Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 185 / Friday, September 22, 2000 / Notices 57407

CFR Part 2. Interested persons should

consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.714

which is available at the Commission’s

Public Document Room, the Gelman

Building, 2120 L Street, NW.,

Washington, DC, and accessible

electronically through the ADAMS

Public Electronic Reading Room link at

the NRC Web site (http://www.nrc.gov).

If a request for a hearing or petition for

leave to intervene is filed by the above

date, the Commission or an Atomic

Safety and Licensing Board, designated

by the Commission or by the Chairman

of the Atomic Safety and Licensing

Board Panel, will rule on the request

and/or petition; and the Secretary or the

designated Atomic Safety and Licensing

Board will issue a notice of hearing or

an appropriate order.

As required by 10 CFR 2.714, a

petition for leave to intervene shall set

forth with particularity the interest of

the petitioner in the proceeding, and

how that interest may be affected by the

results of the proceeding. The petition

should specifically explain the reasons

why intervention should be permitted

with particular reference to the

following factors: (1) The nature of the

petitioner’s right under the Act to be

made party to the proceeding; (2) the

nature and extent of the petitioner’s

property, financial, or other interest in

the proceeding; and (3) the possible

effect of any order which may be

entered in the proceeding on the

petitioner’s interest. The petition should

also identify the specific aspect(s) of the

subject matter of the proceeding as to

which petitioner wishes to intervene.

Any person who has filed a petition for

leave to intervene or who has been

admitted as a party may amend the

petition without requesting leave of the

Board up to 15 days prior to the first

prehearing conference scheduled in the

proceeding, but such an amended

petition must satisfy the specificity

requirements described above.

Not later than 15 days prior to the first

prehearing conference scheduled in the

proceeding, a petitioner shall file a

supplement to the petition to intervene

which must include a list of the

contentions which are sought to be

litigated in the matter. Each contention

must consist of a specific statement of

the issue of law or fact to be raised or

controverted. In addition, the petitioner

shall provide a brief explanation of the

bases of the contention and a concise

statement of the alleged facts or expert

opinion which support the contention

and on which the petitioner intends to

rely in proving the contention at the

hearing. The petitioner must also

provide references to those specific

sources and documents of which the

petitioner is aware and on which the

petitioner intends to rely to establish

those facts or expert opinion. Petitioner

must provide sufficient information to

show that a genuine dispute exists with

the applicant on a material issue of law

or fact. Contentions shall be limited to

matters within the scope of the

amendment under consideration. The

contention must be one which, if

proven, would entitle the petitioner to

relief. A petitioner who fails to file such

a supplement which satisfies these

requirements with respect to at least one

contention will not be permitted to

participate as a party.

Those permitted to intervene become

parties to the proceeding, subject to any

limitations in the order granting leave to

intervene, and have the opportunity to

participate fully in the conduct of the

hearing, including the opportunity to

present evidence and cross-examine

witnesses.

If a hearing is requested, the

Commission will make a final

determination on the issue of no

significant hazards consideration. The

final determination will serve to decide

when the hearing is held.

If the final determination is that the

amendment request involves no

significant hazards consideration, the

Commission may issue the amendment

and make it immediately effective,

notwithstanding the request for a

hearing. Any hearing held would take

place after issuance of the amendment.

If the final determination is that the

amendment request involves a

significant hazards consideration, any

hearing held would take place before

the issuance of any amendment.

A request for a hearing or a petition

for leave to intervene must be filed with

the Secretary of the Commission, U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555–0001, Attention:

Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, or

may be delivered to the Commission’s

Public Document Room, the Gelman

Building, 2120 L Street, NW.,

Washington, DC, by the above date. A

copy of the petition should also be sent

to the Office of the General Counsel,

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555–0001, and to

Kevin P. Gallen, Esquire, Morgan, Lewis

& Bockius LLP, 1800 M Street, NW.,

Washington, DC 20036–5869, attorney

for the licensee.

