ML17266A030
| ML17266A030 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saint Lucie  |
| Issue date: | 01/24/1979 |
| From: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML17206A645 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7902060032 | |
| Download: ML17266A030 (6) | |
Text
i~W ~ECIi(~
C
('L UNITEO STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COiIilhllSSION IVASHINGTON,O. C. 20555 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT APPRAISAL BY THE OFFICE OF NUCL'EAR'REACTOR REGULATION SUPPORTING AMENDMENT NO.
29 TO FACILITY OPERATING LICENSE NO.
DPR-67 FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY ST.
LUCIE PLANT UNIT NO.
1
'DOCKET HO. '50-335 Introduction By letters dated August 1, 1977, August 29, 1978 and September 29,
- 1978, Florida Power and Light Company (the licensee) requested amendments to the Appendix B Non-Radiological Environmental Technical Specifications (ETS) for St. Lucie Unit Ho. 1.
The proposed Technical Specifications involve organizational
- changes, changes in data collection and reporting, and a change in condenser sT limit.
Evaluation Or anizational Chan es The organizational changes requested by the licensee (letter dated August 1, 1977, as revised September 29, 1978) propose changes to ETS Section 5, "Administrative Controls".
These proposed changes reflect individual title changes and department name changes.
The functional requirements for management review and approval of environmental matters by the licensee would not be affected by the proposed changes.
We, therefore, have determined that the proposed organizational changes are acceptable.
Data Collection The licensee proposed changes to delete salinity monitoring requirements, to include centigrade temperature equivalents wherever farenheit appears, and to delete monitoring requirements in the ETS which are covered
'y the Safety Technical Specifications.
In addition, we have deleted Technical Specification requirements for fish impi~gement monitoring as those monitoring requirements have been adequately satisfied by the licensee.
Salinity monitoring requirements were to provide baseline information for the first year of operation, particularly to determine the initial release of copper from the condenser tubes.
That test period is now over and no significant releases of copper were found in the discharge water.
Therefore, salinity monitoring requirements may be deleted from the ETS.
Centigrade temperature equivalents are proposed to be included in the ETS in addition to farenheit wherever temperature requirements are specified.
This change is editorial only, involves no environmental change and is, therefore, acceptable.
Monitoring requirements for primary coolant activity are now included in the Safety Technical Specifications and may be deleted from the ETS because the monitoring is adequately covered and is more directly related to the safety of the plant and plant operations personnel than to the environment.
Fish impingement monitoring requirements are special temporary requirements that were established as part of the initial operating license.
Specification 4.2 requires monitoring of organisms impinged on the intake screens.
The data collected are to be analyzed monthly for the first year of operation and reports submitted for each month.
Our review (described below) of the impingement data collected during the first year of operation and the data collected in 1977, as submitted in the licensee s 1977 annual report, shows that the impingement monitoring requirement can be removed from the specification.
Although this deletion has not been requested by the licensee, we are initiating this change after reviewing the operating data which completes the requirements of the Technical Specifications.
Specification 4.2 requires that intake screen washings be examined for a consecutive 24-hour period, twice a week.
The organisms collected are to be analyzed for the species
- present, number, biomass and average size.
Plant startup occurred in May 1976.
The licensee has collected impingement data from April through June 1976.
From July to September 1976, the plant was shutdown so no samples were taken.
From September on, impingement monitoring has been conducted.
The licensee has submitted monthly'reports covering the first year of operation.
Impingement monitoring data collected during 1977 were submitted in the licensee's 1977 annual report.
The 1977 annual report contains an extensive summary of the impingement monitoring results and the projected impact of the impinged fish on the local fish populations.
The 1977 report indicates that impingement averaged 223 fish and 74 shellfish per 24-hour sample period.
The predominant fishes collected during 1.976 and 1977 were tomtate, anchovies and jacks.
The tomtate and anchovies are widespread and abundant in the plant vicinity but are not of sport or commercial importance.
Some species of jacks are of limited sport fishing potential.
- However, ihe number of jacks collected in 1977 decreased from 1976, only constituting about 5n of the total number of individuals collected in 1977.
The predominant shellfishes collected on the screens"were various shrimp
- species, blue crab, stone crab and spiny lobster.
All of these species are of sport and cormercial importance.
The shrimp comprised about 89$
of the number of shellfishes collected while the blue crab accounted for about 10%%u.
The extrapolated total impingement while the plant was on line in 1976 and 1977 was about 69,000 fishes in 1976 and 75,000 in 1977.
These numbers collected were a very insignificant part of the numbers of fishes in the site vicinity as indicated by the data from the farfield fish monitoring program for 1977.
The extrapolated total shrimp impinged while the plant was on line during 1977 was 22,110 individuals weighing approximately 100.lbs.
This number is a very small part of th'e number of shrimp commercially caught off Florida's East Coast (NOAA, 1977)*.
Me conclude that the licensee's monitoring program and summary report of impingement at the St. Lucie plant are acceptable and that the impingement monitoring requirement has been satisfied.
