Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/03/19/2015-06367/list-of-approved-spent-fuel-storage-casks-holtec-hi-storm-floodwind-system-certificate-of-compliance
Timestamp: 2019-08-18 21:08:22
Document Index: 82722258

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 72', 'art 72', 'art 20', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 51', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 20', 'art 72', 'art 51', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 52', 'art 52', 'art 52']

Federal Register :: List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec HI-STORM Flood/Wind System; Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1
List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec HI-STORM Flood/Wind System; Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1
A Rule by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 03/19/2015
The direct final rule is effective June 2, 2015, unless significant adverse comments are received by April 20, 2015. If the direct final rule is withdrawn as a result of such comments, timely notice of the withdrawal will be published in the Federal Register. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before this date. Comments received on this direct final rule will also be considered to be comments on a companion proposed rule published in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.
80 FR 14291
14291-14295 (5 pages)
NRC-2014-0275
3150-AJ52
2015-06367
List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks - Holtec International HI-STORM Flood/Wind Cask System, Amendment 1, Revision 1
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2015-06367 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2015-06367
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 14291
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec International, Inc. (Holtec), HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) System listing within the “List of approved spent fuel storage casks” to add Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1032. Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, allows these casks to accept 14X14B fuel assemblies with minor changes in the internal diameter of the fuel cladding, diameter of the fuel pellet, and spacing between the fuel pins. The amendment also updates testing requirements for the fabrication of Metamic HT neutron-absorbing structural material.
Federal rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0275. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-3463; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
Robert D. MacDougall, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-5175, email: Robert.MacDougall@nrc.gov.
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0275 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 Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0275.
Please include Docket ID NRC-2014-0275 in the subject line of your comment submission.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons for submission to the NRC, 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. Start Printed Page 14292Your 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.
This direct final rule is limited to adding Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, which will supersede Amendment No. 1 (effective December 17, 2014), to CoC No. 1032 to the “List of approved spent fuel storage casks,” and does not include other aspects of the Holtec HI-STORM FW System design. Amendment No. 1 continues to be effective but is now being modified with respect to certain specified provisions, as outlined in Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, and in Section IV of this document, which apply to all general licensees using the casks for Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSIs). Therefore, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, supersedes the previously issued Amendment No. 1 (effective December 17, 2014). In requesting this revision, Holtec indicated that no ISFSI licensee has placed such a cask into service under CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1.
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. The amendment to the rule will become effective on June 2, 2015. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments on this direct final rule by April 20, 2015, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws this action and will subsequently address the comments received in a final rule as a response to the companion proposed rule published in the Proposed Rule section of this issue of the Federal Register. Absent significant modifications to the proposed revisions requiring republication, the NRC will not initiate a second comment period on this action.
For detailed instructions on filing comments, please see the ADDRESSES section of this document.
Section 218(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, as amended, requires that “the 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 NWPA 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 which 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 October 3, 2014 (79 FR 59623), that approved the HI-STORM FW System design amendment and added it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214 as CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1.
On July 31, 2013, Holtec submitted a revision request for the Holtec HI-STORM FW System CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1. Holtec supplemented its request on November 5, 2013. As a revision, the CoC will supersede the previous version of the CoC and its TSs, effective December 17, 2014, in their entirety. Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, revises the authorized contents of the cask in Appendix B to the TSs to include 14X14B fuel assemblies with minor changes in the internal diameter of the fuel cladding, diameter of the fuel pellet, and fuel rod pitch (distance from fuel pin centerlines). The amendment also updates testing requirements for the fabrication of Metamic HT neutron-absorbing aluminum alloy structural material used to secure the spent fuel inside the cask. These changes to Appendix B of the TSs are identified with revision bars in the margin of the document.
Specifically, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, changes the fuel cladding internal diameter, the fuel pellet diameter, and the fuel rod pitch (distance from fuel pin centerlines) of the fuel assembly class 14X14B. These changes in spacing between the fuel pins would result in a volumetric increase of 0.6 percent of the fuel and a reduction of 0.13 percent of the original flow area. Because this reduced flow area is still larger than the 17X17 assembly flow area used as the bounding scenario, the flow resistance factor is still less restrictive than the bounding scenario, and the passive decay heat removal of the proposed 14X14B assembly is still conservative.
Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, also removes fabrication testing requirements for the thermal expansion coefficient and thermal conductivity of Metamic HT neutron-absorbing structural material, as these properties have little variability in this aluminum alloy when fabricated according to the manufacturer's manual.
