This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

67987 

Vol. 88, No. 190 

Tuesday, October 3, 2023 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

10 CFR Part 72 

[NRC–2023–0131] 

RIN 3150–AL03 

List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage 

Casks: TN Americas LLC Standardized 

NUHOMS® Horizontal Modular Storage 

System for Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, 

Certificate of Compliance No. 1004, 

Renewed Amendment No. 18 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is proposing to 

amend its spent fuel regulations by 

revising the TN Americas, LLC (TN) 

Standardized NUHOMS® Horizontal 

Modular Storage System for Irradiated 

Nuclear Fuel listing within the ‘‘List of 

approved spent fuel storage casks’’ to 

include Renewed Amendment No. 18 to 

Certificate of Compliance No. 1004. 

Because this amendment was submitted 

subsequent to the renewal of the TN 

Americas, LLC Standardized NUHOMS 

Horizontal Modular Storage System for 

Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Certificate of 

Compliance No. 1004 and, therefore, 

subject to the Aging Management 

Program requirements of the renewed 

certificate, NRC is referring to it as 

‘‘Renewed Amendment No. 18.’’ 

Renewed Amendment No. 18 amends 

the certificate of compliance to provide 

an improved basket design, revise 

technical specifications, and incorporate 

administrative controls during short 

duration independent spent fuel storage 

installation handling operations. The 

amendment also includes a change to 

the horizontal storage module concrete 

to allow use of a blended Portland 

cement that meets the requirements of 

American Society for Testing and 

Materials standards. 

DATES: Submit comments by November 

2, 2023. Comments received after this 

date will be considered if it is practical 

to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure 

consideration only for comments 

received on or before this date. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID NRC–2023– 

0131, at https://www.regulations.gov. If 

your material cannot be submitted using 

https://www.regulations.gov, call or 

email the individuals listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 

this document for alternate instructions. 

For additional direction on obtaining 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Rodnika Murphy, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, 

telephone: 301–415–7153, email: 

Rodnika.Murphy@nrc.gov; and Christian 

Jacobs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 

and Safeguards, telephone: 301–415– 

6825, email: Christian.Jacobs@nrc.gov. 

Both are staff of the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission, Washington, 

DC 20555–0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting 

Comments 

II. Rulemaking Procedure 

III. Background 

IV. Plain Writing 

V. Availability of Documents 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2023– 

0131, when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information for this 

action. You may obtain publicly 

available information related to this 

action by any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2023–0131. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Dawn 

Forder, telephone: 301–415–3407, 

email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly 

available documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.’’ For 

problems with ADAMS, please contact 

the NRC’s Public Document Room (PDR) 

reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by email to 

PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. For the 

convenience of the reader, instructions 

about obtaining materials referenced in 

this document are provided in the 

‘‘Availability of Documents’’ section. 

• NRC’s PDR: The PDR, where you 

may examine and order copies of 

publicly available documents, is open 

by appointment. To make an 

appointment to visit the PDR, please 

send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov 

or call 1–800–397–4209 or 301–415– 

4737, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern 

time, Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

B. Submitting Comments 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2023– 

0131, in your comment submission. The 

NRC requests that you submit comments 

through the Federal rulemaking website 

at https://www.regulations.gov. If your 

material cannot be submitted using 

https://www.regulations.gov, call or 

email the individual listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 

this document for alternate instructions. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC will post all comment 

submissions at https://

www.regulations.gov as well as enter the 

comment submissions into ADAMS. 

The NRC does not routinely edit 

comment submissions to remove 

identifying or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment into ADAMS. 

II. Rulemaking Procedure 

Because the NRC considers this action 

to be non-controversial, the NRC is 

publishing this proposed rule 


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67988 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

concurrently with a direct final rule in 

the Rules and Regulations section of this 

issue of the Federal Register. The direct 

final rule will become effective on 

December 18, 2023. However, if the 

NRC receives any significant adverse 

comment by November 2, 2023, then the 

NRC will publish a document that 

withdraws the direct final rule. If the 

direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC 

will address the comments in a 

subsequent final rule. In general, absent 

significant modifications to the 

proposed revisions requiring 

republication, the NRC will not initiate 

a second comment period on this action 

in the event the direct final rule is 

withdrawn. 

A significant adverse comment is a 

comment where the commenter 

explains why the rule would be 

inappropriate, including challenges to 

the rule’s underlying premise or 

approach, or would be ineffective or 

unacceptable without a change. A 

comment is adverse and significant if: 

(1) The comment opposes the rule and 

provides a reason sufficient to require a 

substantive response in a notice-andcomment process. For example, a 

substantive response is required when: 

(a) The comment causes the NRC to 

reevaluate (or reconsider) its position or 

conduct additional analysis; 

(b) The comment raises an issue 

serious enough to warrant a substantive 

response to clarify or complete the 

record; or 

(c) The comment raises a relevant 

issue that was not previously addressed 

or considered by the NRC. 

