ML20249C810
| ML20249C810 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | North Anna  |
| Issue date: | 06/24/1998 |
| From: | Kane W NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20249C811 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9807010226 | |
| Download: ML20249C810 (5) | |
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7590-01 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION DOCKETl2-16 VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY lSSUANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT REGARDING THE PROPOSED EXEMPTIONS FROM REQUIREMENTS OF 10 CFR PART 72 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission)!s considering issuance of an exemption from certain requirements of its regulations to Virginia Electric and
' Power Company (Virginia Power). The requested exemption would allow Virginia Power to submit the report of preoperational test acceptance criteria and test results at least 3 days (inst 6ad of 30 days) prior to the receipt of fuel at its independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) at the North Anna Power Station (Docket Nos. 50-338 and 50-339) in Louisa County, Virginia.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (EA)
Identification of Proposed Action: By letter dated June 12,1998, Virginia Power requested an exemption from the requirement in 10 CFR 72.82(e) which states that "A report of the preoperational test acceptance criteria and test results must be submitted... at least 30 days prior to the receipt of spent fuel or high level waste." Virginia Power proposed to submit this report 3 days prior to receipt of fuel at the ISFSI. Granting the exemption at this time would enable Virginia Power to proceed with activities to support its scheduled Unit 1 refueling outage.
Need for the Prooosed Action: Virginia Power's request is to ensure the availability of adequete storage space in the spent fuel pool to support its upcoming Unit i refueling outage which is scheduled to begin in September 1998. New fuel for the outage is scheduled to arrive onsite on July 21,1998. To load the new fuel into the spent fuel pool and still retain a single 9807010226 980624 I PDR ADOCK 05000338 Y
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l ' unit full core offload capacity in the spent fuel pool, Virginia Power plans to load its first spent fuel storage cask during the week of July 6,1998.
The purpose of the 30-day period, for the applicant to submit a report of the preoperational test acceptance criteria and test results, is to establish a sufficient hold point to ensure that the NRC has enough time to inspect a new licensee's preparation and, if necessary, exercise its regulatory authority before fuel is received at an ISFSI. For example, an ISFSI located at an away-from-reactor site may not have a resident inspector, therefore, the full 30-day period might be necessary to provide enough time for the NRC to review the licensee's records and preoperational test results and, if needed, send inspectors to the site. The North Anna ISFSI is located on a reactor site that has resident inspectors, and the resident and other NRC insrectors were present to observe portions of the preoperational test activities as they were being conducted. The NRC inspecturs will also have ongoing access to the applicant's tests procedures and results to allow the inspectors to conduct the appropriate review. Thus, in view of the NRC's oversight presence during the preoperational testing phase at North Anna, as well as NRC's immediate access to the applicant's test procedures and results, the Commission l
concludes that the entire 30 days provided for in the rule will not be needed for the NRC to complete its inspection activities and determine whether any further regulatory action is needed before spent fuel is received at the North Anna ISFSI. However, the NRC may determine that it requires more than the requested 3 days to review the test results. The NRC will consider the specific amount of time needed to review the North Anna preoperational test results in its final response to the request for exemption.
Environmentalimoacts of the Proposed Action: The Environmental Assessment (EA)for the license application for the North Anna ISFSI (62 FR 16202, April 4,1997) considered the l
potential environmental impacts of construction and operation of an ISFSI at the North Anna site, in the EA, the NRC concluded that storage of spent fuel at the North Anna ISFSI will not significantly affect the quality of the environment. The proposed actions now under
. consideration would not change the potential environmental effects assessed in the EA.
