise is extended to approximately fourteen
months. The delay in the exercise does not constitute a significant
degradation in emergency planning and would therefore not result in an
increase in radiological consequences in the event of a major accident
involving the release of radioactive materials. Accordingly, the
Commission concludes that this proposed action would result in no
significant radiological evironmental impact.
With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed
exemption only involves the action of emergency plan exercises. It does
not affect nonradiological plant effluents and there are no other
nonradiological environmental impact associated with the proposed
exemption.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
Since the Commission concluded that there are no significant
environmental impacts that would result from the proposed action, any
alternatives with equal or greater environmental impacts need not be
evaluated. The principal alternative would be to deny the requested
exemption and require the licensee to conduct an emergency exercise
during the 1994 calendar year. Conducting an exercise prior to
implementation of the revised emergency action levels would reduce
potential benefits since key event classification procedures would be
superseded shortly following the exercise. Conducting the exercise late
in 1994 would result in conflicts with the planning and execution of
the seventh refueling outage.
Alternate Use of Resource
This action does not involve the use of any resources not
previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement in the Wolf
Creek Generating Station dated June 1982.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's request and consulted with
the Kansas State official. The State official had no comments regarding
the NRC's proposed action.
Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has determined not to prepare an environmental impact
statement for the proposed exemption.
Based upon the foregoing environmental assessment, the Commission
concludes that the proposed action will not have a significant effect
on the quality of the human environment.
For further details with respect to this action, see the request
for exemption dated March 8, 1994, which is available for public
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, The Gelman
Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20555, and at the Local
Public Document Rooms, Emporia State University, William Allen White
Library, 1200 Commercial Street, Emporia, Kansas 66801 and the Washburn
University School of Law Library, Topeka, Kansas 66621.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of May 1994.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James E. Lyons,
Acting Director, Project Directorate IV-2, Division of Reactor Projects
III/IV, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 94-12728 Filed 5-24-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-M