[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14479-14481]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7809]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
DOCKET NOS. STN 50-528, STN 50-529, AND STN 50-530
Arizona Public Service Company; Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station, Unit Nos. 1, 2, And 3 Environmental Assessment and Finding of
No Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is
considering the issuance of amendments to Facility Operating License
Nos. NPF-41, NPF-51, and NPF-74, issued to Arizona Public Service
Company (the licensee), for operation of the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station, Unit Nos. 1, 2, and 3, (PVNGS), located in Maricopa
County, Arizona.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action
The proposed amendments will revise the existing, or current
Technical Specifications (CTS) in their entirety for PVNGS and
incorporate the guidance provided in NUREG-1432, ``Standard Technical
Specifications, Combustion Engineering Plants,'' Revision 1, dated
April 1995. The licensee proposed this action in an amendment request
dated October 4, 1996, as supplemented by (1) the following 19 letters
submitted in 1997 and dated January 31, March 16, May 30 (2 letters),
June 6, July 18 (5 letters), August 31, September 18 (2 letters),
September 19 (2 letters), November 7, November 14, November 26, and
December 16; and (2) the letter dated February 12, 1998.
[[Page 14480]]
The Need for the Proposed Action
It has been recognized that nuclear safety in all nuclear power
plants would benefit from an improvement and standardization of the
plant Technical Specifications (TS). The ``NRC Interim Policy Statement
on Technical Specification Improvements for Nuclear Power Plants,'' (52
FR 3788) contained proposed criteria for defining the scope of TS.
Later, the Commission's ``Final Policy Statement on Technical
Specifications Improvements for Nuclear Power Reactors,'' published on
July 22, 1993 (58 FR 39132), incorporated lessons learned since
publication of the interim policy statement and formed the basis for
revisions to 10 CFR 50.36. The ``Final Rule'' (60 FR 36953) codified
criteria for determining the content of TS. To facilitate the
development of standard TS for nuclear power reactors, each power
reactor vendor owners' group (OG) and the NRC staff developed standard
TS. For PVNGS, the Standard Technical Specifications (STS) are in
NUREG-1432. This document formed the basis for the PVNGS Improved
Technical Specifications (ITS) conversion. The NRC Committee to Review
Generic Requirements (CRGR) reviewed the STS, made note of its safety
merits, and indicated its support of the conversion by operating plants
to the STS.
Description of the Proposed Change
The proposed revision to the CTS is based on NUREG-1432 and on
guidance provided by the Commission in its Final Policy Statement. Its
objective is to completely rewrite, reformat, and streamline the CTS.
Emphasis is placed on human factors principles to improve clarity and
understanding of the TS. The Bases section of the TS has been
significantly expanded to clarify and better explain the purpose and
foundation of each specification. In addition to NUREG-1432, portions
of the CTS were also used as the basis for the development of the PVNGS
ITS. Plant-specific issues (e.g., unique design features, requirements,
and operating practices) were discussed with the licensee, and generic
matters with Combustion Engineering and other OGs.
The proposed changes from the CTS can be grouped into four general
categories. These categories are characterized as relocated
requirements, administrative changes, less restrictive changes
involving deletion of requirements, and more restrictive changes, and
are as follows:
1. Relocated requirements are items which are in the CTS but do not
meet the criteria set forth in the Final Policy Statement. The Final
Policy Statement establishes a specific set of objective criteria for
determining which regulatory requirements and operating restrictions
should be included in the TS. Relocation of requirements to documents
with an established control program, controlled by the regulations or
the TS, allows the TS to be reserved only for those conditions or
limitations upon reactor operation which are necessary to obviate the
possibility of an abnormal situation or event giving rise to an
immediate threat to the public health and safety, thereby focusing the
scope of the TS. In general, the proposed relocation of items from the
CTS to the Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR), appropriate
plant-specific programs, plant procedures, or ITS Bases follows the
guidance of NUREG-1432. Once these items have been relocated to other
licensee-controlled documents, the licensee may revise them under the
provisions of 10 CFR 50.59 or other NRC-approved control mechanisms,
which provide appropriate procedural means to control changes by the
licensee.
2. Administrative changes involve the reformatting and rewording of
requirements, consistent with the style of the STS in NUREG-1432, to
make the TS more readily understandable to plant operators and other
users. These changes are purely editorial in nature, or involve the
movement or reformatting of requirements without affecting the
technical content. Application of a standardized format and style will
also help ensure consistency is achieved among specifications in the
TS. During this reformatting and rewording process, no technical
changes (either actual or interpretational) to the TS will be made
unless they are identified and justified.
3. Less restrictive changes and the deletion of requirements
involve portions of the CTS which (1) provide information that is
descriptive in nature regarding the equipment, systems, actions, or
surveillances, (2) provide little or no safety benefit, and (3) place
an unnecessary burden on the licensee. This information is proposed to
be deleted from the CTS and, in some instances, moved to the proposed
Bases, UFSAR, or procedures. The removal of descriptive information to
the Bases of the TS, UFSAR, or procedures is permissible because these
documents will be controlled through a process that utilizes 10 CFR
50.59 and other NRC-approved control mechanisms. The relaxations of
requirements were the result of generic NRC actions or other analyses.
They will be justified on a case-by-case basis for PVNGS and described
in the safety evaluation to be issued with the license amendments.
4. More restrictive requirements are proposed to be implemented in
some areas to impose more stringent requirements than are in the CTS.
These more restrictive requirements are being imposed to be consistent
with the STS. Such changes have been made after ensuring the previously
evaluated safety analysis for PVNGS was not affected. Also, other more
restrictive technical changes have been made to achieve consistency,
correct discrepancies, and remove ambiguities from the TS. Examples of
more restrictive requirements include: placing a Limiting Condition for
Operation (LCO) on plant equipment which is not required by the CTS to
be operable; more restrictive requirements to restore inoperable
equipment; and more restrictive surveillance requirements.
