ML20137V156
| ML20137V156 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07002948 |
| Issue date: | 11/04/1985 |
| From: | Crow W, Horn M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML18041A122 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8512090481 | |
| Download: ML20137V156 (3) | |
Text
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egr m;r w cy m~mqy ILOV 48 DOCKET NO: 70-2948 LICENSEE: Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation Long Island Lighting Conpany hew York State Electric and Gas Corporation Rochester Gas and Electric FACILITY: Nine Nile Point Nuclear Station, Unit 2
SUBJECT:
ENVIRONf' ENTAL ASSESSPIENT - LICENSE APPLICATION TO RECEIVE NE K' FUEL Backoround By letter dated June 12, 1985, and as amended Septerter 27, 1985, Niagara Mohawk, acting on its own behalf and as agent for the above co-owners, applied for an NRC license to permit the receipt, possession, inspection, and storage of special nuclear materials contained in unirradiated nuc1 car fuel assetblies.
The raterials are for eventual use in the Nine Mile Point Nuc1 car Station, Unit 2. In accordance with 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC has prepared this assessrent of environrental irpacts that way be caused by issuing the requested license.
The Proposed Action The proposed action is issuance of a special nuclear materials license pursuant to 10 CFR 70 that will authorize the applicant to receive, possess, inspect, and store 800 fresh fuel asserblies for eventual use in the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station. The license would be effective until it can be superseded by Niagara Mohawk's operating license for Unit 2 under 10 CFR 50. The fuel assentlies contain uranium dioxide (U0,) pellets that have a maxinum uraniun-235 enrichrtent of 3.05 percent by weight ahd are encapsulated in zircaloy tubing.
Issuance of the license would result in receipt, possession, inspection, and
- storage of the unirradiated fuel at Nine Hile Point. The transport of new fuel to Nine Mile Point will'be the responsibility of the fuel fabricator.
Q However, the license would authorize the applicant to transport or deliver to a carrier for transport the assentlies in approved packages if this should o becorte necessary (e.g., to return fuel to the rnanufacturer). In addition,
@ authorization to use sealed sources in monitoring devices, which is currently CO authorized by an existing license, would also be incorporated into the Unit 2 g license.
TO Q Need for the Proposed Action 8 The applicant proposes to receive and store fresh fuel prior to issuance of Oku the Part :i0 operating license in order to inspect the assecblies and to finalize fuel preparation (e.g., add necessary hardware) needed to load the fuel into the reactor core vessel . Actual core loading, however, will not be
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cmcr > "" starJe will help avoid delays """""""""'in Nine Hile Point's startup once i ts operating "2"^"'> ....TffeHse"i sTs6Uif""""
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Alternatives to the Proposed Action and Their Environcental Igacts Alternatives to the proposed action include coglete denial of Niagara Mohawk's application. Assuming the operating license will eventually be issued, denial of the storage only license now would rerely postpone the new fuel receipt.
Such action, as well as any other altemative that can be imagined, would not present an environnental advantage because, as discussed below, no environtental inacts are expected to result from the proposed action.
Environrental Impacts of the Proposed Action A Final Environnental Statemnt (FES) related to the full-scale operation of the Ning title Point Nuclear Station has already been prepared and issued by the NRC . Based on the evaluation in this statement, the environmntal igacts of plant operation, subject to proposed conditions for environnental protection, are expected to be small . Plant operations will eventually include the storage and handling of irradiated fuel which is significantly more hazardous than unirradiated fuel . Therefore, the environtental inact from handling unirradi-ated fuel is expected to be very minor.
Once at Nine Mile Point, the new fuel will be received in the fuel receiving area and stored tenorarily prior to being removed from the shipping containers.
The fuel may also be stored within its shipping container on the refueling floor or in its shipping crate in the fuel receiving area. Scear surveys will be perforced on the transport vehicle and on the new fuel shipping crates.
The new fuel will then be recoved from its shippping container, surveyed for external contamination, inspected, and transported to a storage location.
Only a small amount, if any, of radioactive waste rey be generated during this handling (e.g., srear papers or contaminated package raterial) and any waste that is produced will be properly stored onsite until it can be shipped to a licensed disposal facility. The fuel will be stored in the New Fuel Storage Vault or the Spent Fuel Storage Pool . Administrative controls contined with the design of these storage locations will ensure acceptable protect'on of the fuel asserblies fron excessive physical darage under nornal or abnorml condi tions .
In the event the applicant rust return assecblies to the fuel manufacturer, all packaging and transport of fuel will be in accordance with 10 CFR 71. The package will reet NRC approval requiremnts for norml conditions of transport and hypothetical accident conditions. No significant external radiation hazards are associated with the unirradiated assentlies because the radiation level from the fuel is low (the exposure rate at 1 foot from the surface is normally less than 1 mr/hr) and because the shipping packages cust teet the external radiation standards in 10 CFR 71. Therefore, any shiprent of unirradi-ated fuel by the applicant is expected to have an insignificant environnental igact.
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N0y 4 1985 In the unlikely event that an assedly (either within or outside its shipping container) is dropped during transfer, the fuel cladding is not expected to rupture. Even if the fuel rod cladding were breached and the pellets were released, an insignificant environrental inact would result. The fuel pellets are corposed of a ceramic UOp that has been pelletized and sintered to a very high density. In this form, the generation of U0p aerosol is unlikely except under conditions of deliberate grinding. A5ditionally,U0 is soluble only in acid solution so dissolution and miease to the environ rent is extrerely unlikely.
All fuel handling activities will be in accordance with approved procedures to assure nuclear criticality and radiation safety. Fuel assed11es am handled individually, not disasse21ed into single fuel rods, and are stored as full asserblies. No single assedly can be made critical independent of the degree of water rederation and/or reflection. Safety of the stored asse211es is assured by several engineered safeguards (see the Safety Evaluation Report supporting this license). Moreover, the fuel asseslies am norra11y stored dry and under these conditions, cannot be rede critical (< 5.0 percent U-235 enrichtent) independent of the nuser of asseslies and spacing between them. Therefore, the proposed fuel handling and storage activities are critically safe and no environrental inpacts from an accidental criticality are expected.
Conclusion Based upon the inforretion presented above, the ervironnental inpacts associated with new fuel storage at Hine Mile Point Nuclear Station are expected tc be insignificant. Essentially no effluents will be released and acceptable controls will be ireplecented to prevent a radiological accident. Therefore, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.31, a Finding of No Significant Inpact is considered appropriate for this action.
1 Original Signed By-Morri Horn Herri Horn Uranium Process Licensing Section Uranium Fuel Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Cycle and g signed.BY.A Material Safety,NHSS g
w.2. Crow Approved by:
F. T. Crow, Section Leader
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