[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 198 (Friday, October 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63458-63459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25991]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket 72-17]
Portland General Electric Company; Issuance of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Regarding the Proposed
Amendment to Materials License No. SNM-2509
The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is
considering issuance of an amendment, pursuant to 10 CFR 72.56, to
Special Nuclear Material License No. 2509 (SNM-2509) held by Portland
General Electric Company (PGE) for the Trojan independent spent fuel
storage installation (ISFSI). The requested amendment would revise the
ISFSI license (SNM-2509) and the Technical Specifications (TS) of SNM-
2509 to specifically permit the use of portions of the Holtec
International dry storage cask system to store spent fuel at the Trojan
ISFSI.
Environmental Assessment (EA)
Identification of Proposed Action: By letter dated October 26,
2001, as supplemented, PGE requested an amendment to revise the license
(SNM-2509) and the TS of SNM-2509 for the Trojan ISFSI. The changes
would specifically permit the use of the Holtec International Multi-
Purpose Canister (MPC) to store spent fuel. The Holtec International
MPC is proposed to be compatible, with minor modification, to the pre-
existing TranStor concrete cask design at the Trojan ISFSI currently
designed for use with the TranStor pressurized water reactor fuel (PWR)
basket. This amendment requests the TranStor PWR basket design be
supplanted with the Holtec International MPC design. No changes to the
specifications for the fuel to be stored at the Trojan ISFSI were
requested.
Need for the Proposed Action: The proposed action is necessary to
allow for storage of spent fuel in dry casks. PGE was licensed to use
the TranStor Storage System for SNF comprised of the concrete cask and
PWR basket. The PWR basket design was subsequently determined to be
unusable. Without this amendment PGE will be unable to load spent
nuclear fuel (SNF) at the Trojan site. If unable to store SNF, PGE will
not be able to continue decommissioning of the Trojan site unless an
alternative means for storing SNF is found.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: In 1999 the NRC
issued a license to PGE to construct and operate the Trojan ISFSI.
Prior to this action the NRC examined the environmental impacts of
constructing and operating the Trojan ISFSI and issued an environmental
assessment and finding of no significant impact. See 61 FR 64378,
December 4, 1996. The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed
action and concludes that granting the request for amendment to allow
the storage of spent fuel assemblies using the TranStor concrete cask
and Holtec International MPC, will not increase the probability or
consequence of accidents beyond that bounded by previous analysis. No
changes are being made in the types of any effluents that may be
released offsite. With regard to radiological impacts, the change from
the TranStor PWR basket design to the Holtec International MPC design
will yield an increase in neutron and gamma dose rates at the cask
surface. However, the dose rates remain below regulatory limits for
occupational exposures and public radiation exposures. Moreover, the
dose rates comply with the applicable regulatory criteria specified in
10 CFR part 20, and 10 CFR 72.104 and 72.106. As a result, there are no
significant radiological environmental impacts associated with the
proposed action.
The amendment only affects the requirements associated with the
design of the fuel basket and does not affect non-radiological plant
effluents or any other aspects of the environment. Therefore, there are
no significant non-radiological environmental impacts associated with
the proposed action.
Accordingly, the Commission concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Alternative to the Proposed Action: The alternative to the proposed
action would be to deny the request for amendment (i.e., the ``no-
action'' alternative). Denial of the proposed action would result in
PGE continuing to store SNF in the Trojan spent fuel storage pool.
Without dry cask storage, PGE would be unable to continue with
decommissioning of the Trojan site. The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant has
been permanently shut down. Delaying decommissioning of the Trojan site
and maintaining the SNF in the spent fuel storage pool could
potentially lead to greater occupational exposure than dry cask storage
due to the proximity of workers to the fuel. The environmental impacts
of the alternative action could be greater than the proposed action.
Given that the alternative action of denying the approval for
amendment has no lesser environmental impacts associated with it, and
considering that the proposed action would result in storage of fuel at
the Trojan ISFSI, which has already been approved under a site specific
license, the Commission concludes that the preferred alternative is to
grant this amendment.
Agencies and Persons Consulted: On September 17, 2002, Mr. Adam
Bless of the Oregon Office of Energy, Energy Resources Division, was
contacted regarding the proposed action and had no concerns.
Finding Of No Significant Impact
The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed
in accordance with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR part 51. Based
upon the foregoing Environmental Assessment, the Commission finds that
the proposed action of granting an amendment to permit the use of the
Holtec International MPC and the TranStor concrete cask to store SNF at
the Trojan ISFSI will not significantly impact the quality of the human
environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined not to prepare
an environmental impact statement for the proposed amendment.
For further details with respect to this amendment, see the
application dated October 26, 2001, which is available for public
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, One White Flint
North Building, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD or from the
publically available records component of NRC's Agencywide Documents
[[Page 63459]]
Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession No. ML013060075.
The NRC maintains ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's
public documents. These documents may be accessed through the NRC's
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there
are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the
NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1 (800) 397-4209,
(301) 415-4737 or by email to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 4th day of October, 2002.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
E. William Brach,
Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-25991 Filed 10-10-02; 8:45 am]
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