[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 149 (Thursday, August 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44940-44942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4145]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 72-60]
Carolina Power and Light Company; H.B. Robinson Independent Spent
Fuel Storage Installation; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is
considering issuance of an exemption to Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.
also known as Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L or licensee),
pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, from specific provisions of 10 CFR
72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2)(i)(A), 72.212(b)(7), and 72.214. The
licensee wants to use the Transnuclear, Inc. (TN) NUHOMS Storage
System, Certificate of Compliance No. 1004 (CoC or Certificate)
Amendment No. 8 (24PTH DCS), to store spent nuclear fuel under a
general license in an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
(ISFSI) associated with the operation of the H. B. Robinson Steam
Electric Plant, Unit No. 2 (HBRSEP2), located in Darlington County,
South Carolina. The requested exemption would allow CP&L to use the TN
NUHOMS[supreg]-24PTH system with revised transfer cask/dry shielded
canister (TC/DSC) handling and lifting height specifications prior to
completion of the proposed TN NUHOMS CoC Amendment No. 8 rulemaking.
Environmental Assessment (EA)
Identification of Proposed Action: The proposed action would exempt
CP&L from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2)(i)(A),
72.212(b)(7), and 72.214 and enable CP&L to use the TN NUHOMS[supreg]-
24PTH cask design with modifications at HBRSEP2. These regulations
specifically require storage in casks approved under the provisions of
10 CFR Part 72 and compliance with the conditions set forth in the CoC
for each dry spent fuel storage cask used by an ISFSI general licensee.
The TN NUHOMS[supreg] CoC provides requirements, conditions, and
operating limits in Attachment A, Technical Specifications. The
proposed action would exempt CP&L from the requirements of 10 CFR
72.212(a)(2) and 72.214 enabling the licensee to store fuel in the TN
NUHOMS[supreg]-24PTH DSC system prior to the effective date of the
final rule change for the Amendment No. 8 approving the issuance of
this amended CoC. The proposed action would also exempt CP&L from the
requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(b)(2)(i)(A) and 72.212(b(7) to allow
lifting and handling a loaded TC/DSC above the height limit in the
proposed Amendment No. 8. Specifically, the exemption would be from the
requirement to limit the lift height of a loaded TC/DSC to 80 inches
when outside the spent fuel pool building. In lieu of this requirement,
CP&L stated that the TC/DSC will not be lifted higher than 80 inches
when not being handled by devices that meet the existing 10 CFR Part 50
license heavy load requirements.
Additionally, TN identified an issue in the proposed Amendment No.
8 CoC that resulted in a need for clarification to the proposed
technical specifications in regard to thermal loading patterns and
transit times for the 24PTH DSC. CP&L stated that a limit of 1.3
kilowatts decay heat level per fuel assembly will
[[Page 44941]]
be imposed to ensure cask loadings are bounded by the analyses
supporting the proposed Amendment No. 8. Further, the NRC staff
identified an issue in the proposed Amendment No. 8 CoC related to the
potential for air (oxygen) to come in contact with spent fuel during
DSC draining and vacuum drying evolutions. CP&L committed to
implementing procedural controls to ensure that (1) only nitrogen or
helium is used for blowdown during vacuum drying evolutions, and (2)
when draining water from the DSC at or below the level of the fuel
cladding, a nitrogen cover will be used. CP&L requested that the
exemptions remain in effect for 90 days following the effective date of
the final rule change to 10 CFR 72.214 to incorporate TN CoC No. 1004,
Amendment No. 8. The proposed action would allow CP&L to use the -24PTH
system as described in the TN NUHOMS[supreg] CoC amendment requests
currently under staff review and subject to the commitments made by
CP&L with respect to the issues that have been identified in the
proposed CoC for TN NUHOMS[supreg] Amendment No. 8.
The proposed action is in accordance with the licensee's request
for exemption dated June 13, 2005, as supplemented July 20, 2005.
Need for the Proposed Action: The proposed action is needed because
CP&L plans to initiate the transfer of the HBRSEP2 spent fuel pool
contents to the ISFSI in August 2005. The fuel transfer campaign was
scheduled to begin in late July 2005. The licensee has planned its dry
fuel campaign to support the HBRSEP2 Refuel Outage 23 (RO-23),
currently scheduled to begin on September 17, 2005. The licensee stated
that the exemption is requested to maintain the ability to offload a
full core of 157 fuel assemblies upon restart from RO-23 in October
2005.
