71082 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 235 / Wednesday, December 8, 2004 / Notices 

1Public 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.

operation of the Peach Bottom Unit 1 

high-temperature gas reactor, the 

Shippingport light water breeder 

reactor, and various Training, Research, 

and Isotope reactors built by General 

Atomics (TRIGA reactors). The ISF 

Facility is designed for the repackaging 

of specific quantities of this spent 

nuclear fuel, currently stored by the 

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at the 

INEEL, into new storage canisters, 

followed by its placement into an 

interim dry storage vault, in preparation 

for eventual shipment to a high-level 

waste geologic repository. The ISF 

Facility represents one element of a 

Settlement Agreement, dated October 

17, 1995, among the DOE, the U.S. 

Navy, and the State of Idaho, regarding 

waste removal and environmental 

cleanup at the INEEL. 

Following receipt of FWENC’s 

application dated November 19, 2001, 

the NRC staff published a ‘‘Notice of 

Docketing, Notice of Consideration of 

Issuance, and Notice of Opportunity for 

a Hearing for a Materials License for the 

Idaho Spent Fuel Facility’’ in the 

Federal Register on June 27, 2002 (67 

FR 43358). In conjunction with the 

issuance of this license, the staff 

published a final environmental impact 

statement (FEIS), ‘‘Environmental 

Impact Statement for the Proposed 

Idaho Spent Fuel Facility at the Idaho 

National Engineering and 

Environmental Laboratory in Butte 

County, Idaho,’’ (NUREG–1773, Final 

Report, January 2004). A Notice of 

Availability of the FEIS was published 

in the Federal Register on February 27, 

2004 (69 FR 9387). The staff has 

determined that no significant 

environmental impacts will be 

generated as a result of construction and 

operation of the proposed ISF Facility. 

The NRC staff has completed its 

environmental safeguards, and safety 

reviews of the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility 

license application and safety analysis 

report, as amended. The NRC staff 

issued Materials License No. SNM–2512 

and its Safety Evaluation Report (SER) 

for the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility on 

November 30, 2004. 

Further details with respect to this 

action are provided in the application 

dated November 19, 2001, as amended 

November 8, 2002, and March 28 and 

November 14, 2003; the staff’s FEIS 

dated January 2004; Materials License 

SNM–2512 and the staff’s SER, dated 

November 30, 2004; and other related 

documents, which are normally 

available in the records component of 

NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access 

and Management System (ADAMS). The 

NRC maintains ADAMS, which 

provides text and image files of NRC’s 

public documents. However, as of 

October 25, 2004, the NRC 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 should 

check the NRC’s web pages for updates 

on the availability of documents 

through the ADAMS system. When 

public availability is restored, these 

documents may be accessed through the 

NRC’s Public Electronic Reading Room 

on the Internet at: http://www.nrc.gov/

reading-rm/adams.html. After 

resumption of public access to ADAMS, 

copies of the referenced documents will 

also be available for review at the NRC 

Public Document Room (PDR), located 

at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 

20852. PDR reference staff can be 

contacted at 1–800–397–4209, (301) 

415–4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.

The PDR reproduction contractor will 

copy documents for a fee.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day 

of November, 2004.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

James R. Hall, 

Senior Project Manager, Licensing Section, 

Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 04–26903 Filed 12–7–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 50–483] 

Union Electric Company; Notice of 

Withdrawal of Application for 

Amendment to Facility Operating 

License 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (the Commission) has 

granted the request of Union Electric 

Company (the licensee) to withdraw its 

December 15, 2003, application for 

proposed amendment to Facility 

Operating License No. NPF–30 for the 

Callaway Plant, Unit No. 1, located in 

Callaway County, Missouri. 

The proposed amendment would 

have revised Technical Specifications 

(TSs) 3.3.9, ‘‘Boron Dilution Mitigation 

System (BDMS),’’ and 3.9.2, ‘‘Unborated 

Water Source Isolation Valves.’’ The 

proposed changes would replace the 

phrase ‘‘unborated water’’ by the word 

‘‘dilution’’ in several places and delete 

references to isolation valves BGV0178 

and BGV0601. A Note would also be 

added to TS 3.9.2 about dilution source 

path valves may be unisolated. 

The Commission had previously 

issued a Notice of Consideration of 

Issuance of Amendment published in 

the Federal Register on February 3, 

2004 (69 FR 5211). However, by letter 

dated October 29, 2004, the licensee 

withdrew the proposed change. 

For further details with respect to this 

action, see the licensee’s application for 

amendment dated December 15, 2003, 

and the licensee’s letter dated October 

29, 2004, which withdrew the 

application for a license amendment. 

