Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/08/30/01-21934/list-of-approved-spent-fuel-storage-casks-nac-mpc-revision
Timestamp: 2017-10-22 18:06:28
Document Index: 659446142

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 72', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 72', '§\u200972', '§\u200972', 'art 51', 'art 72', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 72', '§\u200972']

A Rule by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 08/30/2001
The final rule is effective November 13, 2001, unless significant adverse comments are received by October 1, 2001. 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. If the rule is withdrawn, timely notice will be published in the Federal Register.
01-21934
72.214 List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/01-21934 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/01-21934
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations revising the NAC-MPC cask system listing within the “List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks” to include Amendment No. 1 to Certificate of Compliance Number 1025. Amendment No. 1 will modify the present cask system design to permit a licensee to use an alternate fuel basket design with enlarged fuel tubes in corner locations; increase the operational time limits provided in the Technical Specifications (TS) for canister loading, closure, and transfer when canister heat loads are lower than design basis heat loads; revise the canister surface contamination limits in TS to maintain worker dose as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA); and revise some drawings to reflect changes identified during cask and component fabrication under a general license.
Documents created or received at the NRC after November 1, 1999, are also available electronically at the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/​NRC/​ADAMS/​index.html. From this site, the Start Printed Page 45750public can gain entry into the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. An electronic copy of the proposed Certificate of Compliance (CoC) and preliminary safety evaluation report (SER) can be found under ADAMS Accession No. ML 011380038. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to pdr@nrc.gov.
CoC No. 1025, the revised TS, and the underlying SER for Amendment No. 1, and the Environmental Assessment, are available for inspection at the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. Single copies of these documents may be obtained from Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6219, email jmm2@nrc.gov.
To implement this mandate, the NRC approved dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in NRC-approved casks under a general license by publishing a final rule in 10 CFR part 72 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 within 10 CFR part 72, entitled “Approval of Spent Fuel Storage Casks” containing procedures and criteria for obtaining NRC approval of spent fuel storage cask designs. The NRC subsequently issued a final rule on March 9, 2000 (65 FR 12444) that approved the NAC-MPC cask design and added it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in § 72.214 as Certificate of Compliance Number (CoC No.) 1025.
On September 29, 2000, and as supplemented on October 5, 2000, March 16, 2001, April 6, 2001, and July 27, 2001, NAC International, Inc., submitted an application and associated Safety Analysis Report to the NRC to amend CoC No.1025 to permit a Part 72 general licensee to: (1) Use an alternate fuel basket design with enlarged fuel tubes in corner locations; (2) increase the operational time limits provided in TS for canister loading, closure, and transfer when canister heat loads are lower than design basis heat loads; (3) revise the canister surface contamination limits in TS to maintain worker dose ALARA; and (4) revise some drawings to reflect changes identified during cask and component fabrication. No other changes to the NAC-MPC cask system design were requested in this application. The NRC staff performed a detailed safety evaluation of the proposed CoC amendment request and found that the requested changes do not reduce the safety margin. In addition, the NRC staff has determined that the changes do not pose any increased risk to public health and safety.
This direct final rule revises the NAC-MPC cask design listing in § 72.214 by adding Amendment No. 1 to CoC No. 1025. The amendment consists of changes to TS 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.5, 3.1.6, 3.1.10, and 3.2.2, as identified in the NRC staff's SER for Amendment No. 1.
Certificate No. 1025 is revised by adding the effective date of the initial certificate, and the effective date of Amendment Number 1. The CoC and the TS have been modified.
This rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment 1 to CoC No. 1025 and does not include other aspects of the NAC-MPC cask system design. The NRC is using the “direct final rule procedure” to issue this amendment because it represents a limited and routine change to an existing CoC that is expected to be noncontroversial. Adequate protection of public health and safety continues to be ensured. The amendment to the rule will become effective on November 13, 2001. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by October 1, 2001, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws this action and will address the comments received in response to the proposed amendments published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. 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:
(3) The comment causes the staff to make a change to the CoC or TS.
The National Technology Transfer Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-113) requires that Federal agencies use technical standards that are developed or adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies unless the use of such a standard is inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical. In this direct final rule, the NRC would revise the NAC-MPC cask system design listed in § 72.214 (List of approved spent fuel Start Printed Page 45751storage cask designs). This action does not constitute the establishment of a standard that establishes generally applicable requirements.
Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the NRC regulations in Subpart A of 10 CFR part 51, the NRC has determined that this rule, if adopted, would not be a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment and, therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required. The rule would amend the CoC for the NAC-MPC cask system within the list of approved spent fuel storage casks that power reactor licensees can use to store spent fuel at reactor sites under a general license. The amendment will modify the present cask system design to permit a Part 72 licensee to: (1) Use an alternate fuel basket design with enlarged fuel tubes in corner locations; (2) increase the operational time limits provided in TS for canister loading, closure, and transfer when canister heat loads are lower than design basis heat loads; (3) revise the canister surface contamination limits in TS to maintain worker dose ALARA; and (4) revise some drawings to reflect changes identified during cask and component fabrication. The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact on which this determination is based are available for inspection at the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. Single copies of the environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact are available from Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6219, email jmm2@nrc.gov.
On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC issued an amendment to 10 CFR Part 72 to provide for the storage of spent nuclear fuel under a general license in cask designs approved by the NRC. Any nuclear power reactor licensee can use NRC-approved cask designs to store spent nuclear fuel if it notifies the NRC in advance, spent fuel is stored under the conditions specified in the cask's CoC, and the conditions of the general license are met. A list of NRC-approved cask designs is contained in § 72.214. On March 9, 2000 (65 FR 12444), the NRC subsequently issued an amendment to Part 72 that approved the NAC-MPC cask design by adding it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in § 72.214. On September 29, 2000, and as supplemented on October 5, 2000, March 16, 2001, April 6, 2001, and July 27, 2001, NAC International, Inc., submitted an application and associated Safety Analysis Report to the NRC to amend CoC No.1025 to permit a Part 72 general licensee to: (1) Use an alternate fuel basket design with enlarged fuel tubes in corner locations; (2) increase the operational time limits provided in TS for canister loading, closure, and transfer when canister heat loads are lower than design basis heat loads; (3) revise the canister surface contamination limits in TS to maintain worker dose ALARA; and (4) revise some drawings to reflect changes identified during cask and component fabrication.
This direct final rule will revise the NAC-MPC cask design listing in § 72.214 by adding Amendment No. 1 to CoC No. 1025. The amendment consists of changes to TS 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.5, 3.1.6, 3.1.10, and 3.2.2, as identified in the NRC staff's SER for Amendment No. 1. The alternative to this action is to withhold approval of this amended cask system design and issue an exemption to each general license. This alternative would cost both the NRC and the utilities more time and money because each utility would have to pursue an exemption.
The NRC has determined that the backfit rule (10 CFR 50.109 or 10 CFR 72.62) does not apply to this direct final rule because this amendment does not involve any provisions that would impose backfits as defined. Therefore, a backfit analysis is not required. Start Printed Page 45752
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of August, 2001.
[FR Doc. 01-21934 Filed 8-29-01; 8:45 am]