[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59824-59825]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-26279]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-440]
Firstenergy Corporation, Perry Nuclear Power Plant; Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
issuance of a one-time schedular exemption from Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 50, Section 50.71(e)(4) for Facility
Operating License No. NPF-58, issued to FirstEnergy Corporation (the
licensee), for operation of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, located in
Lake County, Ohio. Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is
issuing this environmental assessment and finding of no significant
impact.
Environmental Assessment
Identification of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would allow the licensee to extend the time for
submitting the periodic update to the Final Safety Analysis Report
(FSAR) by 120 days from September 10, 2003, to January 8, 2004.
Specifically, 10 CFR part 50.71(e)(4) requires that licensees provide
the NRC with updates to the FSAR annually or 6 months after each
refueling outage provided the interval between successive updates does
not exceed 24 months. The revisions must reflect changes up to 6 months
prior to the date of filing. This regulation would require the
submittal of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant (PNPP) FSAR update by
September 10, 2003.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's
application for exemption dated August 8, 2003.
The Need for the Proposed Action
While preparing the scheduled submittal, a computer failure
occurred affecting the PNPP electronic data management system which
resulted in the loss of over 11,000 electronic documents. Updates to
the FSAR that were being prepared were among the documents lost. Due to
the need to reconstruct the updated FSAR information that was lost,
additional time is needed to complete the submittal. The requirement to
reflect changes up to 6 months prior to the date of filing would still
apply. The exemption is requested to allow adequate time to complete
the submittal.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and
concludes that the exemption is administrative and would not affect any
plant equipment, operation, or procedures. The FSAR contains the
analysis, assumptions, and technical details of the facility design and
operating parameters. Until the FSAR is updated, the recent changes are
documented in the licensee's written evaluations of changes prepared
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.59, and in the Commission's Safety Evaluations
for actions requiring prior approval. A delay in submitting the FSAR
update will not change the plant design or the manner in which it is
operated.
The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability
or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types of
effluents that may be released off site, and there is no significant
increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there
are no significant radiological environmental impacts associated with
the proposed action.
With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. It does
not affect nonradiological plant effluents and has no other
environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant
nonradiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action.
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative).
Denial of the application would result in no change in current
environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action
and the alternative action are similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
The action does not involve the use of any different resource than
those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for
Perry Nuclear Power Plant, dated April 1974.
[[Page 59825]]
Agencies and Persons Consulted
On September 26, 2003, the staff consulted with the Ohio State
official, Carol O'Claire of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency,
regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The State
official had no comments.
Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes
that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the
quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined
not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed
action.
For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the
licensee's letter dated August 8, 2003. Documents may be examined, and/
or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located
at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be
accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the
Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by
e-mail to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of September.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
L. Raghavan,
Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate III-1, Division of Licensing
Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 03-26279 Filed 10-16-03; 8:45 am]
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