Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/02/01/E7-1644/list-of-approved-spent-fuel-storage-casks-standardized-nuhoms
Timestamp: 2017-10-22 05:13:24
Document Index: 506634875

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

A Rule by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 02/01/2007
The final rule is effective April 17, 2007, unless significant adverse comments are received by March 5, 2007. 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 If the rule is withdrawn, timely notice will be published in the Federal Register.
72 FR 4615
4615-4618 (4 pages)
3150-AI03
E7-1644
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/E7-1644 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/E7-1644
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 4615
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations revising the Transnuclear, Inc., Standardized NUHOMS® System listing within the “List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks” to include Amendment No. 9 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1004. Amendment No. 9 will modify the CoC by revising Technical Specifications 1.2.1 and 1.2.14 to add the Framatome-ANP, Version 9x9-2 fuel assemblies as approved contents for storage in the NUHOMS®-61BT dry shielded canister, under the general license provisions of 10 CFR part 72.
You may submit comments by any one of the following methods. Please include the following number (RIN 3150-AI03) in the subject line of your comments. Comments on rulemakings submitted in writing or in electronic form will be made available for public inspection. Because your comment will not be edited to remove any identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against including personal information such as social security numbers and birth dates in your submission.
E-mail comments to: SECY@nrc.gov. If you do not receive a reply e-mail confirming that we have received your comments, contact us directly at (301) 415-1966. You may also submit comments via the NRC's rulemaking Web site at http://rulemaking.llnl.gov. Address questions about our rulemaking Web site to Carol Gallagher (301) 415-5905; e-mail cag@nrc.gov. Comments can also be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays [telephone (301) 415-1966].
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC after November 1, 1999, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/​NRC/​ADAMS/​index.html. From this site, the public can gain entry into the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. 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 e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. An electronic copy of the CoC No. 1004, the proposed Technical Specifications (TS), and the preliminary safety evaluation report (SER) for Amendment 9 can be found under ADAMS Accession Nos. ML062830065, ML062830067, and ML062830069.
CoC No. 1004, the proposed TS, the preliminary SER for Amendment No. 9, and the environmental assessment, are available for inspection at the NRC PDR, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD. Single copies of these documents may be obtained from Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6219, e-mail jmm2@nrc.gov.
Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6219, e-mail 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 Start Printed Page 4616December 22, 1994 (59 FR 65898), that approved the Standardized NUHOMS® System (NUHOMS®-24P and -52B) cask designs and added them to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214 as CoC No. 1004. Amendments 3, 5, and 6, respectively, added the -61BT, -32PT, -24PHB designs to the Standardized NUHOMS® System.
On April 18, 2006, and as supplemented on June 21, 2006, the certificate holder (Transnuclear, Inc.) submitted an application to the NRC to amend CoC No. 1004 to permit a Part 72 licensee to store Framatome-ANP, Version 9x9-2 fuel assemblies (FANP9 9x9-2) in the NUHOMS®-61BT dry shielded canister. No other changes to the Standardized NUHOMS® System design were requested in this application. The NRC staff performed a detailed safety evaluation of the proposed CoC amendment request and found that an acceptable safety margin is maintained. In addition, the NRC staff has determined that there continues to be reasonable assurance that public health and safety and the environment will be adequately protected.
This direct final rule revises the Standardized NUHOMS® System cask design listing in 10 CFR 72.214 by adding Amendment No. 9 to CoC No. 1004. The amendment consists of changes to the TS that will allow for the addition of the FANP9 9x9-2 fuel assemblies as approved contents for storage in the NUHOMS®-61BT dry shielded canister. The particular TS which are changed are identified in the NRC staff's SER for Amendment No. 9.
The amended Standardized NUHOMS® System, when used under the conditions specified in the CoC, the TS, and NRC regulations, will meet the requirements of Part 72; thus, adequate protection of public health and safety will continue to be ensured.
Certificate No. 1004 is revised by adding the effective date of Amendment No. 9.
This rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment 9 to CoC No. 1004 and does not include other aspects of the Standardized NUHOMS® 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 April 17, 2007. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments by March 5, 2007, 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 elsewhere in this Federal Register. The NRC will not initiate a second comment period on this action.
The National Technology Transfer and Advancement 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 will revise the Standardized NUHOMS® System design listed in § 72.214 (List of NRC-approved spent fuel storage cask designs). This action does not constitute the establishment of a standard that contains generally applicable requirements.
The Presidential Memorandum, “Plain Language in Government Writing,” published June 10, 1998 (63 FR 31883), directed that the Government's documents be in clear and accessible language. The NRC requests comments on this direct final rule specifically with respect to the clarity and effectiveness of the language used. Comments should be sent to the address listed under the heading ADDRESSES above.
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 NRC has prepared an environmental assessment and, on the basis of this environmental assessment, has made a finding of no significant impact. This rule will amend the CoC for the Standardized NUHOMS® 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 CoC by revising TS 1.2.1 and 1.2.14 to add the FANP9 9x9-2 fuel assemblies as approved contents for storage in the NUHOMS®-61BT dry shielded canister. 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 Start Printed Page 4617and finding of no significant impact are available from Jayne M. McCausland, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone (301) 415-6219, e-mail 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 10 CFR 72.214. On December 22, 1994 (59 FR 65898), the NRC issued an amendment to part 72 that approved the Standardized NUHOMS® System design by adding it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214. On April 18, 2006, and as supplemented on June 21, 2006, the certificate holder, Transnuclear, Inc., submitted an application to the NRC to amend CoC No. 1004 to permit a part 72 licensee to use the FANP9 9x9-2 fuel assemblies in the NUHOMS®-61BT dry shielded canister.
The alternative to this action is to withhold approval of Amendment No. 9 and to require any part 72 licensee seeking to use Amendment No. 9 to request an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212 and 72.214. Under this alternative, each interested 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.
Approval of the direct final rule is consistent with previous NRC actions. Further, the direct final rule will have no adverse effect on public health and safety. This direct final rule has no significant identifiable impact or benefit on other Government agencies. Based on this regulatory analysis, the NRC concludes that the requirements of the direct final rule are commensurate with the NRC's responsibilities for public health and safety and the common defense and security. No other available alternative is believed to be as satisfactory, and thus, this action is recommended.
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 the licensing and operation of nuclear power plants, independent spent fuel storage facilities, and TN. The companies that own these plants 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).
The NRC has determined that the backfit rule (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 in 10 CFR Chapter I. Therefore, a backfit analysis is not required.
Amendment Number 7 Effective Date: March 2, 2004. Start Printed Page 4618
Amendment Number 8 Effective Date: December 5, 2005.
Amendment Number 9 Effective Date: April 17, 2007.
Model Number: NUHOMS®-24P, -52B, -61BT, -32PT, -24PHB, and -24PTH.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of January, 2007.
[FR Doc. E7-1644 Filed 1-31-07; 8:45 am]