[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 182 (Wednesday, September 19, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48281-48282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-23335]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-254 and 50-265]
Exelon Generation Company, LLC; Quad Cities Nuclear Power
Station, Units 1 and 2; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating Licenses Nos. DPR-29 and
DPR-30, issued to Exelon Generation Company, LLC (the licensee),
formerly Commonwealth Edison Company, for operation of the Quad Cities
Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 and 2, (Quad Cities) located in Rock
Island County, Illinois. 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, in part, add the Siemens Power
Corporation RODEX2A methodology to the Quad Cities Technical
Specification (TS) 6.5.6, ``Core Operating Limits Report,'' list of
approved methodologies that may be used to determine core operating
limits. The proposed action also adds a related condition to the Quad
Cities licenses to limit the maximum rod average burnup to 60 gigawatt-
days per metric ton of uranium (GWD/MTU). Adding the RODEX2A
methodology to the TSs will permit the use of extended fuel burnup
limits. RODEX2A supports maximum rod average burnups to 62 GWD/MTU and
uranium-235 (U-235) enrichments up to 5 percent by weight. However, the
license condition will limit burnup to 60 GWD/MTU until the completion
of an NRC Environmental Assessment supporting increased limits.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application for amendment dated September 29, 2000, as supplemented by
letters dated March 1, 2001, August 13, and August 27, 2001.
The Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is needed in order for the licensee to have the
flexibility to use fuel with increased burnup. The changes in operating
parameters and limits will allow longer operating cycles and result in
fewer fuel assemblies being needed.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that, although the extended burnup may slightly change the
mix of radionuclides that might be released in the event of an
accident, there are no significant adverse environmental impacts
associated with the proposed action.
The staff published ``Extended Burnup Fuel Use in Commercial LWR's;
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact'' on
February 29, 1988 (53 FR 6040). This generic environmental assessment
of extended fuel burnup in light water reactors found that ``no
significant adverse effects will be generated by increasing the present
batch-average burnup level of 33 GWD/MTU to 50 GWD/MTU or above as long
as the maximum rod average burnup level of any fuel rod is no greater
than 60 GWD/MTU.'' In addition, the environmental impacts of
transportation resulting from the use of higher enrichment fuel and
extended irradiation were published and discussed in the staff
assessment entitled, ``NRC Assessment of the Environmental Effects of
Transportation Resulting from Extended Fuel Enrichment and
Irradiation,'' dated July 7, 1988. That assessment was published in
connection with an Environmental Assessment related to the Sheron
Harris Nuclear Plant, Unit 1, which was published in the Federal
Register on August 11, 1988 (53 FR 30355), as corrected on August 24,
1988 (53 FR 32322). In these assessments, collectively, the staff
concluded that the environmental impacts summarized in Table S-3 of 10
CFR 51.51 and in Table S-4 of 10 CFR 51.52 for a burnup level of 33
GWD/MTU and enrichments up to 4 weight percent U-235 are conservative
and bound the corresponding impacts for burnup levels up to 60 GWD/MTU
and enrichments up to 5 weight percent U-235. These findings are
applicable to the proposed action at Quad Cities which will limit
burnup to 60 GWD/MTU and allow enrichments up to 5 weight percent U-
235.
[[Page 48282]]
The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability
or consequences of accidents, no significant changes are being made in
the types of any effluents that may be released offsite, 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 environmental 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 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
This action does not involve the use of any different resources
than those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement
for Quad Cities, dated September 1972.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
In accordance with its stated policy, on August 14, 2001, the staff
consulted with the Illinois State official, Frank Niziolek of the
Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, 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 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 letters dated September 29, 2000, as supplemented by letters
dated March 1, 2001, August 13, and August 27, 2001. Documents may be
examined, and/or copied for a fee, a 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 ADAMS Public Library component on
the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov (the Public Electronic Reading
Room). If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC PDR Reference
staff at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day of September 2001.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Anthony J. Mendiola,
Chief, Section 2, Project Directorate III, Division of Licensing
Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-23335 Filed 9-18-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P