Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2000/06/22/00-15542/list-of-approved-spent-fuel-storage-casks-standardized-nuhoms-24p-and-nuhoms-52b-revision
Timestamp: 2018-08-14 10:02:40
Document Index: 431111440

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 72', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 72', 'art 51', '§\u200972', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 72', '§\u200972', 'art 121']

Federal Register :: List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Standardized NUHOMS®-24P and NUHOMS®-52B Revision
List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Standardized NUHOMS®-24P and NUHOMS®-52B Revision
The final rule is effective September 5, 2000, unless significant adverse comments are received by July 24, 2000. If significant adverse comments are received, a timely withdrawal will be published in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take effect. If this direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC
65 FR 38715
38715-38718 (4 pages)
00-15542
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/00-15542 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/00-15542
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 38715
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations revising the Transnuclear West (TN West), Inc., Standardized NUHOMS®-24P and NUHOMS®-52B cask system (NUHOMS® storage system) listing within the “List of approved spent fuel storage casks” to include Amendment No. 2 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1004. Amendment No. 2 makes two main changes: it updates the Technical Specifications' fuel qualification tables to reflect additional fuel parameters; and it allows storage of burnable poison rod assemblies (BPRAs) in model 24P of the NUHOMS® storage system, along with spent fuel. Amendment No. 2 also revises and renumbers several of the conditions in the CoC to reflect the NRC's new standard format for CoCs. However, no technical changes to the CoC's conditions are made by this amendment. This amendment will allow holders of power reactor operating licenses to store spent fuel in the TN West NUHOMS® storage system, as amended, under a general license.
The final rule is effective September 5, 2000, unless significant adverse comments are received by July 24, 2000. If significant adverse comments are received, a timely withdrawal will be published in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take effect. If this direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC will address the comments received as comments on the proposed rule published in the proposed rules section of this Federal Register and will subsequently issue a final rule.
To implement this mandate, the NRC approved dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in NRC-approved casks under a general license, 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 dry storage cask designs.
The NRC subsequently issued a final rule on December 22, 1994 (59 FR 65898) that approved the Standardized NUHOMS® storage system and added it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in § 72.214, as CoC No. 1004. Amendment No. 1 to CoC No. 1004 was issued on March 28, 2000 (65 FR 16299).
The certificate holder (Transnuclear West, Inc.) submitted an application to the NRC on February 16, 1996, supplemented on November 15, 1996, October 9, 1998, and February 10, 1999, to amend CoC No. 1004 to include a new fuel specification and on July 26, 1999, to amend CoC No. 1004 to permit a part 72 licensee to store BPRAs.
The first change permits a part 72 licensee to store spent fuel in the NUHOMS® storage system using the new fuel qualification tables. The particular changes are incorporated into section 1.2.1 of the Technical Specifications for CoC No. 1004. The changes will incorporate new fuel qualification tables for both pressurized water reactor (PWR) and boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel. The tables present the minimum required cooling time for fuel as a function of the initial fuel Start Printed Page 38716enrichment and fuel burnup. The use of the tables provides a simplified approach for users of the NUHOMS® storage system to select fuel for storage without calculating specific fuel assembly decay heat and radiation source terms.
The NRC agrees that this direct final rule provides a more simplified, accurate, and straightforward method for qualifying fuel to be stored in the NUHOMS® storage system and has documented its review and evaluation in a Safety Evaluation Report (SER) regarding use of new fuel qualification tables.
The second change permits a part 72 licensee to store BPRAs with Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) 15 x 15 spent fuel assemblies in the NUHOMS® storage system model 24P. A BPRA is a reactor core component that is inserted inside a fuel assembly. BPRAs provide a means of controlling reactor power distribution and do not contain fissile material. No other changes to the TN-West system design were requested in this application. The NRC staff performed a safety evaluation of this proposed CoC amendment request and found that the addition of the BPRAs to the B&W 15 x 15 fuel does not reduce the TN-West safety margin. In addition, the NRC staff has determined that the storage of BPRAs in the TN-West does not pose any increased risk to public health and safety. This is documented in a SER concerning the BPRA change.
