Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/10/07/2016-24317/list-of-approved-spent-fuel-storage-casks-nac-international-magnastor-cask-system-certificate-of
Timestamp: 2017-08-17 14:09:42
Document Index: 350590511

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

A Rule by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on 10/07/2016
The direct final rule is effective December 21, 2016, unless significant adverse comments are received by November 7, 2016. If the direct final rule is withdrawn as a result of such comments, timely notice of the withdrawal will be published in the Federal Register.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.
69659-69663 (5 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2016-24317 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2016-24317
Please include Docket ID NRC-2016-0137 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact information.Start Printed Page 69660
This rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031 and does not include other aspects of the NAC MAGNASTOR® 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 December 21, 2016. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments on this direct final rule by November 7, 2016, 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.
By letter dated December 11, 2015, NAC submitted a request to the NRC to amend CoC No. 1031. As documented in the Preliminary Safety Evaluation Report (PSER) and described further below, the NRC staff performed a detailed safety evaluation of the proposed CoC Amendment 6 request. This direct final rule revises the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System listing in 10 CFR 72.214 by adding Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031. The amendment consists of the changes described below, as set forth in the revised CoC and TSs. The revised TSs are identified in the PSER.
Amendment No. 6 revises NAC-MAGNASTOR TSs to align with the NAC-MPC and NAC-UMS TSs. The CoC No. 1031 TSs currently require that a program be established and maintained for loading, unloading, and preparing fuel for storage without any indication of duration for the program. Amendment No. 6 clarifies the applicability of TS requirements depending on the status of operations, limiting maintenance of certain programs until all spent fuel is removed from the spent fuel pool and transport operations are completed. Additionally, Amendment No. 6 incorporates the change to LCO 3.1.1 that was previously reviewed and approved by the NRC in Amendment No. 4. The NRC staff determined that Amendment No. 6 does not include changes to cask design requirements and does not reflect a change in design or fabrication of the cask. The NRC staff found that the TS and operating limit changes do not impact the casks ability to continue to safely store spent fuel in accordance with part 72 requirements.
The amended NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask 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 the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System casks that meet the criteria of Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031 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 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 NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System design listed in 10 CFR 72.214, “List of approved spent fuel storage casks.” This action does not constitute the establishment of a standard that contains generally applicable requirements.Start Printed Page 69661
The action is to amend 10 CFR 72.214 to revise the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System listing within the “List of approved spent fuel storage casks” to include Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031. 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 amends the CoC for the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System design 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. Specifically, Amendment No. 6 revises NAC-MAGNASTOR TSs to align with the NAC-MPC and NAC-UMS TSs. The CoC No. 1031 TSs require that a program be established and maintained for loading, unloading, and preparing fuel for storage without any indication of duration for the program. Amendment No. 6 limits maintenance of this program until all spent fuel is removed from the spent fuel pool and transport operations are completed. Related training and radiation protection program requirements are modified accordingly. Additionally, Amendment No. 6 incorporates the change to LCO 3.1.1 previously approved by the NRC in CoC No. 1031 Amendment No. 4.
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. 6 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.
The NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System is 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 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, 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 change in design or fabrication of the cask. There are no changes to cask design requirements in the proposed CoC amendment. In addition, because there are no design or significant process changes, any resulting occupational exposure or offsite dose rates from the implementation of Amendment No. 6 would remain well within the 10 CFR part 20 limits. Therefore, the proposed CoC changes will not result in any radiological or non-radiological environmental impacts that differ significantly 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 revisions in the amounts of any effluent released, no significant increase in the individual or cumulative radiation exposure and no significant increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological accidents. The NRC staff documented its safety findings in a PSER.
The alternative to this action is to deny approval of Amendment No. 6 and end the direct final rule. Consequently, any 10 CFR part 72 general licensee that seeks to load spent nuclear fuel into the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System in accordance with the changes described in proposed Amendment No. 6 would have to request an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212 and 72.214. Under this alternative, an interested 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. Therefore, the environmental impacts would be the same or less than the action.
Approval of Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031 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, “List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System, Amendment No. 6” 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.Start Printed Page 69662
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 NAC. 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 November 21, 2008 (73 FR 70587), the NRC issued an amendment to 10 CFR part 72 that approved the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System design by adding it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214.
By letter dated December 11, 2015, NAC submitted an application to amend the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System as described in Section IV, “Discussion of Changes,” of this document.
The alternative to this action is to withhold approval of Amendment No. 6 and to require any 10 CFR part 72 general licensee seeking to load spent nuclear fuel into the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System under the changes described in Amendment No. 6 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.
The NRC has determined that the backfit rule (10 CFR 72.62) does not apply to this direct final rule. Therefore, a backfit analysis is not required. This direct final rule revises CoC No. 1031 for the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System, as currently listed in 10 CFR 72.214, “List of approved spent fuel storage casks.” Amendment No. 6 revises NAC-MAGNASTOR TSs to align with the NAC-MPC and NAC-UMS TSs. The CoC No. 1031 TSs require that a program be established and maintained for loading, unloading, and preparing fuel for storage without any indication of duration for the program. Amendment No. 6 limits maintenance of this program until all spent fuel is removed from the spent fuel pool and transport operations are completed. Related training and radiation protection program requirements are modified accordingly. Additionally, Amendment No. 6 incorporates the change to LCO 3.1.1 previously approved by the NRC in CoC No. 1031 Amendment No. 4.
Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031 for the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System was initiated by NAC and was not submitted in response to new NRC requirements, or an NRC request for amendment. Amendment No. 6 applies only to new casks fabricated and used under Amendment No. 6. These changes do not affect existing users of the NAC MAGNASTOR® Cask System, and Amendment Nos. 1-3, Revisions 1, as well as Revision 1 of the Initial Certificate, and Amendments Nos. 4-5 continue to be effective for existing users. While current CoC users may comply with the new requirements in Amendment No. 6, this would be a voluntary decision on the part of current users. For these reasons, Amendment No. 6 to CoC No. 1031 does not constitute backfitting under 10 CFR 72.62, 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. Accordingly, no backfit analysis or additional documentation addressing the issue finality criteria in 10 CFR part 52 has been prepared by the NRC staff.
NAC License Amendment Request, Letter Dated December 11, 2015 ML15349A941
Proposed CoC No. 1031, Amendment No. 6 ML16119A101
Proposed CoC No. 1031, Amendment No. 6—Technical Specifications, Appendix A ML16119A110
Proposed CoC No. 1031, Amendment No. 6—Technical Specifications, Appendix B ML16119A118
CoC No. 1031, Amendment No. 6—Preliminary Safety Evaluation Report ML16119A123
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-2016-0137. 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-2016-0137); (2) Click the “Sign up for Email Alerts” link; and (3) Enter your email address and select how Start Printed Page 69663frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or monthly).
[FR Doc. 2016-24317 Filed 10-6-16; 8:45 am]