[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 65 (Friday, April 4, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16202-16203]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8646]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 72-16 (50-338, -339]


Virginia Electric and Power Company, Notice of Issuance of 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for the 
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation at the North Anna Nuclear 
Power Station

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering issuance of a materials license under the requirements of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 72 (10 CFR Part 72), 
to Virginia Electric and Power Company (the applicant), authorizing the 
construction and operation of an independent spent fuel storage 
installation (ISFSI) located at its North Anna Nuclear Power Station in 
Louisa County, Virginia. The Commission's Spent Fuel Project Office in 
the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards has completed its 
environmental review in support of the issuance of a materials license. 
The ``Environmental Assessment (EA) Related to Construction and 
Operation of the North Anna Independent Spent Fuel Storage 
Installation'' has been issued in accordance with 10 CFR Part 51.

Summary of Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed

    Action: The proposed licensing action would authorize the applicant 
to construct and operate a dry storage ISFSI. The ISFSI is to provide 
additional interim storage of spent nuclear fuel generated from the 
continued operation of the North Anna Nuclear Power Station Units 1 and 
2. The proposed ISFSI spent fuel cask is designed by Transnuclear, Inc. 
The spent fuel cask, referred to as TN-32, is a smooth right-circular 
cylinder of multi-wall construction that holds a fuel basket designed 
to accommodate 32 pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel assemblies. The 
license for an ISFSI under 10 CFR Part 72 is issued for 20 years, but 
the applicant may apply to the Commission to renew the license, if 
necessary, prior to its expiration.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The spent fuel assemblies generated from the operation of the North 
Anna Nuclear Power Station Units 1 and 2 are currently stored onsite in 
a spent fuel pool. Under the current refueling schedule for the North 
Anna Units 1 and 2, the capability to discharge an entire core (157 
assemblies) will be lost in early 1999, and the spent fuel pool will be 
at its capacity by late 2000. Therefore, additional spent fuel storage 
capacity is needed in 1998. Delay in the

[[Page 16203]]

availability of this additional storage capacity may cause a reduction 
in the power operation or temporary shutdown of Units 1 and 2. The 
applicant's proposed action would provide the additional capacity 
required to store spent fuel that is expected to be generated at the 
North Anna Nuclear Power Station through the end of its currently 
licensed operating life.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    Construction of the proposed ISFSI will affect approximately 4.4 ha 
(11 acres) of the 422 ha (1,043 acres) site area which is committed to 
nuclear power plant development. With good construction practices, the 
potential for fugitive dust, erosion, and noise impacts typical of the 
planned construction activities can be controlled to insignificant 
levels. The only resources committed irretrievably are the steel, 
concrete, and other construction materials in the ISFSI slab and 
storage cask. Therefore, no significant construction impacts are 
anticipated.
    The routine operation of the proposed ISFSI involves only dry 
storage of spent nuclear fuel that is sealed in containers (TN-32 
casks); there will be no gaseous or liquid effluents released to the 
environment. External exposure to direct and scattered radiation is the 
primary pathway of radiation exposure to workers and the general 
public. The dose to the nearest resident from routine ISFSI operation 
is estimated to be about 10 <greek-m>Sv/yr (1.0 mrem/yr). The combined 
dose to the nearest resident from the ISFSI and the nuclear power plant 
operation is about 58 <greek-m>Sv/yr (5.8 mrem/yr). These doses are 
well below the 250 <greek-m>Sv/yr (25 mrem/yr) limit specified in 10 
CFR 72.104. These doses are a small fraction of the natural background 
from terrestrial and cosmic radiation of about 1,100 <greek-m>Sv/yr 
(110 mrem/yr) in the State of Virginia.
    The dose to an individual at the nearest site boundary from a 
hypothetical accident has been calculated to be 0.49 mSv (0.049 rem) 
(whole-body) which is well below the 50 mSv (5 rem) criteria set forth 
in 10 CFR 72.106(b) and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 
protective action guidelines.
    There are no nonradiological impacts resulting from the routine 
ISFSI operation. The operational noise associated with the proposed 
action will result from the transfer of casks from the North Anna 
Nuclear Power Station protected area to the ISFSI. Noise associated 
with this operation is onsite and is expected to be minimal; no adverse 
impacts to the general public are anticipated.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    If a permanent Federal repository were available, the preferred 
alternative would be to ship spent fuel to the repository for disposal. 
The Department of Energy is currently working to develop a repository, 
as required under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, but is not likely to 
have a licensed repository ready to receive spent fuel before 2010. 
Although DOE recommended that a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) 
facility be constructed and operated for interim storage, this proposed 
action has not taken place so far. Given the uncertainties of schedules 
for a repository and MRS, these alternatives, therefore, do not meet 
the near-term interim storage needs of the applicant. Given these 
conditions, a number of alternatives for the storage of spent fuel 
prior to the selection of the dry storage ISFSI are discussed in the 
EA. These alternatives included: (a) expansion of the existing pool, 
(b) construction of a new storage pool, (c) increasing capacity of the 
existing pool, (d) spent fuel rod consolidation, (e) transshipment to 
Surry Nuclear Power Station ISFSI, (f) reduction in rate of spent fuel 
generation by using high burnup fuel or by reduction in operation, and 
(g) no action alternative. As discussed in the EA, the Commission has 
concluded there are no significant environmental impacts associated 
with the proposed dry storage ISFSI, and other alternatives were not 
chosen because of the time required for the design and licensing, its 
high cost, or the storage limitation for expanding existing pool 
storage at the North Anna Nuclear Power Station.

Agencies and Persons Contacted

    Officials from the State of Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health, 
as well as the Department of Environmental Quality, were contacted in 
preparing this assessment.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    The staff has reviewed the environmental impacts of the proposed 
ISFSI relative to the requirements set forth in 10 CFR Part 51 and 
prepared an EA. Based on the EA, the staff concludes that there are no 
significant radiological or non-radiological impacts associated with 
the proposed action and that issuance of a license 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 materials license for the North Anna 
ISFSI.
    For further details related to this proposed action, the EA and the 
application, dated May 9, 1995, as supplemented, are available for 
public inspection, and for copying for a fee, at the NRC Public 
Document Room, Gelman Building, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20555 
and at the Local Public Document Room for North Anna located at the 
University of Virginia, Alderman Library, Charlottesville, Virginia 
22903.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of March 1997.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Charles J. Haughney,
Deputy Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 97-8646 Filed 4-3-97; 8:45 am]
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