ML20151B659
| ML20151B659 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07003055 |
| Issue date: | 05/26/1988 |
| From: | Horn M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20151B579 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8807210060 | |
| Download: ML20151B659 (4) | |
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, i MAY ! 6 1988 IMUF:MLH I 1 '
DOCKET N0: 70-3055 APPLICANTS: Georgia Power Company I Oglethorpe Power Corporation Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia City of Dalten, Georgia 4
FACILITY: Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Unit 2 l Burke County, Georgia 1 1
SUBJECT:
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT-LICENSE APPLICATION l TO RECEIVE NEW FUEL l Background l l
By letter dated January 22, 1988, Georgia Power Company (GPC), acting on its I own behalf and as agent for the above, applied for an NRC license to permit the receipt, possession, and storage of special nuclear material in the form of unirradiated nuclear fuel assemblies. In addition, GPC, as part of the license application, seeks authorization to receive, possess, store, and use fission chambers containing enriched U-235. All materials are for eventual use in Vogtle, Unit 2. In accordance with 10 CFR Part 51.21, the NRC has prepared this assessment of the environmental impacts that may be caused by issuance of the requested license. Because of the' form and small amount i (gram quantities) of nuclear materials contained in the fission chambers, l storage and use of these matec s will pose no threat to the environment.
Therefore, the discussion belc_ will be limited to assessing the potential for environmental impacts resulting from the storage of new fuel assembles at Vogtle, Unit 2.
The Proposed Action The proposed action is issuance of a special nuclear materials license pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70 that will authorize GPC to receive, possess, inspect, and store 193 new fuel assemblies at Vogtle, Unit 2. The license would be effective until it can be superseded by GPC's operating license under 10 CFR Part 50. The l fuel assemblies contain uranium dioxide (U0 3) pellets that have a maximum uranium-235 enrichment of 3.15 percent by weigh +. an8 are encapsulated in zircaloy tubing.
Issuance of the license would result in the receipt, possession, inspection, l and storage of the unirradiated fuel assemblies at Vogtle, Unit 2. The transport of new fuel to Vogtle will be the responsibility of the fuel fabricator.
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...o Georgia Power Company, EA 2 MAY 2 6 1968 Need for the Proposed Action GPC proposes to receive and store fresh fuel prior to issuance of the'Part 50 operating license in order to inspect the assemblies 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 authorized by the proposed license. Early completion of this fuel handling will help avoid delays in the Vogtle, Unit 2, startup once its operating license.is issued.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action Alternatives to the proposed action include complete denial of GPC's application.
Assuming the operating license for the facility will eventually be issued, denial of the storage only license now would merely postpone new fuel receipt at Vogtle, Unit 2. Such action, as well as any other alternative that could be imagined, would not present an environmental advantage because, as discussed below, no environmental impacts are expected from the proposed action.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action A final Environmental Statement (NUREG-1087) associated with the full-scale operation of Vogtle, Units 1 and 2, has already been issued by the NRC. Based on the evaluation in this statement, the environmental impacts of plant operation are expected to be small. New fuel receipt and storage is only a small part of Vogtle, Unit 2's overall operation that will eventually include the handling and storage of irradiated fuel which is significantly more hazardous. Accordingiv, the environmental impacts resulting from the handling and storage of new fuel are expected to be very minor.
Once at Vogtle, Unit 2, the new fuel may be temporarily stored in its shipping containers prior to placement in the designated storage locations: the new fuel storage racks and the spent fuel storage racks located in the fuel handling building. No more than 40 loaded shipping containers may be temporarily stored at one time in the receiving area of the auxiliary building. This temporary storage of assemblies in their shipping containers will present no significant environmental impact or significant radiation exposure to plant workers.
Assemblies are then removed from their shipping containers, inspected, and surveyed for external contamination. The fuel is then transferred to its designated location. Criticality safety in the storage locations is maintained by limiting interaction between adjacent fuel assemblies. The staff has evaluated the new fuel area and the spent fuel pool and found both to be critically safe for all conditions of water moderation and/or reflection. The design of these storage locations combined with plant procedures will ensure acceptable protection of the general public and plant personnel either under normal or abnormal conditions.
Georgia Power Company, EA 3 MAY 26 m j
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Since the fresh fuel assemblies are sealed sources, the principal exposure pathway to an individual is via external radiation. For a low-enriched uranium fuel bundle (<4 percent U-235 enrichment), the exposure rate at-1 foot from the surface is normally less than 1 mr/hr; therefore, it is estimated tnat the exposure level to workers handling the fuel would be less than 25 percent of the maximum permissible exposure specified in 10 CFR Part 20. Because of the low radiation exposure levels associated with the requested materials and activities and GPC's radiation protection procedures, the staff concluded that fuel handling and storage activities can be carried out without any significant occupational dose to workers or radiological impact to the environment.
Only a small amount, if any, of radioactive waste (e.g. , smear papers and/or contaminated packing material) is expected to be generated during fuel handling and storage operations. Any waste that is produced will be properly stored onsite until it can be shipped to a licensed disposal facility.
In the event that assemblies must be returned to the fuel fabricator, all packaging and transport of fuel will be in accordance with 10 CFR Part 71. The package used for transport of the assemblies meets NRC approval requirements for normal conditions of transport and hypothetical accident conditions. No significant external radiation hazards are associated with the unirradiated assemblies because the radiation level from the clad fuel pellets is low and because the shipping packages must meet the external radiation standards in 10 CFR Part 71. Therefore, any shipment of unirradiated fuel is expected to have an insignificant environmental impact.
GPC has installed redundant engineered-safety features on equipment intended for use in fuel handling and storage operations. These safety features combined with administrative controls minimize the likelihood of an accident situation occurring during fuel handling activities. In addition, GPC has analyzed the possible consequences that may result from various postulated accidents, the worst being an assembly (either within or outside its shipping container) dropped during transfer. The fuel cladding is not expected to rupture. Even if the cladding were breached and the pellets were released, an insignificant environmental impact would result. The fuel pellets are composed of a ceramic U0, that has been. pelletized and sintered to a very high density. In this form, reTease of U0 p aerosol is highly unlikely except under conditions of deliberate grinding. Adaitionally, UO 2 is soluble only in acid solution so dissolution and release to the environment are extremely unlikely.
Conclusion Based upon the information presented above, the environmenta's impacts associated with new fuel storage at Vogtle, Unit 2, are expected to be insignificant.
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Georgia Power Company, EA 4 MAY ! 6 -1988 Essentially no effluents, liquid or airborne, will be released, and acceptable-controls will be implemented to prevent a radiological accident. Therefore, the staff concludes.that there will be no significant impacts associated with the proposed action, kisinalSigned %
Merri Horn Uranium Fuel Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NHSS Approved By: 8 28181snedMr Jerry J. Swift, Section Leader t
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DATE: 5/11/88 5/u/88 5/%/88 5/A /88 0FFICIAL RECORD COPY w_____-_-____________-_______--_____- -