Specifically, there are no environmental impacts associated with the time frame for submitting the preoperational test acceptance criteria and test results. As previously discussed, the 30-day period is to provide the NRC sufficient opportunity to review the licensee's report. However, as NRC inspectors were on site during the applicant's preoperational tests, which were i
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conducted between June 8 and June 18,1998, the shorter 3-day period will provide the same, j
sufficient opportunity. In addition, the proposed exemption does not involve any changes that
' increase the probability or consequences of accidents, change the types of effluents that may be released offsite, or would significantly increase the allowable individual or cumulative r
occupational radiation expos,ure. Accordingly, the Commission concludes that this proposed exemption will have ne significant radiological or nonradiological environmental impacts.
l Altemative to the Proposed Action: Since there is ne significant environmental impact associated with the proposed action, any altematives with equal or greater environmental impact are not evaluated. The attemative to the proposed action would be to deny approval of a
i the exemption and, therefore, require the preoperational test acceptance criteria and test report to be submitted 30 days prior to receipt of spent fuel, rather than 3 days as proposed. This attemative would have nc significant environmentalimpacts as well. However, denial of the
- requested exemption could result in loss of full core offload capability. The licensee is not required to maintain a full core offload capability, however, it is an operationally advantageous capability.-
Aaencies and Persons Consulted: An official from the State of Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health was contacted about this EA for the proposed action and had no concems.
FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT The environmentalimpacts of the proposed action have been reviewed in accordance with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR Part 51. Based upon the foregoing EA, the Commission finds that the proposed action of granting an exemption from 10 CFR 72.82(e) so
. that Virginia Power may submit a preoperational test acceptance criteria and test report 3 days prior to receipt of spent fuel at the North Anna ISFSI will not significantly impact the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined not to prepare an environment &l impact statement for the proposed exemption.
This application was docketed under 10 CFR Part 72, Docket 72-16. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for an ISFSI license dated May 9,1995, and the request for exemption dated June 12,1998, which is available for public inspection at the
I Commission's Public Document Room,2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20555, and the Local Public Document Room at the University of Virginia, Alderman Library, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th ay of June 1998.
d FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ORIGINAL SIGNED BY /s/
William F. Kane, Director Spent Fuel Project Office Office of Nuclear Material Safety i
and Safeguards
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Virginia Electric & Power Company
'72-2 (60-280/281)
Surry Power Station 72-16 (50-338/339)
North Anna Power Station Units 1 & 2 cc:
Mr. J. Jeffrey Lunsford Robert B. Strobe, M.D., M.P.H.-
CountyAdministrator, State Health Commissioner l
. Louisa County Office of the Commissioner l
P.O. Box 160 Virginia Department of Health Louisa, Virginia 23093 P.O. Box 2448 Richmond, Virginia 23218 Michael W. Maupin, Esq.
Hunton and Williams Regional Administrator, l
Riverfront Plaza, East Tower Region 11 951 E. Byrd Street U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Richmond, Virginia 23219 Atlanta Federal Center 61 Forsyth St., SW, Suite 23T85 Dr. W. T. Lough -
Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Virginia State Corporation Commission W. R. Matthews, Manager Division of Energy Regulation North Anna Power Station P.O. Box 1197 P.O. Box 402 Richmond, Virginia 23209 Mineral, Virginia 23117 Old Dominion Electric J. P. O'Hanlon Cooperative Senior Vice President-Nuclear 4201 Dominion Boulevard Virginia Electric and Power Co.
Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 innsbrook Technical Center 5000 Dominion Boulevard J. H. McCarthy, Manager Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 Nuclear Licensing and Operations Support Mr. David Christian, Manager
- Virginia Electric and Power Company Suny Power Station Innsbrook Technical Center Virginia Electric and Power Company 5000 Dominion Boulevard 5570 Hog Island Road Glen Allen, Virginia 23060 Surry, Virginia 23883 Office of the Attorney General Chairman Commonwealth of Virginia Board of Supervisors 900 East Main Street of Surry County Richmond, Virginia 23219 Surry County Courthouse Surry, Virginia 23683 Senior Resident inspector North Anna Power Station Mr. R. C. Haag U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission U.S. Nuclear Regulato:y Commission 1024 Haley Drive Atlanta Federal Center Mineral, Virginia 23117 61 Forsyth St., SW, Suite 23T85 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Senior Resident inspector l
Surry Power Station l
. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 5850 Hog Island Road Suny, Virginia 23883 l