The results of the impingement monitoring program verify the NRC staff's prediction in the St. Lucie Unit No.
1 Final Environmental Statement (FES), that impingement would not be significant with respect to the environment.
On the basis of the foregoing evaluation, we have determined that there will be no environmental impact attributable to the deletion of fish im-pingement monitoring and therefore that the proposed change is acceptable.
- National Oceanographic 8 Atmospheric Administration, 1977.
- Landings, Annual Summary 1975.
NOAA Nat'1 Mar. Fish. Serv. Current Fish. Stat.
No.
6719.
11 pp.
Chan e in Condenser hT Limit By letter dated August 29, 1978, the licensee proposed to temporarily increase the condenser cooling water temperature rise from 240 to 260F.
According to the licensee, this temporary increase is needed to correct fouling and other problems with the circulating water system.
A time period of 18 months is requested by the licensee to make corrections.
We have reviewed the licensee's justification for making this change and have assessed the impact of increasing the condenser cooling water temperature rise by 20F on a temporary basis (18 months).
We have also considered the impact of granting the 20F rise on a permanent basis, since the licensee has indicated that they would not want to return to the original limit after the 18-month period expires.
Specification 2.1.2 limits the temperature rise across the condenser to 24 F.
This specification allows the hT to exceed 240F (but not 35oF) for 72 hours8.333333e-4 days <br />0.02 hours <br />1.190476e-4 weeks <br />2.7396e-5 months <br /> for circulating water system problems such as fouling and pump maintenance.
The NPDES permit does not contain a limit on the condenser cooling water temperature rise (hT).
The present ETS condenser hT limit is based upon information in the Environmental Report which indicates that the maximum hT at full power will be approximately 240F.
This zT was used for the environmental impact evaluation in the FES for St. Lucie.
.The licensee has found that during operation several factors can contribute to a AT above 24 F.
The discharge pipe has higher-than-anticipated marine fouling.
This fouling increases the water level in the canal leading to the tunnel.
The high water levels occasionally require throttling of the circulating water pumps to prevent overflow of the discharge canal.
The resulting reduction in water flow then leads to an increase in the bT.
Plant output must be reduced to avoid exceeding the limit.
The plugging of various condenser tubes may also create an increase in hT.
Plugging may occur naturally by the accumulation of marine bivalve shells which accumulate in the header box of the condenser.
Occasionally, certain tubes are deliberately plugged when it is determined that they are leaking salt water into the secondary water system.
In addition to these specific problems, the licensee has found that the 240F limit is not representative of actual conditions as it is a design value which provides no margin to allow for a normal amount of fouling, tube plugging or measurement inaccuracies.
The 2
F increase in condenser temperature rise could have an effect on organisms passing through the station cooling water system.and on organisms residing in or passing through the thermal plume.
The 2 F increase will not.increase the total heat output to the environment as the plant authorized power level has not been changed.
The total heat rejected to the condenser cooling water is determined by the combination of the LT and the amount of water flowing through the condenser.
The 2 F increase in hT is directly related to a reduction in cooling water flow.
The reduction in cooling water flow through the plant is caused by fouling in the condenser and in the discharge pipe.
The St. Lucie Unit No.
1 FES conservatively assumed that all entrained organisms would be killed.
The impact of the entrainment of phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish eggs and larvae was not predicted to be significant.
Preliminary data collected before plant operation indicated that the numbers of entrained organisms would be small.
Comprehensive marine studies conducted by the licensee during 1976 and 1977 have not detected significant impacts to the important species in the site vicinity.
In
- general, low concentrations of fish eggs and larvae were recorded in the intake canal thereby confirming the FES prediction that small numbers would be entrained.
As discussed
- above, the increase in bT will permit less water to be drawn into the plant, and thereby fewer organisms exposed to the higher AT.
The 20F hT increase will result in higher temperatures in the discharge plume area.
However, the St. Lucie Plant uses a high velocity discharge diffuser which rapidly mixes the heated water, resulting in little temperature rise at the surface.
Fi'sh and other motile organisms cannot reside in the high velocity portion of the thermal discharge and thereby avoid the hottest part of the plume.
The operational monitoring program did not detect significant concentrations of fish near the outfall and no effects of the offshore thermal plume on the movement of migratory species were found.
Higher temperatures in the plume are, therefore, not predicted to significantly affect organisms in the discharge vicinity.
We conclude, on the basis of our review of the environmental monitoring data and the predictions contained in the FES for the St. Lucie Unit No. 1, that increasing the hT by 2 F on a permanent basis will not have a
'ignificant environmental impact.
Therefore, we have appropriately modified the Technical Specifications.
Conclusion and Basis for Ne ative Declaration On the basis of the foregoing evaluation, it is concluded that there will be no significant environmental impact attr butable to the proposed changes other than has already been predicted and described in the Comnission's
FES for St. Lucie Unit Ho. 1.
On this basis, and in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51.5(c),
the Commission concIudes that no environmenta1 impact statement for the proposed changes need be prepared and a negative decIaration to this effect is appropriate.
Dated; January 24, 1979