ML053460114

Preliminary Results of Environmental Review Nine Mile Point Power Station, Units 1 and 2, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, November 17, 2005

ML053460114
Person / Time
Site:	Nine Mile Point
Issue date:	11/17/2005
From:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
To:	Rani Franovich NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/REBB
Fields, L C, NRR/DLR/REBB, 415-1186
References
TAC MC3274, TAC MC3275
Download: ML053460114 (34)

Text

Preliminary Results of Environmental Review Nine Mile Point Power Station, Units 1 and 2 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission November 17, 2005

Purpose of Todays Meeting 3/4 Discuss NRCs license renewal process 3/4 Describe the environmental review process 3/4 Discuss the results of our review 3/4 Provide the review schedule 3/4 Accept any comments you may have today 3/4 Describe how to submit comments 2

NRCs Regulatory Oversight 3/4 Atomic Energy Act 3/4 Issue operating licenses 3/4 Regulate civilian use of nuclear materials 3/4 NRCs Mission 3/4 Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 3

Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 License Renewal 3/4 Operating licenses expire 3/4 August 2009 for Unit 1 3/4 October 2026 for Unit 2 3/4 Application requests authorization to operate Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 for an additional 20 years.

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License Renewal Process Onsite Inspections Safety Review Application Independent Review Review License Renewal Application**

submitted to NRC NRC Decision Hearings*

On Application**

Environmental Review

• If a Request for Hearing is Granted

• • Available at www.nrc.gov 5

Scope of License Renewal Safety Review 3/4 Limited to Aging Management 3/4 Systems, structures and components important to safety 3/4 Determined by license renewal scoping criteria 3/4 Not on Ongoing Oversight of Current Issues 3/4 Security 3/4 Emergency Planning 3/4 Safety Performance 6

Safety Review Process 3/4 Safety Evaluation 3/4 Audits 3/4 Evaluation of technical information 3/4 Plant inspections 3/4 Independent Review 3/4 Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) 7

Safety Review Process Public Inspection Regional Onsite Exit Report(s) Administrator Inspection(s)

Meeting(s) Issued** Letter Issued Safety Advisory Review Committee on ACRS Reactor Safety Letter Issued**

(ACRS) nse Renewal Review pplication**

mitted to NRC Public Safety Evaluation Meeting(s) Safety Review -Tech. Issues Evaluation

-Audit Exit Report Issued**

Local Public NRC Decision Information Hearings* On Application**

Meeting pportunities for Public Interaction f a Request for Hearing is Granted vailable at www.nrc.gov 8

Environmental Review Process License Renewal Application**

Submitted to NRC NRC Decision on Hearings*

Application Local Public Site Information Environmental Meeting Audit Meeting/ Draft Meeting/ Final Environmental Comments Supplement Comments Supplement Review On Scoping To GEIS On Draft To GEIS Issued**

Issued**

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License Renewal Process Public Inspection Regional Onsite Exit Report(s) Administrator Inspection(s)

Meeting(s) Issued** Letter Issued Safety Advisory Review Committee on ACRS Reactor Safety Letter Issued**

(ACRS)

Review nse Renewal pplication**

mitted to NRC Public Safety Evaluation Meeting(s) Safety Review -Tech. Issues Evaluation

-Audit Exit Report Issued**

Local Public NRC Decision Information Hearings* On Application**

Meeting Site Environmental Audit Meeting/ Draft Meeting/ Final Environmental Comments Supplement Comments Supplement Review On Scoping To GEIS On Draft To GEIS Issued**

Issued**

pportunities for Public Interaction f a Request for Hearing is Granted 10 vailable at www.nrc.gov

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 3/4 NEPA requires Federal agencies to use a systematic approach to consider environmental impacts 3/4 An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required for major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.

3/4 Commission has determined that a supplement to the Generic EIS for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants" will be prepared for a license renewal application.

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Analysis Approach Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS)

Category 1 Issues Category 2 Issues GEIS: Impacts Same GEIS: Analyze Potential At All Sites Impacts At All Sites New Issue New and YES YES Perform Site- Validated Significant Specific Analysis New Issue?

Info?

NO NO Adopt the No Further GEIS Conclusion Analysis 12

Decision Standard for Environmental Review To determine whether or not the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 are so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decisionmakers would be unreasonable.