Additionally, if no fuel is transferred to dry storage prior to the
start of RO-23, there would be insufficient space in the spent fuel
pool for the 56 new fuel assemblies that will be loaded into the
reactor core during RO-23. This would complicate the fuel handling
evolutions required for core reload during the outage. The proposed
action is necessary because the 10 CFR 72.214 rulemaking to implement
the TN NUHOMS[supreg] CoC Amendment No. 8 is not projected for
completion until late Fall 2005, which will not support the HBRSEP2
fuel transfer and dry cask storage loading schedule.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: The NRC has completed
its evaluation of the proposed action and concludes that there will be
no significant environmental impact if the exemptions are granted. The
staff reviewed the analyses provided in the TN NUHOMS amendment
applications addressing the NUHOMS[supreg] -24PTH, -32PT, and -24PHB
systems. Included in those applications were TC/DSC lifting and
handling height technical specification revisions. The staff has
completed Safety Evaluation Reports (SERs) associated with reviews of
the applications. The SER for the TN NUHOMS[supreg] -24PTH system
documenting the staff's safety findings and conclusions was published
in the Federal Register on May 25, 2005. The SER documenting the
staff's safety finding associated with the lifting and handling height
restriction revision was included as an enclosure to the letter to U.
B. Chopra, dated March 30, 2005.
The thermal loading pattern issue identified by TN was reviewed by
the staff and found to be acceptable, with a 1.3 kW per assembly decay
heat limit. The staff-identified issue regarding spent fuel in an
oxidizing environment was reviewed and found acceptable provided the
spent fuel environment for short term operations, draining and vacuum
drying, is limited to an inert atmosphere (nitrogen or helium). The
staff agrees that both CP&L commitments, regarding the decay heat limit
per fuel assembly and the limiting of blowdown and draining evolutions
to an environment of nitrogen or helium, will maintain safety regarding
fuel loading and transfer operations. The NRC concludes that there is
reasonable assurance that the proposed exemptions have no impact on
off-site doses.
The potential environmental impact of using the NUHOMS[supreg]
system was initially presented in the Environmental Assessment (EA) for
the Final Rule to add the TN Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal
Modular Storage System for Irradiated Nuclear Fuel to the list of
approved spent fuel storage casks in 10 CFR 72.214 (59 FR 65898, dated
December 22, 1994). The potential environmental impact of using the
NUHOMS[supreg] -24PTH system was initially presented in the
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the direct final rule to add the
24PTH system to the Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] system, Amendment No. 8
(70 FR 29931, dated May 25, 2005). The TN -24PTH, -32PT, and -24PHB
systems do not increase the probability or consequences of accidents,
no changes are being made in the types of any effluents that may be
released offsite, and there is no significant increase in occupational
or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no significant
radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
With regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. It does
not affect nonradiological plant effluents and has no other
environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant
nonradiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action.
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Alternative to the Proposed Action: Since there is no significant
environmental impact associated with the proposed action, alternatives
with equal or greater environmental impact were not evaluated. As an
alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered denial of the
proposed action. Denial of the exemption would result in no change in
current environmental impact.
Agencies and Persons Consulted: This exemption request was
discussed with Mr. Henry Porter, Assistant Director of the Division of
Waste Management, Department of Health and Environmental Control, for
the State of South Carolina, on July 13, and July 27, 2005. He stated
that the State had no comments on the technical aspects of the
exemption. The NRC staff has determined that a consultation under
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act is not required because the
proposed action will not affect listed species or critical habitat. The
NRC staff has also determined that the proposed action is not a type of
activity having the potential to cause effects on historic properties.
Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act.
Finding of No Significant Impact
The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed
in accordance with the requirements set forth in 10 CFR Part 51. Based
upon the foregoing Environmental Assessment, the Commission finds that
the proposed action of granting the exemption from specific provisions
of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(2)(i)(A), 72.212(b)(7), and 10 CFR
72.214, to allow CP&L to use a modified version of the proposed CoC No.
1004, Amendment No. 8, subject to conditions, will not significantly
impact the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the
Commission has determined that an environmental impact statement for
the proposed exemption is not warranted.
[[Page 44942]]
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of NRC's ``Rules of Practice,''
final NRC records and documents regarding this proposed action are
publically available in the records component of NRC's Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). The request for
exemption dated June 13, 2005, and July 20, 2005, was docketed under 10
CFR Part 72, Docket No. 72-60. These documents may be inspected at
NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. These documents may also be viewed electronically on the
public computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR),
O1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD
20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by
e-mail to [email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of July, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
L. Raynard Wharton,
Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5-4145 Filed 8-3-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P