As documented in the safety evaluation report (SER), the NRC staff performed a detailed safety evaluation of the proposed CoC Amendment No. 1, Revision 1 request. There are no significant changes to cask design requirements in the proposed Revision 1 to the CoC Amendment No. 1. Considering the specific design requirements for each accident condition, 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 Start Printed Page 14293would be insignificant. Amendment No. 1, Revision 1 does not reflect a significant change in design or fabrication of the cask. In addition, any resulting occupational exposure or offsite dose rates from the implementation of Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, would remain well within 10 CFR part 20 radiation protection limits. Therefore, the proposed CoC changes will not result in any radiological or non-radiological environmental impacts that significantly differ from the environmental impacts evaluated in the environmental assessment supporting the October 3, 2014 (79 FR 59623), final rule that approved the HI-STORM FW System design Amendment 1. There will be no significant change in the types or amounts of any effluent released, no significant increase in individual or cumulative radiation exposure, and no significant increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological accidents.
This direct final rule revises the Holtec HI-STORM FW System listing in 10 CFR 72.214 by superseding Amendment 1 to CoC No. 1032 (effective December 17, 2014) with Amendment No. 1, Revision 1. The revision consists of the changes previously described, as set forth in the revised CoC and TSs. Appendix A and the revised Appendix B of the TSs are identified in the SER and are also available in ADAMS.
The amended Holtec HI-STORM FW System design, when used under the conditions specified in the CoC, the TSs, and the NRC's regulations, will meet the requirements of 10 CFR part 72; therefore, adequate protection of public health and safety will continue to be ensured. When this direct final rule becomes effective, persons who hold a general license under 10 CFR 72.210 may load spent nuclear fuel into Holtec HI-STORM FW Systems that meet the criteria of Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, to CoC No. 1032 under 10 CFR 72.212.
The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-113) requires that Federal agencies use technical standards 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 will revise the Holtec HI-STORM FW System design listed in § 72.214, “List of approved spent fuel storage casks.” This action does not constitute the establishment of a standard that contains generally applicable requirements.
This direct final rule amends 10 CFR 72.214 by revising the CoC for the Holtec HI-STORM FW System design listing within the “List of approved spent fuel storage casks” to add Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, to CoC No. 1032. Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the NRC's regulations in subpart A of 10 CFR part 51, “Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions,” 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 NRC has made a finding of no significant impact on the basis of this environmental assessment.
This direct final rule revises the CoC for the Holtec HI-STORM FW System within the list of approved systems that can be used for dry storage of additional fuel assembly designs now in reactor spent fuel storage pools.
On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC issued an amendment to 10 CFR part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel under a general license in cask designs approved by the NRC. The potential environmental impact of using NRC-approved storage casks was initially analyzed in the environmental assessment for the 1990 final rule. The environmental assessment for this Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, of CoC 1032 tiers off of the environmental assessment for the July 18, 1990, final rule. Tiering on past environmental assessments is a standard process under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Holtec HI-STORM FW Systems are designed to mitigate the effects of design basis accidents that could occur during storage. Design basis accidents account for human-induced events and the most severe natural phenomena reported for the site and surrounding area. Postulated accidents analyzed for an ISFSI, the type of facility at which a holder of a power reactor operating license would store spent fuel in casks in accordance with 10 CFR part 72, include tornado winds and tornado-generated missiles, a design basis earthquake, a design basis flood, an accidental cask drop, lightning effects, fire, explosions, and other incidents.
Considering the specific design requirements for each accident condition, the design of the cask would prevent loss of confinement, shielding, and criticality control. If there is no loss of confinement, shielding, or criticality control, the environmental impacts would be insignificant. This amendment does not reflect a significant change in design or fabrication of the cask. There are no significant changes to cask design requirements in the proposed CoC amendment. In addition, because there are no significant design or process changes, any resulting occupational exposure or offsite dose rates from the implementation of Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, would remain well within 10 CFR part 20 radiation protection limits. Therefore, the proposed CoC changes will not result in any radiological or non-radiological environmental impacts that significantly differ from the environmental impacts evaluated in the environmental assessment supporting the July 18, 1990, final rule. There will be no significant change in the types or amounts of any effluents released, no significant increase in individual or cumulative radiation exposure, and no significant Start Printed Page 14294increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological accidents. The staff has documented its safety findings in the SER.
The alternative to this action is to deny approval of Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, and end this direct final rule. Consequently, any 10 CFR part 72 general licensee that seeks to load spent nuclear fuel into the Holtec HI-STORM FW System in accordance with the changes described in proposed Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, would have to request an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212 and 72.214. Under this alternative, interested licensees would have to prepare, and the NRC would have to review, each separate exemption request, thereby increasing the administrative burden upon the NRC and the costs to each licensee. Therefore, the environmental impacts of the alternative to the action would be the same or more than the impacts of the action.
Approval of Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, to CoC No. 1032 would result in no irreversible commitments of resources.
The environmental impacts of the action have been reviewed under the requirements in 10 CFR part 51. Based on the foregoing environmental assessment, the NRC concludes that this direct final rule entitled, “Holtec HI-STORM Flood/Wind System; Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1,” will not have a significant effect on the human environment. Therefore, the NRC has determined that an environmental impact statement is not necessary for this direct final rule.
