ML053320468

Preliminary Results of Environmental Review Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, October 18, 2005

ML053320468
Person / Time
Site:	Brunswick
Issue date:	10/18/2005
From:	Rani Franovich NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/REBB
To:	Guerrero C NRC/NRR/ADRO/DLR/REBB
Guerrero, C, NRR/DLR/REBB, 415-2981
References
TAC MC4641, TAC MC4642
Download: ML053320468 (32)

Text

Preliminary Results of Environmental Review Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2 Nuclear Regulatory Commission October 18, 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

Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 and 2 License Renewal 3/4 Operating licenses expire in 2016 and 2014, respectively 3/4 Application requests authorization to operate the plant (Units 1 and 2) for an additional 20 years 3

NRCs License Renewal Review 3/4 Safety review 3/4 Safety evaluation 3/4 Plant inspections 3/4 Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) 3/4 Environmental review 4

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

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 Safeguards Letter Issued**

(ACRS)

Review License Renewal Application**

submitted 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 Opportunities for Public Interaction

• If a Request for Hearing is Granted

• • Available at www.nrc.gov 6

Environmental Review Process NRC Decision Hearings*

Local On Application**

License Renewal Public Application**

Information submitted to NRC Meeting Draft Meeting/

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

Issued**

Site Environmental Opportunities for Public Interaction Audit

• If a Request for Hearing is Granted

• • Available at www.nrc.gov 7

National Environmental Policy Act 3/4 NEPA requires Federal agencies to use a systematic approach to consider environmental impacts 3/4 Commission has determined that an environmental impact statement (EIS) will be prepared for a license renewal action 8

Decision Standard for Environmental Review To determine whether or not the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, 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 License Renewal Process Application Notice of Intent Submitted January 12, 2005 October 18, 2004 Environmental Review Requests for Additional Scoping Site Audit Information (RAIs)

Process January 2005 February 24, 2005 Final Draft Supplement Supplement to Formal to the GEIS Public the GEIS August 2005 April 2006 Participation 10

Team Expertise Atmospheric Science Radiation Regulatory Protection Compliance Socioeconomics/ Terrestrial Environmental Justice Ecology Nuclear Safety Aquatic Land Use Ecology Archaeology/Historical Resources Hydrology 11

Analysis Approach Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS)

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

Info?

NO NO Adopt the No Further GEIS Conclusion Analysis 12

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 13

Information Gathering License Renewal Application Staffs Public Site Audit Comments SEIS State & Local Social Agencies Services Permitting Authorities 14

Environmental Impacts of Operation 3/4 Cooling System 3/4 Transmission Lines 3/4 Radiological 3/4 Threatened or Endangered Species 3/4 Cumulative Impacts 3/4 Severe Accidents 15

Cooling System Impacts 3/4Category 2 Issues 3/4Entrainment of Fish and Shellfish in Early Life Stages 3/4Impingement of Fish and Shellfish 3/4Heat Shock 3/4Preliminary findings 3/4Impacts are SMALL 3/4No additional mitigation required 16

Transmission Lines 3/4Category 2 issues 3/4Electromagnetic fields, acute effects (electric shock) 3/4Issue not categorized 3/4Electromagnetic fields, chronic effects 3/4Preliminary findings 3/4Impacts are SMALL 3/4No additional mitigation required 17

Radiological Impacts of Normal Operations 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 18

Threatened or Endangered Species 3/4Sixteen terrestrial and Bald eagle Leatherback turtle fourteen aquatic Federally listed species potentially in vicinity 3/4Informal Consultation with FWS and NOAA Fisheries initiated Piping Plover 3/4IMPACTS ARE SMALL Short-nosed sturgeon Humpback whale 19 (http://images.fws (http://images.fws..gov) gov)

Potential New and Significant Information 3/4 No new and significant information identified:

3/4 during scoping 3/4 by the licensee 3/4 by the NRC staff 20

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 21

Other Environmental Impacts Evaluated 3/4 Uranium Fuel Cycle and Solid Waste Management 3/4 Decommissioning 22

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 (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 23

Postulated Accidents 3/4 Design-basis accidents 3/4 Severe accidents 3/4 Severe accident mitigation alternatives (SAMAs) 24

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 25

Preliminary Results of SAMA Evaluation 3/4 43 potential SAMA candidate improvements considered for Brunswick Unit 1 and 2 3/4 Set of SAMAs reduced to 27 based on multi-step screening process 3/4 Detailed cost/benefit analysis shows that 15 of these SAMAs could be cost beneficial (7 from baseline analysis; 8 additional from uncertainty analysis) 26

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, CP&L has committed to further evaluate the potentially cost-beneficial SAMAs for possible implementation, with a focus on:

3/4 SAMA 1 - Portable generator to supply DC power during a station blackout event, and 3/4 Those SAMAs that remain cost-beneficial if SAMA 1 were implemented 3/4 Completion of the evaluations is being tracked in the BSEP action tracking system 27

Preliminary Conclusions 3/4 Impacts of license renewal are SMALL for all impact areas.

3/4 Impacts of alternatives range from SMALL to LARGE.

3/4 The staffs preliminary recommendation is that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, 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 EIS issued - August 30, 2005 3/4 Comment period ends December 2, 2005 3/4 Issuance of Final EIS - April 2006 29

Point of Contact and Reference Documents 3/4 Agency points of contact: Richard L. Emch, Jr.,

(800) 368-5642, ext. 1590 3/4 Documents are located at the William Madison Randall Library, 601S. College Rd., Wilmington, North Carolina 3/4 The SEIS can also be viewed at the NRCs Web site (www.nrc.gov) at: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement25/

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Submitting Comments 3/4 By mail: Chief, Rules Review and Directives Branch U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Mailstop T-6D59 Washington, DC 20555-0001 3/4 In person: 11545 Rockville Pike Rockville, Maryland 3/4 E-mail: BrunswickEIS@nrc.gov 31