(2) The comment proposes a change 

or an addition to the rule, and it is 

apparent that the rule would be 

ineffective or unacceptable without 

incorporation of the change or addition. 

(3) The comment causes the NRC to 

make a change (other than editorial) to 

the rule. 

For a more detailed discussion of the 

proposed rule changes and associated 

analyses, see the direct final rule 

published in the Rules and Regulations 

section of this issue of the Federal 

Register. 

III. Background 

Section 218(a) of the Nuclear Waste 

Policy Act of 1982, as amended, 

requires that ‘‘[t]he Secretary [of the 

Department of Energy] shall establish a 

demonstration program, in cooperation 

with the private sector, for the dry 

storage of spent nuclear fuel at civilian 

nuclear power reactor sites, with the 

objective of establishing one or more 

technologies that the [Nuclear 

Regulatory] Commission may, by rule, 

approve for use at the sites of civilian 

nuclear power reactors without, to the 

maximum extent practicable, the need 

for additional site-specific approvals by 

the Commission.’’ Section 133 of the 

Nuclear Waste Policy Act states, in part, 

that ‘‘[t]he Commission shall, by rule, 

establish procedures for the licensing of 

any technology approved by the 

Commission under Section 219(a) [sic: 

218(a)] for use at the site of any civilian 

nuclear power reactor.’’ 

To implement this mandate, the 

Commission approved dry storage of 

spent nuclear fuel in NRC-approved 

casks under a general license by 

publishing a final rule that added a new 

subpart K in part 72 of title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 

entitled ‘‘General License for Storage of 

Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites’’ (55 

FR 29181; July 18, 1990). This rule also 

established a new subpart L in 10 CFR 

part 72 entitled ‘‘Approval of Spent Fuel 

Storage Casks,’’ which contains 

procedures and criteria for obtaining 

NRC approval of spent fuel storage cask 

designs. The NRC subsequently issued a 

final rule on December 22, 1994 (59 FR 

65897) that approved the Standardized 

NUHOMS® Horizontal Modular Storage 

System for Irradiated Nuclear Fuel 

System design and added it to the list 

of NRC-approved cask designs in 

§ 72.214 as Certificate of Compliance 

No. 1004. 

IV. Plain Writing 

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. 

L. 111–274) requires Federal agencies to 

write documents in a clear, concise, 

well-organized manner. The NRC has 

written this document to be consistent 

with the Plain Writing Act as well as the 

Presidential Memorandum, ‘‘Plain 

Language in Government Writing,’’ 

published June 10, 1998 (63 FR 31885). 

The NRC requests comment on the 

proposed rule with respect to clarity 

and effectiveness of the language used. 

V. Availability of Documents 

The documents identified in the 

following table are available to 

interested persons as indicated. 

Document 

ADAMS accession 

no./web link/ 

Federal Register 

citation 

Proposed Certificate of Compliance and Proposed Technical Specifications 

Proposed NUHOMS 1004 Amendment No. 18 Certificate of Compliance ................................................................................... ML23058A330 

Proposed NUHOMS 1004 Amendment No. 18 Technical Specification Appendix A ................................................................... ML23058A332 

Proposed NUHOMS 1004 Amendment No. 18 Technical Specification Appendix B ................................................................... ML23058A334 

Proposed NUHOMS 1004 Amendment No. 18 Technical Specification Appendix C .................................................................. ML23058A336 

Proposed NUHOMS 1004 Amendment No. 18 Safety Evaluation Report ................................................................................... ML23058A328 

Other Documents 

Plain Language in Government Writing, dated June 10, 1998 ..................................................................................................... 63 FR 31885 

Storage of Spent Fuel In NRC-Approved Storage Casks at Power Reactor Sites: Final Rule, dated July 18, 1990 ................. 55 FR 29181 

List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: TN Americas LLC, NUHOMS ® Horizontal Modular Storage System for Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Certificate of Compliance No. 1004: Direct Final Rule, dated December 22, 1994 .................................. 59 FR 65897 

The NRC may post materials related 

to this document, including public 

comments, on the Federal rulemaking 

website at https://www.regulations.gov 

under Docket ID NRC–2023–0131. In 

addition, the Federal rulemaking 

website allows members of the public to 

receive alerts when changes or additions 

occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: 

(1) navigate to the docket folder (NRC– 

2023–0131); (2) click the ‘‘Subscribe’’ 

link; and (3) enter an email address and 

click on the ‘‘Subscribe’’ link. 

Dated: September 26, 2023. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Scott A. Morris, 

Acting Executive Director for Operations. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21828 Filed 10–2–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 


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