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), the NRC certifies that this rule will not, if issued, have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This direct final rule affects only nuclear power plant licensees and Holtec International, Inc. These entities do not fall within the scope of the definition of small entities set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility Act or the size standards established by the NRC (10 CFR 2.810).
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, the 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 10 CFR 72.214. On March 28, 2011 (76 FR 17019), the NRC issued an amendment to 10 CFR part 72 that approved the Holtec HI-STORM FW System design by adding it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214.
On July 31, 2013, and as supplemented on November 5, 2013, Holtec submitted an application to amend the HI-STORM FW System as described in Section IV, “Discussion of Changes,” of this document.
The alternative to this action is to withhold approval of Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, and to require any 10 CFR part 72 general licensee seeking to load spent nuclear fuel into a Holtec HI-STORM FW System under the changes described in Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, to request an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212 and 72.214. Under this alternative, each interested 10 CFR part 72 licensee would have to prepare, and the NRC would have to review, a separate exemption request, thereby increasing the administrative burden upon the NRC and the costs to each licensee.
This direct final rule revises the CoC No. 1032 for the Holtec HI-STORM FW System, as currently listed in 10 CFR 72.214, “List of approved spent fuel storage casks.” Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, revises authorized contents of the cask to include 14X14B fuel assemblies with minor changes in the internal diameter of the fuel cladding, diameter of the fuel pellet, and spacing between the fuel pins. The revision also updates testing requirements for the fabrication of Metamic HT neutron-absorbing aluminum alloy structural material used to secure the spent fuel inside the cask.
Although Holtec has manufactured some casks under the existing CoC 1032, Amendment No. 1 that is being revised by this direct final rule, Holtec, as the vendor, is not subject to backfitting protection under 10 CFR 72.62. Moreover, Holtec requested the change and has requested to apply it to the existing casks manufactured under Amendment No. 1. Therefore, even if the vendor were deemed to be an entity protected from backfitting, this request represents a voluntary change and is not backfitting.
Additionally, because Holtec has not delivered any cask certified under CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, no ISFSI licensee has placed such a cask into service. Therefore, the changes in Amendment 1, Revision 1 which are approved in this direct final rule do not fall within the definition of backfitting under 10 CFR 72.62 or 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1), or otherwise represent an inconsistency with the issue finality provisions applicable to combined licenses in 10 CFR part 52.
Finally, the changes in CoC No. 1032, Amendment 1, Revision 1 do not apply to casks manufactured to the initial CoC 1032, and therefore, have no effect on current ISFSI licensees using these casks. While any current CoC user may comply with the new requirements in Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, this would be a voluntary decision on the part of the user. For these reasons, NRC approval of CoC No. 1032, Amendment Start Printed Page 14295No. 1, Revision 1, does not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR 72.62 or 10 CFR 50.109(a)(1), or otherwise represent an inconsistency with the issue finality provisions in 10 CFR part 52 for users of the Holtec HI-STORM FW System manufactured to the initial CoC No. 1032.
For the reasons set forth above, the NRC has not prepared a backfit analysis or additional documentation addressing the issue finality criteria in 10 CFR part 52.
The documents identified in the following table are available to interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as indicated below.
CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1 ML14276A621
CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, Appendix A to the Technical Specifications ML14276A618
CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, Appendix B of the Technical Specifications ML14276A617
CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, Preliminary SER ML14276A620
Holtec International HI-STORM Flood/Wind Multipurpose Canister Storage System, License Amendment Request 1032-2, July 31, 2013 ML13214A023
Submittal of Response to First Request for Additional Information for License Amendment Request No. 2 to the Holtec International HI-STORM Flood/Wind Multi-Purpose Canister Storage System, November 5, 2013 ML13311A103
The NRC may post materials related to this document, including public comments, on the Federal rulemaking Web site at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2014-0275. The Federal rulemaking Web site allows you to receive alerts when changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: (1) Navigate to the docket folder (NRC-2014-0275); (2) click the “Sign up for Email Alerts” link; and (3) enter your email address and select how frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or monthly).
Authority: Atomic Energy Act secs. 51, 53, 57, 62, 63, 65, 69, 81, 161, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 189, 223, 234, 274 (42 U.S.C. 2071, 2073, 2077, 2092, 2093, 2095, 2099, 2111, 2201, 2232, 2233, 2234, 2236, 2237, 2239, 2273, 2282, 2021); Energy Reorganization Act secs. 201, 202, 206, 211 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 5842, 5846, 5851); National Environmental Policy Act sec. 102 (42 U.S.C. 4332); Nuclear Waste Policy Act secs. 131, 132, 133, 135, 137, 141 148 (42 U.S.C. 10151, 10152, 10153, 10155, 10157, 10161, 10168); Government Paperwork Elimination Act sec. 1704 (44 U.S.C. 3504 note); Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 788 (2005).
SAR Title: Final Safety Analysis Report for the Holtec HI-STORM FW System.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of March, 2015.
[FR Doc. 2015-06367 Filed 3-18-15; 8:45 am]