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[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71082-71084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-26904]

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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.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher M. Regan, Senior Project 
Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office,

[[Page 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: [email protected].

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 x 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 No-Action 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

[[Page 71084]]

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 non-radiological 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 
[email protected].

    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
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