[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 198 (Friday, October 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82645-82647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23630]



[[Page 82645]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 72-36, 50-321, and 50-366; NRC-2024-0147]


Southern Nuclear Operating Company; Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant 
Units 1 and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of no significant impact 
(FONSI) for an exemption request submitted by Southern Nuclear 
Operating Company (SNC) that would permit Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant 
(Hatch) Units 1 and 2, to maintain and load 68M multi-purpose canisters 
(MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) in the HI-STORM 100 Cask 
System at its Hatch Units 1 and 2 independent spent fuel storage 
installation (ISFSI) in a storage condition where the terms, 
conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) 
No. 1014, Amendment No. 11 are not met.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on 
October 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0147 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
    <bullet> Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2024-0147. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5f0c2b3e3c26710c3c372a323e31311f312d3c71383029"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="34674055574d1a67575c4159555a5a745a46571a535b42">[email protected]</span></a>. For technical 
questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section of this document.
    <bullet> 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, at 301-415-4737, 
or by email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3b6b7f6915695e48544e49585e7b554958155c544d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="613125334f3304120e14130204210f13024f060e17">[email protected]</span></a>. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
    <bullet> 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 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#96c6d2c4b8c4f3e5f9e3e4f5f3d6f8e4f5b8f1f9e0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f0a0b4a2dea295839f85829395b09e8293de979f86">[email protected]</span></a> or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8 
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (ET), Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heath Stroud, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-287-3664; email: 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cb83aeaabfa3e598bfb9a4beaf8ba5b9a8e5aca4bd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fdb5989c8995d3ae898f928899bd938f9ed39a928b">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is reviewing an exemption request from SNC, dated June 25, 
2024, and supplemented on July 26, 2024. SNC is requesting an 
exemption, pursuant to section 72.7 of title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Specific exemptions,'' in paragraphs 
72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 
that require SNC to comply with the terms, conditions, and 
specifications of the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11. If approved, the 
exemption would allow SNC to maintain three loaded and to load five new 
MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the Hatch ISFSI in a 
storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in 
the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11, are not met.

II. Environmental Assessment

Background

    Hatch is 32 kilometers (20 miles) east of Vidalia, Georgia. The 
plant is located on the southwest side of the Altamaha River. Unit 1 
began operating in 1975 and Unit 2 began operating in 1979. SNC has 
been storing spent fuel in the Hatch ISFSI under a general license as 
authorized by 10 CFR part 72, subpart K, ``General License for Storage 
of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites.'' SNC currently uses the HI-STORM 
100 Cask System under CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11 for dry storage of 
spent nuclear fuel in a specific MPC (i.e., MPC-68M) at the Hatch 
ISFSI.

Description of the Proposed Action

    The CoC is the NRC-approved design for each dry cask storage 
system. The proposed action would exempt the applicant from the 
requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 
72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 only as these requirements pertain to the use 
of the MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System. The exemption would 
allow SNC to maintain three loaded and to load five new MPC-68M-CBS in 
the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the Hatch ISFSI, despite the MPC-68M-
CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System not being in compliance with the 
terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1014, Amendment 
No. 11.
    The HI-STORM 100 Cask System CoC provides the requirements, 
conditions, and operating limits necessary for use of the system to 
store spent fuel. Holtec International (Holtec), the designer and 
manufacturer of the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, developed a variant of 
the design with CBS for the MPC-68M, known as MPC-68M-CBS. Holtec 
originally implemented the CBS variant design under the provisions of 
10 CFR 72.48, which allows licensees to make changes to cask designs 
without a CoC amendment under certain conditions (listed in 10 CFR 
72.48(c)). After evaluating the specific changes to the cask designs, 
the NRC determined that Holtec erred when it implemented the CBS 
variant design under 10 CFR 72.48, as this was not the type of change 
allowed without a CoC amendment. For this reason, the NRC issued three 
Severity Level IV violations to Holtec. However, SNC had previously 
loaded three MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System and plans to 
load five MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System beginning in 
April 2025. This exemption considers the storage of the three already 
loaded systems and the planned loading of the five canisters with the 
CBS variant basket design.

Need for the Proposed Action

    SNC requested this exemption because SNC is currently out of 
compliance with NRC requirements, resulting from the previous loading 
of spent fuel into a storage system with the CBS variant basket design. 
This exemption would allow three already loaded MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-
STORM 100 Cask System to remain in storage at the Hatch ISFSI. The 
exemption would also allow SNC to load five new MPC-68M-CBS in HI-STORM 
100 Cask System at the Hatch ISFSI for the future loading campaign 
scheduled to begin in April 2025.
    Approval of the exemption request would allow SNC to effectively 
manage the spent fuel pool margin and capacity to enable refueling and 
offloading fuel from the reactor. It would also allow SNC to 
effectively manage the availability of the specialized resources and 
equipment needed to support

