[Federal Register: July 23, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 141)]
[Notices]
[Page 48211-48212]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23jy02-785]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-423]
Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc., Millstone Nuclear Power
Station, Unit No. 3; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
[[Page 48212]]
issuance of an amendment to Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR) Part 50 for Facility Operating License No. NPF-49 issued to
Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (the licensee), for operation of the
Millstone Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. 3 (MP3), located in
Waterford, Connecticut. 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 revise the Final Safety Analysis Report
(FSAR) description of the Supplementary Leakage Collection and Release
System (SLCRS) operation after a postulated accident. As a result, this
revision modifies the licensing basis for the post-accident operation
of the SLCRS.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application dated June 6, 1998, as supplemented by letters dated April
5, 1999; April 7, April 19, July 31, and September 28, 2000; March 19,
June 11, September 21, and December 20, 2001.
The Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is necessary because the SLCRS is used to
maintain a negative pressure relative to atmospheric in the secondary
containment by collecting air from the enclosure building and
connecting areas, filtering it to remove iodine, and discharging the
filtered air to the atmosphere. The licensee has identified potential
release pathways from secondary containment to the environment that
could bypass the SLCRS filter following a design-basis accident due to
non-nuclear safety-grade (NNS) exhaust fan operation after the
accident. These additional pathways are not included in the current
design-basis accident dose analyses as documented in the MP3 FSAR,
therefore making them non-conservative. The proposed action would
include the additional pathway in the current design-basis accident
dose analyses.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that issuance of the proposed amendment would not have a
significant environmental impact. The proposed changes to the FSAR
provide documentation of a combination of events not previously
included in the FSAR. Based on the licensee's use of acceptable
methodologies and assumptions, and staff confirmation of the licensee's
dose results, the staff has determined that the licensee's revised
design-basis accident radiological consequences analyses for the Loss
of Coolant Accident (LOCA) and rod ejection accident, which take into
account additional SLCRS bypass release pathways, are acceptable. The
analyses show that the radiological consequences of a postulated
design-basis LOCA are within 10 CFR part 100 dose limits for offsite
doses and 10 CFR part 50, appendix A, General Design Criterion 19, dose
limits with regard to control room habitability.
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
MP3, dated December 1984.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On June 12, 2002, the staff consulted with the Connecticut State
official, Mr. Michael Firsick of the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection, 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 June 6, 1998, as supplemented by letters dated
April 5, 1999; April 7, April 19, July 31, and September 28, 2000;
March 19, June 11, September 21, and December 20, 2001. Documents may
be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room
(PDR), located at One White Flint North, 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 pdr@nrc.gov.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of July 2002.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Victor Nerses,
Sr. Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate I, Division of
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 02-18521 Filed 7-22-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P