[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 143 (Friday, July 25, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44110-44111]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-18961]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-285]
Omaha Public Power District; Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1;
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. DPR-40, issued to Omaha Public Power District (the licensee), for
operation of the Fort Calhoun Station, Unit No. 1 (FCS), located in
Washington County, Nebraska. Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 51.21,
the NRC is issuing this environmental assessment and finding of no
significant impact.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action
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 Combustion Engineering (CE) Topical Report NPSD-
683-A, Revision 6, ``Development of a RCS Pressure and Temperature
Limits Report for the Removal of P-T Limits and LTOP Requirements from
the Technical Specifications,'' for the calculation of flaw stress
intensity factors due to thermal stress loadings (Klt).
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application dated October 8, 2002.
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 underlying purpose of the
regulation will continue to be served by the implementation of the
alternative methodology. The proposed action would revise the
currently-approved methodology for pressure temperature (P-T) limit
calculations to incorporate the methodology approved for use in CE
NPSD-683-A, Revision 6. CE NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, allows the use of an
alternate methodology to calculate the flaw stress intensity factors
due to thermal stress loadings (Klt). 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 Klt provided in Editions and Addenda of
ASME Code, Section XI, Appendix G, through the 1995 Edition and 1996
[[Page 44111]]
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, in conjunction with the licensee's
October 8, 2002, license amendment request, the licensee also submitted
an exemption request, consistent with the requirements of 10 CFR 50.60,
to apply the Klt calculational methodology of CE NPSD-683-A,
Revision 6 as part of the FCS 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 FCS. The details of the staff's evaluation will be provided in the
exemption to Appendix G, which will allow the use of the methodology in
Topical Report NPSD-683-A, Revision 6, to calculate the flaw stress
intensity factors due to thermal stress loadings (Klt), 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 resource than
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for
the FCS dated August 1972.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On July 18, 2003, the staff consulted with the Nebraska State
official, Howard Shuman of the Nebraska Consumer Health Services
Agency, 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 letter dated October 8, 2002. 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 18th day of July, 2003.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Stephen Dembek,
Chief, Section 2, Project Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-18961 Filed 7-24-03; 8:45 am]
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