67612 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 222 / Thursday, November 18, 2004 / Notices 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–271] 

Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC 

and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; 

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 

Station Environmental Assessment 

and Finding of No Significant Impact 

Introduction 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is considering 

issuance of an exemption from 10 CFR 

Part 50.54(o) and 10 CFR Part 50, 

Appendix J, for Facility Operating 

License No. DPR–28, issued to Entergy 

Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC and 

Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. 

(Entergy or the licensee) for operation of 

the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 

Station (VYNPS), located in Vernon, 

Vermont. Therefore, as required by 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 exempt 

Entergy from requirements to include 

main steam isolation valve (MSIV) 

leakage in (a) the overall integrated 

leakage rate test measurement required 

by Section III.A of Appendix J, Option 

B, and (b) the sum of local leak rate test 

measurements required by Section III.B 

of Appendix J, Option B. 

The proposed action is in accordance 

with the licensee’s application dated 

July 31, 2003, as supplemented by 

letters dated October 10, November 7 (2 

letters), November 20, December 11 (2 

letters), and December 30, 2003, and 

February 10, February 18, February 25, 

March 17, May 12, and July 20, 2004, for 

exemption from certain requirements of 

10 CFR 50.54(o) and 10 CFR Part 50, 

Appendix J. 

The Need for the Proposed Action 

Section 50.54(o) of 10 CFR Part 50 

requires that primary reactor 

containments for water cooled power 

reactors be subject to the requirements 

of Appendix J to 10 CFR Part 50. 

Appendix J specifies the leakage test 

requirements, schedules, and 

acceptance criteria for tests of the leak 

tight integrity of the primary reactor 

containment and systems and 

components which penetrate the 

containment. Option B, Section III.A 

requires that the overall integrated leak 

rate must not exceed the allowable 

leakage (La) with margin, as specified in 

the Technical Specifications (TSs). The 

overall integrated leak rate, as specified 

in the 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix J 

definitions, includes the contribution 

from MSIV leakage. By letter dated July 

31, 2003, the licensee has requested an 

exemption from Option B, Section III.A, 

requirements to permit exclusion of 

MSIV leakage from the overall 

integrated leak rate test measurement. 

Option B, Section III.B of 10 CFR Part 

50, Appendix J requires that the sum of 

the leakage rates of Type B and Type C 

local leak rate tests be less than the 

performance criterion (La) with margin, 

as specified in the TSs. The licensee’s 

July 31, 2003, letter also requests an 

exemption from this requirement, to 

permit exclusion of the MSIV 

contribution to the sum of the Type B 

and Type C tests. 

The above-cited requirements of 

Appendix J require that MSIV leakage 

measurements be grouped with the 

leakage measurements of other 

containment penetrations when 

containment leakage tests are 

performed. These requirements are 

inconsistent with the design of the 

VYNPS and the analytical models used 

to calculate the radiological 

consequences of design basis accidents. 

At VYNPS, and similar facilities, the 

leakage from primary containment 

penetrations, under accident conditions, 

is collected and treated by the 

secondary containment system, or 

would bypass the secondary 

containment. However, the leakage from 

MSIVs is collected and treated via an 

Alternative Leakage Treatment (ALT) 

path having different mitigation 

characteristics. In performing accident 

analyses, it is appropriate to group 

various leakage effluents according to 

the treatment they receive before being 

released to the environment, i.e., bypass 

leakage is grouped, leakage into 

secondary containment is grouped, and 

ALT leakage is grouped, with specific 

limits for each group defined in the TSs. 

The proposed exemption would permit 

ALT path leakage to be independently 

grouped with its unique leakage limits. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The NRC has completed its safety 

evaluation of the proposed action and 

concludes that the calculated 

radiological consequences remain 

within the criteria of 10 CFR 50.67. The 

details of the staff’s safety evaluation 

will be provided in the exemption that 

will be issued as part of the letter to the 

licensee approving the exemption to the 

regulation. 

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. 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 historical sites. It does not affect 

non-radiological plant effluents and has 

no other environmental impact. 

Therefore, there are no significant nonradiological 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 

This action does not involve the use 

of any resources than those previously 

considered in the Final Environmental 

Statement dated July 1972 for VYNPS. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

On May 13, 2004, the NRC staff 

consulted with the Vermont State 

official, Mr. William K. Sherman of the 

Vermont Department of Public Service, 

regarding the environmental impact of 

the proposed action. The State official 

had no comments on the environmental 

impact of the proposed exemption, but 

provided comments on the associated 

Technical Specification changes 

discussed in the July 31, 2003, 

application. These comments will be 

addressed in the Safety Evaluation 

documenting the staff’s review of that 

proposed change. 

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 this 

action, see the licensee’s letter dated 

July 31, 2003, as supplemented by 

letters dated October 10, November 7 (2 

letters), November 20, December 11 (2 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 222 / Thursday, November 18, 2004 / Notices 67613

letters), and December 30, 2003, and 

February 10, February 18, February 25, 

March 17, May 12, and July 20, 2004. 

