[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 47 (Friday, March 10, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13187-13188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-5934]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50-373 and 50-374]


Commonwealth Edison Co., LaSalle County Station, Units 1 and 2; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of no Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering issuance of an exemption from Facility Operating License 
Nos. NPF-11 and NPF-18, issued to Commonwealth Edison Company (the 
licensee), for operation of the LaSalle County Station, Units 1 and 2, 
located in LaSalle County, Illinois.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

    Section III.D.1(a) of Appendix J to 10 CFR part 50 requires the 
performance of three Type A tests (overall integrated leakage rate 
tests) (ILRT), at approximately equal intervals during each 10-year 
service period, with the third test of each set being conducted when 
the plant is shut down for the 10-year plant inservice inspections. 
Section III.A6(b) of Appendix J to 10 CFR part 50 specifies additional 
requirements if two consecutive periodic Type A tests fail to meet the 
applicable acceptance criteria. The additional requirements entail 
performing Type A tests at each plant shut down for refueling or 
eighteen month interval, whichever occurs first, until two consecutive 
Type A tests meet the acceptance criteria, after which, the testing 
schedule of Section III.D can be resumed. LaSalle County Station, Unit 
2, experienced Type A test failures for the ``as-found'' condition at 
the first, third and fourth refueling outages as a result of penalties 
from local leak rate test (LLRT) (Type B and C) failures. Pursuant to 
the requirements of Section III.A6(b), a Type A test was performed 
during the fifth refueling outage for Unit 2 and the results satisfied 
the applicable acceptance criteria. Without the requested exemption, 
another Type A test will need to be performed during the sixth 
refueling outage for Unit 2 (scheduled for early 1995) due to the 
requirements of both, Section III.A6(b) which requires two consecutive 
successful tests prior to resuming the normal testing interval and 
Section III.D.1(a) because the sixth refueling outage is the last 
refueling outage of the first 10-year plant inservice inspections 
period. The licensee proposes to resume the testing interval of Section 
III.D, based upon the successful test during the fifth refueling outage 
and the creation of a corrective action plan for Type C test failures, 
and decouple the Type A test schedule from the inservice inspection 
period. The result of this proposal would be that the next scheduled 
Type A test would be performed during the seventh refueling outage for 
Unit 2 (currently scheduled for late 1996) in accordance with a test 
interval of between thirty and fifty months.
    An example is provided in 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) of a special 
circumstances for which the NRC will consider granting exemptions that 
involve cases for which the application of the 
[[Page 13188]] regulation is not necessary to achieve the underlying 
purpose of the rule. The licensee completed a successful ILRT test 
during the fifth refueling outage for Unit 2 and has developed a 
corrective action plan for leakage through specific containment 
penetrations. Strict application of Appendix J would require 
performance of another ILRT during the sixth refueling outage in order 
to address the additional testing requirements of Appendix J, Section 
III.A.6(b) and the Section III.D.1(a) requirement to perform an ILRT 
during the 10-year plant inservice inspections. In order to avoid 
performance of an ILRT during the sixth refueling outage, the licensee 
has proposed a one-time exemption from Section III.A.6(b) (additional 
testing requirements) and a permanent exemption from Section 
III.D.1(a), in order to de-couple the Appendix J ILRT test schedule and 
the 10-year inservice inspection periods. Granting the exemption would 
result in the performance of the next Unit 2 ILRT during the seventh 
refueling outage, which in consistent with the regular testing interval 
of approximately once per forty months.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed exemption would allow the licensee to resume a normal 
ILRT testing interval and thereby preclude the need to perform an ILRT 
during the sixth refueling outage of LaSalle, Unit 2. Performance of an 
ILRT during the upcoming Unit 2 refueling outage would result in the 
collection of significant radiation dose, approximately 3 person-rems, 
by licensee personnel. The need for the exemption results from the 
requirement to perform the ILRT during refueling outages associated 
with the 10-year plant inservice inspections and the requirements to 
perform additional ILRT testing in the event that consecutive ILRT's 
fail, even if those failures are a result of leakage through identified 
penetrations.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The Commission has completed its evaluation of the proposed 
exemption and concludes that granting the one-time relief from Section 
III.A.6(b) and granting relief from Section III.D.1(a) of Appendix J to 
10 CFR part 50 does not affect the configuration of plant systems or 
plant operating practices. The proposed exemption is limited to the 
scheduling of a required Type A test during the sixth refueling outage 
of Unit 2 and a subsequent decoupling of the Type A tests from the 
inservice inspection period. Previous testing has demonstrated the 
integrity of the containment structure. Leakage through containment 
penetrations and values would continue to be identified by performance 
of LLRT. Therefore, no increase in the release of radioactive materials 
following an accident would result from the revision of the Type A test 
schedule. Changes to the Type A test schedule do not affect the 
radioactive effluent release during normal operation. Accordingly, the 
Commission concludes that this proposed action would result in no 
significant radiological environmental impact.
    With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
exemption only involves the scheduling of ILRT testing. It does not 
affect nonradiological plant effluents and there are no other 
nonradiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
exemption.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    Since the Commission concludes that there are no significant 
environmental impacts that would result from the proposed action, any 
alternatives with equal or greater environmental impacts need not be 
evaluated. The principal alternative would be to deny the requested 
exemption and require the licensee to conduct the ILRT during the sixth 
refueling outage of LaSalle, Unit 2. Denial would not significant 
reduce the environmental impact of plant operation and would result in 
lost electrical generation and expense of significant licensee 
resources.

Alternate Use of Resources

    This action does not involve the use of any resources not 
previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement for the 
LaSalle County Station dated November 1978.

Agencies and Persons Contacted

    The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's request and consulted with 
the Illinois State official. The State Official had no comments 
regarding the NRC's proposed action.

Finding of no Significant Impact

    Based on the foregoing environmental assessment, the Commission 
concludes that the proposed action will not have a significant effect 
on 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 request 
for exemption dated October 24, 1994, which is available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman 
Building, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC, and at the local public 
document room, the Public Library of Illinois Valley Community College, 
Rural Route No. 1, Oglesby, Illinois.

    Dated at Rockville, MD., this 1st day of March 1995.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
George F. Dick, Jr.,
Acting Director, Project Directorate III-2, Division of Reactor 
Projects III/IV, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 95-5934 Filed 3-9-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-M