[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 33 (Friday, February 16, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10759-10760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-3952]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-389]


Florida Power & Light Company, et al.; St. Lucie Unit 2; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering 
issuance of an exemption from Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR), Part 54, Section 54.17(c), for Facility Operating License No. 
NPF-16, issued to Florida Power & Light Company, et al. (the licensee), 
for operation of the St. Lucie Unit 2, located in St. Lucie County, 
Florida.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would exempt the licensee from the requirement 
of 10 CFR 54.17(c), which specifies that an applicant (for the purposes 
of license renewal the licensee is the applicant) may apply for a 
renewed operating license no earlier than 20 years before the 
expiration of the operating license currently in effect.
    The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's 
application for an exemption dated October 30, 2000.

The Need for the Proposed Action

    In accordance with 10 CFR 54.17(c), the earliest date that the 
applicant could apply for a renewed operating license for St. Lucie 
Unit 2 would be April 6, 2003. The proposed action would allow the 
applicant to file a license renewal application for St. Lucie Unit 2 
earlier, and concurrent with the renewal application for St. Lucie Unit 
1 which has less than 20 years before expiration of its current 
operating license on March 1, 2016. The request seeks only schedular 
relaxation without any other substantive reliefs.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action. The 
exemption, if granted, will permit the applicant to apply for renewal 
of the St. Lucie Unit 2 license sooner than the schedule specified by 
10 CFR 54.17(c). When the applicant does apply for license renewal, the 
environmental impacts of operating the St. Lucie units under the 
renewed licenses will then be submitted by the applicant and evaluated 
by the staff. In short, granting of the exemption will not necessitate, 
or lead to, changes to the as-built plant design, or to existing 
procedures at the two St. Lucie units.
    The staff evaluated potential radiological environmental impacts 
associated with granting the requested exemption. Since no plant design 
or procedure changes will be made, no new accident causal mechanisms 
would be introduced.
    The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability 
or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types of 
any effluents that may be released off site, and there is no 
significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. 
Therefore, there are no significant radiological environmental impacts 
associated with the proposed action.
    With regard to the potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not affect any historic sites. The proposed action involves 
no plant design or procedure changes, it does not increase or decrease 
nonradiological plant effluents, and has no other environmental impact 
from those previously evaluated by the staff in the Final Environmental 
Statement (FES) for the St. Lucie Plant (NUREG-0842). Therefore, there 
are no significant nonradiological environmental impacts associated 
with the proposed action.
    Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant 
environmental

[[Page 10760]]

impacts associated with the proposed action.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered 
denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). 
Denial of the application would result in no change in current 
environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action 
and the alternative action are similar.

Alternative Use of Resources

    This action does not involve the use of any resources not 
previously considered in the FES.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    In accordance with its stated policy, on January 31, 2001, the 
staff consulted with Florida State official, William Passetti, Bureau 
of Radiation Control, regarding the environmental impact of the 
proposed action. The State official had no comments or objections.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes 
that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the 
quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined 
not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed 
action.
    For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's request for exemption dated October 30, 2000. Documents may 
be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document 
Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be 
accessible electronically from the ADAMS Public Library component on 
the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov (the Electronic Reading Room).

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day of February 2001.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kahtan N. Jabbour,
Senior Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate II, Division of 
Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 01-3952 Filed 2-15-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P