Nontimely filings of petitions for

leave to intervene, amended petitions,

supplemental petitions and/or requests

for hearing will not be entertained

absent a determination by the

Commission, the presiding officer or the

presiding Atomic Safety and Licensing

Board that the petition and/or request

should be granted based upon a

balancing of the factors specified in 10

CFR 2.714(a)(1)(i)–(v) and 2.714(d).

For further details with respect to this

action, see the application for

amendment dated June 30, 2000, which

is available for public inspection at the

Commission’s Public Document Room,

the Gelman Building, 2120 L Street,

NW., Washington, DC, and accessible

electronically through the ADAMS

Public Electronic Reading Room link at

the NRC Web site (http://www.nrc.gov).

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day

of September 2000.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Helen N. Pastis,

Senior Project Manager, Section 1, Project

Directorate 1, Division of Licensing Project

Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor

Regulation.

[FR Doc. 00–24441 Filed 9–21–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72–2]

Virginia Electric and Power Company

Issuance of Environmental

Assessment and Finding of No

Significant Impact Regarding the

Proposed Amendment to Revise

Technical Specifications of License

No. SNM–2501

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC or Commission) is

considering issuance of an amendment,

pursuant to 10 CFR 72.56, to Special

Nuclear Material License No. 2501

(SNM–2501) held by Virginia Electric

and Power Company (Virginia Power)

for the Surry independent spent fuel

storage installation (ISFSI). The

requested amendment would revise the

Technical Specifications (TS) of SNM–

2501 to specifically permit the use of

the TN–32 storage cask to store spent

fuel with a higher initial enrichment

and burnup than currently specified in

the TS for the Surry ISFSI.

Environmental Assessment (EA)

Identification of Proposed Action: By

letter dated November 15, 1999, as

supplemented, Virginia Power

requested an amendment to revise the

TS of SNM–2501 for the Surry ISFSI.

The changes would specifically permit

the use of the TN–32 storage cask to

store spent fuel with a higher initial

enrichment and burnup than currently

specified in the TS. Currently the TS for

the Surry ISFSI limit the fuel to be

stored in the TN–32 to the following:

initial enrichment of ≤ 3.85 % (wt U235), assembly average burnup of ≤

57408 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 185 / Friday, September 22, 2000 / Notices

40,000 MWD/MTU, and heat generation

of ≤ 0.847 Kw/assembly. This

amendment requests the limits be

amended to match those approved for

the TN–32 storage cask per the

Certificate of Compliance (CoC) and

Safety Evaluation Report (SER) issued in

March 2000. Those approved limits are

as follows: initial enrichment of ≤

4.05% (wt U–235), assembly average

burnup ≤ 45,000 MWD/MTU, and heat

generation of ≤ 1.02 Kw/assembly.

Need for the Proposed Action: The

proposed action is necessary to allow

continued storage of spent fuel in dry

casks. Without this amendment Surry

will be unable to load spent fuel in TN–

32 casks because their remaining fuel

has the higher enrichment and burnup.

If unable to store spent fuel in TN–32’s,

Surry will not be able to retain full core

offload capability. Surry would

eventually have to find an alternate

means to store fuel, or shut down.

Environmental Impacts of the

Proposed Action: The NRC has

completed its evaluation of the

proposed action and concludes that

granting the request for amendment to

allow the storage of spent fuel

assemblies with burnup and initial

enrichment of up to 45,000 MWD/MTU

and 4.05% (wt U–235), respectively, in

TN–32 casks used at the Surry ISFSI,

will not increase the probability or

consequence of accidents beyond that

bounded by previous analysis. In March

2000, the NRC issued a CoC and SER for

the TN–32 allowing storage of spent fuel

in the TN–32 under a general license,

with the higher enrichment and burnup,

resulting in no significant

environmental impact. No changes are

being made in the types of any effluents

that may be released offsite. With regard

to radiological impacts, the addition of

higher burnup and initial enrichment

spent fuel assemblies was calculated to

yield an average surface dose rate of 224

mrem/hour at the TN–32 cask side

surface. A reevaluation of occupational

doses based on actual operating

experience from loading 39 casks,

indicates that the overall exposure to

workers during cask loading, transport,

and emplacement will decrease from the

original estimate of 21.2 person-rem to

11.9 person-rem. The dose to the closest

real receptor due to Surry ISFSI

operations was calculated to be 6×10¥1

mrem/year. This dose is several ordersof-magnitude below natural background

radiation levels and is an insignificant

amount when compared to the 10 CFR

Part 72.104 whole-body dose limit of 25

mrem/year. The annual whole-body

dose to the closest real receptor from all

Surry operations is 16 mrem, which is

below the 10 CFR Part 72.104 limit.