There are seven other proposed changes to the CTS that will be
included in the proposed amendments to convert the CTS to the ITS for
PVNGS. These other changes have, or will be, the subject of Federal
Register Notices of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment. These
proposed changes are changes to the CTS or deviations to the ISTS and
are the following:
1. LCO 3.6.1.5, containment air temperature, the maximum air
temperature would be decreased from 120 deg.F to
117 deg.F, to incorporate instrument uncertainties.
2. LCO 3.6.2.1, containment spray system (CSS) applicability, the
LCO would be revised to eliminate the need to enter an emergency
shutdown action requirement during a routine shutdown when the CSS is
intentionally made inoperable.
3. Surveillance Requirement (SR) 4.6.2.1.c, containment spray
header piping water level, the minimum water level would be reduced
from 115 feet to 113 feet to include instrument uncertainty.
4. SR 4.6.4.3.d.1, allowable pressure drop across the hydrogen
purge filtration unit, the allowable pressure drop across the hydrogen
purge exhaust air filtration unit for the hydrogen purge cleanup system
would be reduced from 8.4 inches of water gauge to 2.26 inches of water
gauge as a result of a revised analysis.
5. SR 4.3.2.1, frequency of testing the engineered safety feature
actuation system (ESFAS) subgroup relays, would be extended from 62
days to 9 months on a staggered test basis in accordance with an NRC-
approved topical report.
6. Applicability Note for LCO 3.5.1, safety injection tank minimum
nitrogen
[[Page 14481]]
pressure, would increase the minimum required nitrogen cover pressure
for the safety injection tanks (SITs) from 254 psig to 260 psig to
include instrument uncertainties.
7. Action 3.1.5.d, misalignment distance for movable control
assemblies, the criterion to enter the Action statement for the LCO for
misalignment of control assemblies would be reduced from 19 inches to
9.9 inches based on a revised analysis.
These seven changes result in more restrictive conditions on safe
plant operation, are based on new safety analyses for PVNGS, prevent
unnecessary shutdowns when equipment is intentionally made inoperable,
or do not affect existing safety analyses for PVNGS.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The Commission has completed its evaluation of the proposed
revision to the CTS for PVNGS. Changes which are administrative in
nature have been found to have no effect on the technical content of
the TS. The increased clarity and understanding these changes bring to
the TS are expected to improve the operators control of PVNGS in normal
and accident conditions.
Relocation of requirements from the CTS to other licensee-
controlled documents does not change the requirements themselves.
Future changes to these requirements may then be made by the licensee
under 10 CFR 50.59 and other NRC-approved control mechanisms which will
ensure continued maintenance of adequate requirements. All such
relocations have been found consistent with the guidelines of NUREG-
1432 and the Commission's Final Policy Statement.
Changes involving more restrictive requirements have been found to
enhance plant safety.
Changes involving less restrictive requirements have been reviewed
individually. When requirements have been shown to provide little or no
safety benefit, or to place an unnecessary burden on the licensee,
their removal from the TS was justified. In most cases, relaxations
previously granted to individual plants on a plant-specific basis were
the result of a generic action, or of agreements reached during
discussions with the OG and found to be acceptable for the plant.
Generic relaxations contained in NUREG-1432 have been reviewed by the
NRC staff and found to be acceptable.
In summary, the proposed revisions to the TS were found to provide
control of plant operations such that reasonable assurance will be
provided that the health and safety of the public will be adequately
protected.
These TS changes will not increase the probability or consequences
of accidents, no changes are being made to the types of any effluent
that may be released offsite, and there is no significant increase in
the allowable individual or cumulative occupational exposure. Also,
these changes do not affect the effect the design or operation of the
plant, do not involve any modifications to the plant or any increase in
the licensed power for the plant, and will not create any new or
unreviewed environmental impacts that were not considered in the Final
Environmental Statement (FES) related to the operation of PVNGS dated
February 1982. Therefore, the Commission concludes that there are no
significant radiological impacts associated with the proposed TS
amendments.
With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed
amendments involve features located entirely within the restricted area
defined in 10 CFR Part 20. They do not affect non-radiological plant
effluents and have no other environmental impact. Therefore, the
Commission concludes that there are no significant non-radiological
impacts associated with the proposed TS amendments.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
Since the Commission has concluded there is no measurable
environmental impact associated with the proposed amendments, any
alternatives with equal or greater environmental impact need not be
evaluated. The principal alternative to the proposed amendments would
be to deny the amendments. Denial of the licensee's application would
not reduce the environmental impacts of PVNGS operations. The
environmental impacts of the proposed action and the alternative action
are similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
This action does not involve the use of any resources not
previously considered in the FES for PVNGS dated February 1982.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
In accordance with its stated policy, on February 9, 1998, the
staff consulted with the Arizona State official, Mr. William Wright of
the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency, regarding the environmental
impact of the proposed action. The State official had no comments.
Finding of No Significant Impact
Based upon the environmental assessment, the Commission concludes
that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the
quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the Commission 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 application dated October 4, 1996, as supplemented by (1) 19
letters submitted in 1997 dated January 31, March 16, May 30 (2
letters), June 6, July 18 (5 letters), August 31, September 18 (2
letters), September 19 (2 letters), November 7, November 14, November
26, and December 16, and (2) the letter dated February 12, 1998, which
are available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document
Room, The Gelman Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC, and at
the local public document room located at the Phoenix Public Library,
1221 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85004.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of March 1998.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jack N. Donohew,
Senior Project Manager, Project Directorate IV-1, Division of Reactor
Projects--III/IV, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 98-7809 Filed 3-24-98; 8:45 am]
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