[[Page 82646]]

competing fuel loading and operational activities at Hatch.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    This EA evaluates the potential environmental impacts of granting 
an exemption from the terms, conditions, and specifications in CoC No. 
1014, Amendment No. 11. The exemption would allow three already loaded 
MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System to remain loaded at the 
Hatch ISFSI. The exemption would also allow five new MPC-68M-CBS to be 
loaded in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System in loading campaigns and 
maintained in storage at the Hatch ISFSI.
    The potential environmental impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel 
in NRC-approved storage systems have been documented in previous 
assessments. On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC amended 10 CFR 
part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel under a general 
license in cask designs approved by the NRC. The EA for the 1990 final 
rule analyzed the potential environmental impacts of using NRC-approved 
storage casks. The EA for the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, CoC No. 1014, 
Amendment No. 11, published in 2018 tiers off of the EA issued for the 
July 18, 1990, final rule (83 FR 63794). ``Tiering'' off earlier EAs is 
a standard process encouraged by the regulations implementing the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) that entails the use 
of impact analyses of previous EAs to bound the impacts of a proposed 
action where appropriate. The Holtec HI-STORM 100 Cask System is 
designed to mitigate the effects of design basis accidents that could 
occur during storage. Considering the specific design requirements for 
the accident conditions, the design of the cask would prevent loss of 
containment, shielding, and criticality control. If there is no loss of 
containment, shielding, or criticality control, the environmental 
impacts would not be significant.
    The exemptions requested by SNC at the Hatch site as they relate to 
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11, for the HI-STORM 100 Cask System are 
limited to the use of the CBS variant basket design only for the three 
previously loaded canisters and planned loading of five canisters 
utilizing the CBS variant basket design. The staff has determined that 
this change in the basket will not result in either radiological or 
non-radiological environmental impacts that significantly differ from 
the environmental impacts evaluated in the environmental assessment 
supporting the issuance of CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11. If the 
exemption is granted, there will be no significant change in the types 
or amounts of any effluents released, no significant increase in 
individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure, and 
no significant increase in the potential for or consequences from 
radiological accidents. Accordingly, the Commission concludes that 
there would be no significant environmental impacts associated with the 
proposed action.

Alternative to the Proposed Action

    The staff considered the no-action alternative. The no-action 
alternative (denial of the exemption request) would require SNC to 
unload spent fuel from the MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System 
to bring it in compliance with the CoC terms, conditions, and 
specifications in the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11. Unloading the 
cask would subject station personnel to additional radiation exposure, 
generate additional contaminated waste, increase the risk of a possible 
fuel handling accident, and increase the risk of a possible heavy load 
handling accident. Furthermore, the removed spent fuel would need to be 
placed in the spent fuel pool, where it would remain until it could be 
loaded into an approved storage cask. SNC has rescheduled its 2024 
loading campaign to April 2025, and further delay in the loading of 
this spent fuel into other casks could affect SNC's ability to 
effectively manage the spent fuel pool capacity and reactor fuel 
offloading. Not allowing the planned future loading campaign could 
affect SNC's ability to manage pool capacity, reactor fuel offloading, 
and refueling. It could also pose challenges to spent fuel heat removal 
and impact the availability of the specialized resources and equipment 
needed to support competing fuel loading and operational activities at 
Hatch, including spent fuel pool clean-up and refueling outages. SNC 
has ordered an additional five MPC-68M canisters for the planned 
loading starting in April 2025, that comply with CoC No. 1014, 
Amendment No. 11. However, due to factors outside of SNC's control, 
delivery of the compliant canisters is not guaranteed for the April 
2025 loading.
    The NRC has determined that the no-action alternative would result 
in undue potential human health and safety impacts that could be 
avoided by proceeding with the proposed exemption, especially given 
that the staff has concluded in NRC's Safety Determination Memorandum, 
issued with respect to the enforcement action against Holtec regarding 
these violations, that fuel can be stored safely in the MPC-68M-CBS 
canisters.

Agencies Consulted

    The NRC provided the Georgia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) 
and Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Administration 
(GEMA) a copy of this draft EA for review by an email dated August 28, 
2024. On September 25, 2024, Georgia DNR and GEMA provided its 
concurrence by email.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed 
in accordance with the requirements in 10 CFR part 51, which implement 
NEPA. Based upon the foregoing environmental assessment, the NRC finds 
that the proposed action of granting the exemption from the regulations 
in 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11), 
and 72.214, which require the licensee to comply with the terms, 
conditions, and specifications of the CoC, in this case limited to the 
past and specific future loading of baskets with the CBS variant 
design, would not significantly impact the quality of the human 
environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a FONSI is 
appropriate, and an environmental impact statement is not warranted.

IV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through ADAMS, as indicated.

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                    Document description                        ADAMS Accession No. or Federal Register notice
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SNC's request for exemption, dated June 25, 2024...........  ML24177A217.
SNC's request for exemption, amended, dated July 26, 2024..  ML24208A172.
Renewed Certificate of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment 11,    ML23328A045 (Package).
 dated June 29, 2023.
Holtec International, Inc.--Notice of Violation; The U.S.    ML24016A190.
 Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspection Report No.
 07201014/2022-201, EA-23-044, dated January 30, 2024.

[[Page 82647]]

 
10 CFR part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel storage in NRC- 55 FR 29181.
 approved casks, dated July 18, 1990.
EA for part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel storage in NRC- ML051230231.
 approved casks, dated March 8, 1989.
Direct final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage    83 FR 63794.
 Casks: Holtec International HI-STORM 100 Cask System CoC
 No. 1014, Certificate and Amendment Nos. 11 and 12, dated
 December 12, 2018.
Safety Determination of a Potential Structural Failure of    ML24018A085.
 the Fuel Basket During Accident Conditions for the HI-
 STORM 100 and HI-STORM Flood/Wind Dry Cask Storage
 Systems, dated January 31, 2024.
NRC email to Georgia DNR and GEMA, ``State's review of EA/   ML24274A068.
 FONSI for Hatch Exemption,'' dated August 28, 2024.
Georgia DNR and GEMA email response, ``State's response      ML24274A067.
 regarding EA/FONSI for Hatch Exemption,'' dated September
 25, 2024.
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    Dated: October 8, 2024.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Christian Jacobs,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of 
Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-23630 Filed 10-10-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P


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