Based on the occupational and public

dose analysis results, there are no

significant radiological environmental

impacts associated with the proposed

action.

The amendment only affects the

requirements associated with the

content of the casks and does not affect

non-radiological plant effluents or any

other aspects of the environment.

Therefore, there are no significant nonradiological environmental impacts

associated with the proposed action.

Accordingly, the Commission

concludes that there are no significant

environmental impacts associated with

the proposed action.

Alternative to the Proposed Action:

The alternative to the proposed action

would be to deny the request for

amendment (i.e., the ‘‘no-action’’

alternative). Denial of the proposed

action would result in Surry storing

spent fuel in the spent fuel pool.

Without dry cask storage, Surry would

lose the capability to maintain full core

offload and eventually would have to

shut down due to lack of storage space.

Increased storage in the spent fuel

pool could potentially lead to greater

occupational exposure than dry cask

storage due to the proximity of workers

to the fuel. The environmental impacts

of the alternative action could be greater

than the proposed action.

Given that the alternative action of

denying the approval for amendment

has no lesser environmental impacts

associated with it, and considering that

the proposed action would result in

storage of fuel in the TN–32 casks at

Surry ISFSI as already approved for

storage under a general license, the

Commission concludes that the

preferred alternative is to grant this

amendment.

Agencies and Persons Consulted: On

August 18, 2000, Mr. Les Foldese of the

Virginia Department of Health,

Radiological Health Programs, was

contacted regarding the proposed action

and had no concerns.

Finding of No Significant Impact

The environmental impacts of the

proposed action have been reviewed in

accordance with the requirements set

forth in 10 CFR Part 51. Based upon the

foregoing Environmental Assessment,

the Commission finds that the proposed

action of granting an amendment to

permit the use of the TN–32 dry storage

cask to store spent fuel with a higher

initial enrichment (≤ 4.05% wt U–235)

and burnup (≤ 45,000 MWD/MTU) at

the Surry ISFSI will not significantly

impact the quality of the human

environment. Accordingly, the

Commission has determined not to

prepare an environmental impact

statement for the proposed exemption.

For further details with respect to this

action, see the amendment application

dated November 15, 1999, as

supplemented. In accordance with 10

CFR 2.790 of the NRC’s ‘‘Rules of

Practice,’’ a copy of the application, as

supplemented, will be available

electronically for public inspection in

the NRC Public Document Room, 2120

L Street NW. (Lower Level),

Washington, DC, or from the Publically

Available Records (PARS) components

of the NRC’s document system

(ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from

the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/

NRC/ADAMS/index.html (the Public

Electronic Reading Room).

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day

of September 2000.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

E. William Brach,

Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 00–24363 Filed 9–21–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P

POSTAL RATE COMMISSION

Sunshine Act Meetings

NAME OF AGENCY: Postal Rate

Commission.

TIME AND DATE: Daily, or as needed,

starting after 9:30 a.m., from September

25, 2000, through November 8, 2000.

PLACE: Commission conference room,

1333 H Street, NW., Suite 300,

Washington, DC 20268–0001.

STATUS: Closed.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:

Recommendations in Docket No.

R2000–1.

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel,

Postal Rate Commission, Suite 300,

1333 H Street, NW, Washington, DC

20268–0001, 202–789–6820.

Dated: September 19, 2000.

Margaret P. Crenshaw,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–24548 Filed 9–20–00; 12:39 pm]

BILLING CODE 7710–FN–M

POSTAL SERVICE BOARD OF

GOVERNORS

Sunshine Act Meeting

TIMES AND DATES: 9 a.m., Monday,

October 2, 2000; 8:30 a.m., Tuesday,

October 3, 2000.