[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 65 (Monday, April 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 16831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8915]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-133]
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact;
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit No. 3)
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of a license amendment to Facility License No. DPR-7, issued
to Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E or the licensee), for the
Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit No. 3, a permanently shut down plant,
located near Eureka, California.
Identification of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would revise the Technical Specifications to
incorporate the requirements of Appendix I to 10 CFR Part 50, into the
Radiological Effluents Technical Specification (RETS) and to relocate
the controls and limitations on RETS and radiological environmental
monitoring (currently in the Technical Specifications) to the Offsite
Dose Calculation Manual and the Process Control Program. The proposed
action would also revise the Technical Specifications to implement
Generic Letter 89-01 (GL 89-01) and to incorporate the requirements of
the revised 10 CFR Part 20.
The Need for the Proposed Action
On July 29, 1996, the NRC published a Federal Register notice
containing decommissioning regulation amendments that became effective
August 28, 1996. Contained within these amendments were revisions to 10
CFR 50.36a and 10 CFR 50, Appendix I, making the Appendix I
requirements applicable to decommissioning activities as well as
operating nuclear power reactors.
Alternative to the Proposed Action
There is no alternative to this proposed action. PG&E, the Humboldt
Bay licensee must comply with the recently revised NRC decommissioning
regulations which require the technical specification changes contained
in the proposed license amendment.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
Although the proposed limits on radiological effluents are much
more stringent that the limits in the current technical specifications,
the previous radiological effluents from Humboldt Bay decommissioning
were so low that they would have been in compliance with the proposed
new limits. Thus, the proposed action does not involve any measurable
environmental impacts, since neither the facility configuration nor
SAFSTOR decommissioning mode will change. The staff has also determined
that the proposed action will not have any significant radiological
impacts on air, water, land, or biota in the area or any other
significant environmental impact.
With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed
action does not affect non-radiological plant effluents and has no
other environmental impact. Therefore, the Commission concludes that
there are no significant non-radiological environmental impacts
associated with the proposed action.
Finding of No Significant Impact
The Commission has determined not to prepare an environmental
impact statement for the proposed action based on the foregoing
environmental assessment. The Commission concludes that the proposed
action will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human
environment for the reason given above.
For detailed information with respect to this proposed action, see
the application for a license amendment dated December 9, 1996, as
supplemented on June 12, 1997 and March 13, 1998. These documents are
available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document
Room, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of March 1998.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marvin M. Mendonca,
Acting Director, Non-Power Reactors and Decommissioning Project
Directorate, Division of Reactor Program Management, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 98-8915 Filed 4-3-98; 8:45 am]
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