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 O1 

F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), 

Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available 

records will be accessible electronically 

from the Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management Systems 

(ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading 

Room 1 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 pdr@nrc.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day 

of December 2004.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Jack Donohew, 

Senior Project Manager, Section 2, Project 

Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project 

Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 04–26905 Filed 12–7–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 72–01] 

General Electric Company Notice of 

Issuance of an Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact for License Renewal 

of the Morris Operation Independent 

Spent Fuel Storage Installation

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Christopher M. Regan, Senior Project 

Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 235 / Wednesday, December 8, 2004 / Notices 71083

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555. 

Telephone: (301) 415–1179; fax number: 

(301) 415–1179; e-mail: cmr1@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC 

or the Commission) is considering the 

renewal of the materials license under 

the requirements of Title 10 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations, part 72 (10 CFR 

part 72), to the General Electric 

Company (the applicant), authorizing 

the operation for an additional 20 years, 

beyond the initial license term, of the 

General Electric Morris Operation 

(GEMO) independent spent fuel storage 

installation (ISFSI) located in Grundy 

County, Illinois. The Commission’s 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards (NMSS) has completed its 

review of the environmental report, 

submitted by the applicant on May 22, 

2000, in support of its application for 

renewal of its materials license. The 

staff’s ‘‘Environmental Assessment 

Related to the License Renewal of the 

General Electric Morris Operation 

Independent Spent Fuel Storage 

Installation’’ has been issued in 

accordance with 10 CFR part 51. 

I. Summary of Environmental 

Assessment (EA) 

Description of the Proposed Action:

The proposed licensing action would 

renew the license to operate a wet 

storage ISFSI at the GEMO site. The 

purpose of the ISFSI is to provide for 

interim storage of spent nuclear fuel 

generated from the operation of nuclear 

power reactors using natural water for 

cooling and enriched Uranium-235 fuel. 

The GEMO ISFSI is a wet pool storage 

design and is the only wet ‘‘away from 

reactor’’ ISFSI of its kind in the U.S. The 

major components of the system for 

storage of spent nuclear fuel include the 

stainless steel lined concrete storage 

basins, the pool structure, the spent fuel 

storage grid structure and fuel storage 

baskets each containing nine boiling 

water reactor (BWR) spent fuel 

assemblies or twelve pressurized water 

(PWR) spent fuel assemblies, ancillary 

equipment necessary for the movement 

of spent nuclear fuel, e.g., cranes and 

basket grappling devices, and 

equipment necessary for the 

maintenance of the pool water quality 

and level. A license issued for an ISFSI 

under 10 CFR part 72 is issued for a 

fixed period not to exceed 20 years. The 

proposed GEMO ISFSI renewed license 

will expire in May 2022, 20 years from 

expiration of the current ISFSI license. 

Need for the Proposed Action: The 

GEMO ISFSI is needed to provide 

continued interim storage capacity until 

such a time that the spent nuclear fuel 

will be accepted for disposition at a 

Federal repository. A denial of the 

request to renew the ISFSI license 

would result in the cessation of normal 

operations and the beginning of 

decommissioning activities. By 

providing continued interim storage in 

the GEMO ISFSI there will be no 

immediate need to move the fuel to 

another interim storage facility. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Proposed Action: The NRC staff has 

concluded that the continued operation 

of the GEMO ISFSI will not result in a 

significant impact to the environment. 

The prior NRC Environmental Impact 

Appraisal associated with the issuance 

of Materials License SNM–2500 in May 

1982 continues to form the basis for 

assessing the potential environmental 

impacts of the proposed license renewal 

action. The environmental impacts 

associated with the proposed action 

concentrate on only those impacts 

projected to occur during the 20 year 

license renewal time period. 

Environmental impacts include the 

potential direct effects on the ambient 

environment and its resources. These 

potential impacts can be categorized as 

non-radiological and radiological 

impacts. 