The amended TN-West cask system, when used in accordance with the conditions specified in the CoC, the Technical Specifications, and NRC regulations, will meet the requirements of part 72; thus, adequate protection of public health and safety will continue to be ensured. Currently, the CoC is approved only for storage of spent fuel assemblies.
Amendment No. 2 to CoC No. 1004, the revised Technical Specifications, the underlying Safety Evaluation Reports (SERs) for the amendment and the Environmental Assessment, are available for inspection at the NRC Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW. (Lower Level), Washington, DC. Single copies of the CoC and SERs may be obtained from Stephanie P. Bush-Goddard, Ph.D., Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, telephone (301) 415-6257, email SPB@nrc.gov.
Certificate No. 1004 will be revised indicating the addition of Amendment No. 2 with an effective date of September 5, 2000.
This rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment No. 2 to CoC No. 1004 and does not include other aspects of the Standardized NUHOMS®-24P and NUHOMS®-52B cask system design. Because NRC considers this amendment to its rules to be noncontroversial and routine, the NRC is using the direct final rule procedure for this rule. The amendment to the rules will become effective on September 5, 2000. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments on the associated proposed rule published concurrently in the proposed rules section of this Federal Register by July 24, 2000, then the NRC will publish a notice that withdraws this action and will address the comments received in response to the proposed amendments. These comments will be addressed in a subsequent final rule. Absent significant modifications to the proposed changes requiring republication, the NRC will not initiate a second comment period on this action.
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 is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment and, therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required. The rule will amend the CoC for the NUHOMS® storage 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 add new fuel qualification tables to the technical specifications and add BPRAs to the authorized contents of the NUHOMS® system model 24P. 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, 2120 L Street NW. (Lower Level), Washington, DC. Single copies of the environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact are available from Stephanie P. Bush-Goddard, Ph.D., Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, telephone (301) 415-6257, email SPB@nrc.gov.
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 Start Printed Page 38717final rule, the NRC would revise the Transnuclear West, Inc., Standardized NUHOMS® cask system listing within the list of NRC approved casks for spent fuel storage in § 72.214. This action does not constitute the establishment of a standard that establishes generally-applicable requirements.
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 system designs approved by the NRC. Any nuclear power reactor licensee can use NRC-certified casks 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 December 22, 1994 (59 FR 65898), the NRC issued an amendment to part 72 that approved the Standardized NUHOMS® storage system designs by adding them to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in § 72.214. The NRC subsequently issued Amendment No. 1 to CoC No. 1004 on March 28, 2000 (65 FR 16299). The certificate holder (Transnuclear West, Inc.) submitted an application to the NRC on February 16, 1996, supplemented on November 15, 1996, October 9, 1998, February 10, 1999 and July 26, 1999 to amend CoC No. 1004 to include new fuel specification tables and to add BPRAs to the authorized contents of the NUHOMS® storage system. The proposed new fuel specification tables in Amendment No. 2 provides a simplified method for determining acceptable spent fuel to be stored in the NUHOMS® storage system and will add BPRAs as authorized contents of the NUHOMS® storage system model 24P that are currently only for storage of spent fuel assemblies.
The alternative to Amendment 2 is to withhold approval of this amended cask system design. This alternative would require users of the NUHOMS® storage system to use a less efficient method for selecting fuel for storage and would also require users to bear the additional costs of disassembling BPRA's from the spent fuel assemblies and of storing them as low-level waste.
In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), the NRC certifies that this rule will not, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This direct final rule affects only the operation of nuclear power plants, independent spent fuel storage facilities, and TN-West. 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 Small Business Size Standards set out in regulations issued by the Small Business Administration at 13 CFR part 121.
[FR Doc. 00-15542 Filed 6-21-00; 8:45 am]