Documents may be examined, and/or 

copied for a fee, at the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR), located at One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike 

(first floor), Rockville, Maryland. 

Publically available records will be 

accessible electronically from the 

Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS) Public 

Electronic Reading Room on the NRC 

Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/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 pdr@nrc.gov.

(Note: Public access to ADAMS has 

been temporarily suspended so that 

security reviews of publicly available 

documents may be performed and 

potentially sensitive information 

removed. Please check the NRC Web 

site for updates on the resumption of 

ADAMS access.)

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day 

of November, 2004.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Richard B. Ennis, 

Senior Project Manager, VY Section, Project 

Directorate I, Division of Licensing Project 

Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 04–25588 Filed 11–17–04; 8:45 am] 

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 030–17845] 

Notice of Availability of Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact for License 

Amendment for Ponce School of 

Medicine’s Facility in Ponce, PR

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Orysia Masnyk Bailey, Materials 

Security & Industrial Branch, Division 

of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, 

Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone (404) 

562–4739, fax (404) 562–4955; or by email: omm@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

(NRC) is issuing a license amendment to 

the Ponce School of Medicine for 

Materials License No. 52–19547–01, to 

authorize release of its facility in Ponce, 

Puerto Rico for unrestricted use. NRC 

has prepared an Environmental 

Assessment (EA) in support of this 

action in accordance with the 

requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based 

on the EA, the NRC has concluded that 

a Finding of No Significant Impact 

(FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment 

will be issued following the publication 

of this Notice. 

II. EA Summary 

The purpose of the action is to 

authorize the release of the licensee’s 

Ponce, Puerto Rico facility for 

unrestricted use. The Ponce School of 

Medicine was authorized by the NRC 

from October 15, 1981 to use radioactive 

materials for research and development 

purposes at the site. On February 4, 

2003, the Ponce School of Medicine 

requested that the NRC release the 

facility for unrestricted use. The Ponce 

School of Medicine has conducted 

surveys of the facility and provided 

information to the NRC to demonstrate 

that the site meets the license 

termination criteria in subpart E of 10 

CFR part 20 for unrestricted release. 

The NRC staff has prepared an EA in 

support of the license amendment. The 

facility was remediated and surveyed 

prior to the licensee requesting the 

license amendment. The NRC staff has 

reviewed the information and final 

status survey submitted by the Ponce 

School of Medicine. Based on its 

reviews, the staff has determined that 

there are no additional remediation 

activities necessary to complete the 

proposed action. Therefore, the staff 

considered the impact of the residual 

radioactivity at the facility and 

concluded that since the residual 

radioactivity meets the requirements in 

subpart E of 10 CFR part 20, a Finding 

of No Significant Impact is appropriate. 

III. Finding of No Significant Impact 

The staff has prepared the EA 

(summarized above) in support of the 

license amendment to release the 

facility for unrestricted use. The NRC 

staff has evaluated the Ponce School of 

Medicine’s request and the results of the 

survey and has concluded that the 

completed action complies with the 

criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. 

The staff has found that the 

environmental impacts from the action 

are bounded by the impacts evaluated 

by NUREG–1496, Volumes 1–3, 

‘‘Generic Environmental Impact 

Statement in Support of Rulemaking on 

Radiological Criteria for License 

Termination of NRC-Licensed 

Facilities’’ (ML042310492, 

ML042320379, and ML042330385). On 

the basis of the EA, the NRC has 

concluded that the environmental 

impacts from the action are expected to 

be insignificant and has determined not 

to prepare an environmental impact 

statement for the action. 

IV. Further Information 

Documents related to this action, 

including the application for the license 

amendment and supporting 

documentation, are available 

electronically in the NRC’s Agencywide 

Document Access and Management 

System (ADAMS), which provides text 

and image files of NRC’s documents. 

The ADAMS accession numbers for the 

documents related to this Notice are: 

The Environmental Assessment 

(ML042720062), and Letter dated 

February 4, 2003 transmitting the Final 

Status Survey Report (ML030430358). 

On October 25, 2004, the NRC 

terminated public access to ADAMS and 

initiated an additional security review 

of publicly available documents to 

ensure that potentially sensitive 

information is removed from the 

ADAMS database accessible through the 

NRC’s web site. Interested members of 

the public may obtain copies of the 

referenced documents for review and/or 

copying by contacting the Public 

Document Room pending resumption of 

public access to ADAMS. The NRC 

Public Documents Room is located at 

NRC Headquarters in Rockville, MD, 

and can be contacted at (800) 397–4209, 

(301) 415–4737 or by e-mail at 

pdr@nrc.gov.

These documents may be viewed 

electronically at the NRC Public 

Document Room (PDR), O 1 F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852. The PDR 

reproduction contractor will copy 

documents for a fee. The PDR is open 

from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except on Federal 

holidays.

Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 

10th day of November, 2004.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

John D. Kinneman, 

Chief, Materials Security & Industrial Branch, 

Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region 

I.

[FR Doc. 04–25589 Filed 11–17–04; 8:45 am] 

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