There will be no significant 

radiological or non-radiological 

environmental impacts from routine 

operation of the GEMO ISFSI during the 

extended period of operation. The ISFSI 

is essentially a passive facility with no 

liquid and gaseous effluents released 

from the ISFSI that exceed Federal 

regulatory limits. The continued 

operation of the GEMO ISFSI will result 

in no change to the current impact on 

land use, water resources, air quality, 

generation of wastewater, geology, biota, 

cultural resources, and area 

demographics and socio-economics. The 

GEMO ISFSI is in its completed 

configuration and as such there will be 

no environmental impacts from 

construction activities. The staff does 

not expect operation of the GEMO ISFSI 

for an additional period of 20 years to 

impact any threatened or endangered 

species. The radiological dose rates from 

the spent fuel pool will be limited by 

the design of the basin, the depth of 

basin water, and the basin 

superstructure. The total occupational 

dose to workers at the GEMO site 

resulting from continued ISFSI 

operation will have a small impact on 

workers or the public, but all 

occupational doses must be maintained 

below the limits specified in 10 CFR 

part 20. The annual dose to the nearest 

resident from GEMO ISFSI activities 

remains significantly below the annual 

dose limits specified in 10 CFR 72.104 

and 10 CFR 20.1301 (25 mrem and 100 

mrem, respectively). The cumulative 

dose to an individual offsite from all site 

activities will be 2.2 × 10¥5 mrem/year, 

which is also much less than the limits 

specified in 10 CFR 72.104 and 10 CFR 

20.1301. These doses are also a small 

fraction of the doses resulting from 

naturally-occurring terrestrial and 

cosmic radiation of about 100 mrem/yr 

in the vicinity of the GEMO ISFSI. 

Additionally, occupational doses 

received by facility workers will not 

exceed the limits specified in 10 CFR 

20.1201. For hypothetical accidents, the 

calculated dose to an individual at the 

nearest site boundary is well below the 

5 rem limit for accidents set forth in 10 

CFR 72.106(b) and in the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

protective action guidelines.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action:

The applicant’s Environmental Report 

and the staff’s EA discuss the No Action 

alternative to renewal of the GEMO 

ISFSI license. The No-Action alternative 

includes shipment of the spent nuclear 

fuel off site to another NRC licensed 

interim storage facility and subsequent 

decommissioning of the GEMO ISFSI. 

Other alternatives, including shipping 

of spent nuclear fuel from GEMO to a 

permanent Federal repository, to a 

reprocessing facility, or to a privately 

owned spent fuel storage facility were 

determined to be non-viable 

alternatives, as no such facilities are 

currently available in the United States, 

and shipping the spent fuel overseas is 

impractical in light of the political, 

legal, and logistical uncertainties and 

the high cost and therefore were also not 

considered viable alternatives. The NoAction alternative considered the 

environmental consequences of 

shipping the GEMO spent nuclear fuel 

inventory to another NRC licensed ISFSI 

and the consequences of immediate 

decommissioning and decontamination 

(D&D) verses D&D at the end of the 

renewed license renewal term. 

The environmental impacts from the 

No-Action alternative include an 

immediate short term increase in air 

releases from machinery necessary for 

the transport of the spent nuclear fuel 

offsite and the equipment necessary for 

dismantling and demolition of the 

GEMO buildings. Additionally, there 

will be a small impact on water 

resources resulting from an increase in 

water consumption from 

decontamination activities necessary for 

fuel shipment. The specific type of D&D 

activities will remain unchanged, 

however, the activities would be 

undertaken immediately rather than at 

71084 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 235 / Wednesday, December 8, 2004 / Notices 

the end of the proposed 20-year 

extended period of operation. Onsite 

facilities are capable of processing of the 

sanitary wastewater generated by D&D 

activities and therefore D&D activities 

would result in no long-term small 

impacts. The No-Action alternative 

would result in no other nonradiological long-term small impacts. 

The No-Action alternative would 

require movement of the spent nuclear 

fuel inventory to another NRC licensed 

ISFSI. These activities are similar to, but 

in reverse of, receipt operations and do 

result in an increased level of 

occupational exposures and exposure to 

the public. Shipment of the spent 

nuclear fuel to another NRC licensed 

ISFSI before the Federal repository is 

ready to receive the fuel would result in 

two separate shipping activities, the first 

shipment moving the spent nuclear fuel 

from the GEMO ISFSI to another NRC 

licensed ISFSI, and the second from the 

second NRC licensed ISFSI to the 

Federal repository. Two shipments 

would result in more radiological 

consequences than a single shipment. 

Additionally, since the constituents of 

the spent nuclear fuel decay over time 

the radiological impacts of shipment 

would be larger if the spent nuclear fuel 

were moved immediately verses 

movement at the end of the proposed 

license renewal period in the year 2022. 

In the long-term, the immediate 

decommissioning of the GEMO ISFSI 

would have a larger negative impact on 

the local economy and infrastructure 

than if decommissioning were to take 

place at the end of the proposed 

extended period of operation. For the 

reasons cited above, the No-Action 

alternative considered is a less practical 

alternative. 

As discussed in the EA, the 

Commission has concluded that there 

are no significant environmental 

impacts associated with the proposed 

license renewal of the GEMO ISFSI, and 

other alternatives were not pursued 

because of additional occupational 

exposures, and the impracticality of 

other offsite storage options. 