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Environmental Review Milestones Application Received May 27, 2004 Notice of Intent August 9, 2004 Scoping Public Meeting September 22, 2004 Scoping Period Ended November 8, 2004 Scoping Summary Report January 5, 2005 Draft SEIS September 29, 2005 Draft SEIS Public Meeting November 17, 2005 Draft SEIS Comments Due December 22, 2005 Final SEIS June 2006 14

Team Expertise Atmospheric Science Radiation Regulatory Protection Compliance Socioeconomics/ Terrestrial Environmental Justice Ecology Nuclear Safety Aquatic Land Use Ecology Archaeology/Historical Resources Hydrology 15

How Impacts are Quantified 3/4 NRC-defined impact levels:

3/4 SMALL: Effect is not detectable or too small to destabilize or noticeably alter any important attribute of the resource 3/4 MODERATE: Effect is sufficient to alter noticeably, but not destabilize important attributes of the resource 3/4 LARGE: Effect is clearly noticeable and sufficient to destabilize important attributes of the resource 3/4 Consistent with the Council on Environmental Quality guidance for NEPA analyses 16

Information Gathering License Renewal Application Staffs Public Site Audit Comments SEIS State & Local Social Agencies Services Permitting Authorities 17

Environmental Impacts of Continued Operation 3/4 Cooling System 3/4 Transmission Lines 3/4 Radiological 3/4 Socioeconomic 3/4 Groundwater Use and Quality 3/4 Threatened or Endangered Species 3/4 Accidents 18

Cooling System Impacts 3/4 Category 2 issues 3/4 Water Use Conflicts 3/4 Entrainment 3/4 Impingement 3/4 Heat Shock 3/4 Microbiological Organisms 3/4 Preliminary findings 3/4 Impacts are SMALL 3/4 No additional mitigation required 19

Radiological Impacts 3/4 Category 1 issues 3/4 Radiation exposures to the public 3/4 Occupational radiation exposures 3/4 Preliminary findings 3/4 No new and significant information identified 3/4 GEIS concluded impacts are SMALL 20

Threatened or Endangered Species Bald eagle 3/4Three terrestrial Federally listed species potentially in vicinity.

3/4U.S. Fish and Wildlife Piping Plover Service determined there is no need for a biological assessment. Indiana Bat 3/4IMPACTS ARE SMALL 21 Images: http://images.fws.gov, http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/indianabat/.

Cumulative Impacts of Operation 3/4 Considered impacts of renewal term operations combined with other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions 3/4 evaluated to end of 20-year renewal term 3/4 geographic boundaries dependent on resource 3/4 No significant cumulative impacts 22

Other Environmental Impacts Evaluated 3/4 Uranium Fuel Cycle and Solid Waste Management 3/4 Decommissioning 23

Alternatives 3/4 No-action 3/4 Alternative energy sources 3/4 New generation (Coal, Natural Gas, Nuclear) 3/4 Purchased electrical power 3/4 Other alternatives (Oil, Wind, Solar, Conservation) 3/4 Combination of alternatives 3/4 Environmental effects of alternatives in at least some impact categories reach MODERATE or LARGE significance 24

Preliminary Conclusions GEIS Conclusions on Category 1 issues adopted.

Impacts resulting from Category 2 issues are of SMALL significance.

No new impacts identified.

Environmental effects of alternatives may reach MODERATE or LARGE significance.

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Postulated Accidents 3/4 Design-basis accidents 3/4 Severe accidents 3/4 Severe accident mitigation alternatives (SAMAs) 26

SAMA Evaluation Process 3/4 Characterize overall plant risk 3/4 Identify potential improvements 3/4 Quantify risk reduction potential and implementation costs 3/4 Determine whether implementation of any of the improvements is required to support license renewal 27

Preliminary Results of SAMA Evaluation 3/4 220 candidate improvements considered for each unit.

3/4 Set of SAMAs reduced based on multi-step screening process (to 13 for Unit 1 and 20 for Unit 2) 3/4 Detailed cost/benefit analysis shows that several SAMAs would be potentially cost-beneficial at each unit (4 for Unit 1 and 11 for Unit 2).

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Preliminary Results of SAMA Evaluation 3/4 None of the potentially cost-beneficial SAMAs relate to managing the effects of aging.

Accordingly, none of the SAMAs are required to be implemented as part of license renewal 3/4 Notwithstanding this, the licensee has committed to further evaluate the potentially cost-beneficial SAMAs for possible implementation 3/4 Completion of the evaluations is being tracked in the licensee's plant change process 29

Preliminary Conclusions Impacts of license renewal are SMALL for all impact areas.

Impacts of alternatives may reach MODERATE to LARGE.

The staffs preliminary recommendation is that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2 are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decisionmakers would be unreasonable.

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Environmental Review Milestones 3/4 Draft SEIS issued - September 29, 2005 3/4 Comment period ends - December 22, 2005 3/4 Issuance of Final SEIS - June 2006 31

Additional Information 3/4 NRC contact: Leslie Fields (800) 368-5642, Ext. 1186 3/4 Documents located at Penfield Library State University of New York Oswego, NY 13126.

3/4 Draft SEIS can also be viewed at the NRCs Web site (www.nrc.gov) at: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement24/

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Submitting Comments 3/4 By mail: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch Division of Administrative Services Mailstop T-6D59 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington DC 20555 3/4 In person: 11545 Rockville Pike Rockville, Maryland 3/4 By e-mail: NineMilePointEIS@nrc.gov 33

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