Agencies and Persons Contacted:

Officials from the Illinois Emergency 

Management Agency and the Illinois 

Office of the Governor were contacted in 

preparing the staff’s Environmental 

Assessment. The Illinois Emergency 

Management Agency, provided 

comments by letter dated May 14, 2004. 

These comments have been addressed 

in the Environmental Assessment. 

II. Finding of No Significant Impact 

The staff has reviewed the 

environmental impacts for the proposed 

license renewal of the GEMO ISFSI 

relative to the requirements set forth in 

10 CFR part 51, and has prepared an 

Environmental Assessment. Based on 

the Environmental Assessment, the staff 

concludes that there are no significant 

radiological or non-radiological impacts 

associated with the proposed action and 

that issuance of a renewed license for 

the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel 

at the GEMO ISFSI will have no 

significant impact on the quality of the 

human environment. Therefore, 

pursuant to 10 CFR 51.31 and 51.32, a 

finding of no significant impact is 

appropriate and an environmental 

impact statement need not be prepared 

for the issuance of a renewed materials 

license for the GEMO ISFSI. 

Further details related to this 

proposed action are provided in the 

license application, dated May 5, 2000, 

as supplemented August 13, 2001, 

September 27, 2003, and August 9, 

2004, and the staff’s Environmental 

Assessment, dated November 30, 2004. 

However, as of October 25, 2004, the 

NRC initiated an additional security 

review of publicly available documents 

to ensure that potentially sensitive 

information is removed from the 

Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS) database 

accessible through the NRC’s Web site 

at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/

adams.html. Interested members of the 

public should check the NRC’s Web 

pages for updates on the availability of 

documents through the ADAMS system. 

Copies of the referenced documents are 

available for review and/or copying at 

the Commission’s Public Document 

Room, One White Flint North Building, 

11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland, pending resumption of 

public access to ADAMS. The NRC 

Public Document Room (PDR) Reference 

staff can be contacted at 1–800–397–

4209, (301) 415–4737 or by e-mail to 

pdr@nrc.gov.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day 

of November 2004.

For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

Christopher M. Regan, 

Senior Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project 

Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 04–26904 Filed 12–7–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

Advisory Committee on Nuclear 

Waste; Notice of Meeting 

The Advisory Committee on Nuclear 

Waste (ACNW) will hold its 156th 

meeting on December 13–14, 2004, 

Room T–2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland. 

The schedule for this meeting is as 

follows: 

Monday, December 13, 2004 

2:30 p.m.–2:40 p.m.: Opening 

Statement (Open)—The ACNW 

Chairman will open the meeting with 

brief opening remarks. 

2:40 p.m.–3:45 p.m.: Preparation for 

Meeting with the NRC Commissioners

(Open)—The Committee will discuss 

the proposed presentation topics for its 

meeting with the NRC Commissioners, 

which is scheduled to be held between 

9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 

March 16, 2005. 

4 p.m.–5 p.m.: Time-of-Compliance 

for a Proposed High-Level Waste 

Repository (Open)—The Committee will 

discuss its previous recommendations 

regarding time-of-compliance for a 

proposed high-level waste repository. 

5 p.m.–6 p.m.: ACNW 2005 Operating 

Plan (Open)—The ACNW Committee 

will continue its discussions and 

finalize the relevant sections of the 2005 

Operating Plan. 

Tuesday, December 14, 2004 

8:30 a.m.–8:35 a.m.: Opening 

Statement (Open)—The ACNW 

Chairman will make opening remarks 

regarding the conduct of today’s 

sessions. 

8:35 a.m.–10 a.m.: Agreement State 

Program (Open)—The Committee will 

receive an update from the Director, 

Office of State and Tribal Programs 

(OSTP) on recent activities of his office. 

10:15 a.m.–11:30 a.m.: Working Group 

Planning Session (Open)—The Members 

will discuss draft prospectuses for 

proposed 2005 working group meetings. 

1 p.m.–4:30 p.m.: Sealed Sources 

(Open)—The Committee will hear from 

representatives of the NRC staff, DOE, 

State of Maryland Department of 

Radiation Protection and other 

stakeholders on recent activities related 

to the control and tracking of sealed 

sources. 

4:30 p.m.–5 p.m.: Preparation of 

ACNW Report (Open)—The Committee 

will discuss the ACNW report on Sealed 

Sources (Tentative). 

5 p.m.–5:15 p.m.: Miscellaneous

(Open)—The Committee will discuss 

matters related to the conduct of 

Committee activities and matters and 

specific issues that were not completed 

during previous meetings, as time and 

availability of information permit. 

Procedures for the conduct of and 

participation in ACNW meetings were 

published in the Federal Register on 

October 18, 2004 (69 FR 61416). In