[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 192 (Wednesday, October 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60479-60480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24396]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2012-0100]


Burnup Credit in the Criticality Safety Analyses of Pressurized 
Water Reactor Spent Fuel in Transportation and Storage Casks

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Interim staff guidance; issuance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) 
is issuing a Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Interim Staff 
Guidance (SFST-ISG)-8, Revision 3, entitled, ``Burnup Credit in the 
Criticality Safety Analyses of PWR [Pressurized Water Reactor] Spent 
Fuel in Transportation and Storage Casks.'' This SFST-ISG provides 
guidance for use by NRC staff when reviewing applications requesting 
burnup credit in the criticality safety analyses of pressurized water 
reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in transportation packages and storage 
casks. SFST-ISG-8, Revision 3, includes two major changes in the staff 
recommendations: (1) optional credit for fission product and minor 
actinide neutron absorbing isotopes in the SNF composition, and (2) 
misload analyses and additional administrative procedures in lieu of a 
burnup measurement at the time of loading.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0100 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access information related to this document, which the NRC 
possesses and are publicly available, using any of the following 
methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0100. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected].
     NRC's Interim Staff Guidance Web Site: The SFST-ISG 
documents are also available online under the ``Spent Fuel Storage and 
Transportation'' heading at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/#int.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may access publicly available documents online in the NRC 
Library at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the 
search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and then select ``Begin Web-
based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's 
Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-
4737, or by email to [email protected]. The SFST-ISG-8, Revision 3, 
is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML12261A433.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Andrew Barto, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-492-3336; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC issues SFST-ISGs to communicate insights and lessons 
learned and to address emergent issues not covered in SFST Standard 
Review Plans. In this way, the NRC staff and stakeholders may use the 
guidance in an SFST-ISG document before it is incorporated into a 
formal SRP revision.
    The NRC staff has developed SFST-ISG-8, Revision 3 to (a) 
incorporate the results of burnup credit criticality safety research 
performed since the last SFST-ISG-8 revision in 2002 into the limits 
for the licensing basis, (b) provide recommendations regarding advanced 
isotopic depletion and criticality code validation techniques, (c) 
provide recommendations regarding credit for fission product neutron 
absorbing nuclides in the criticality analysis for

[[Page 60480]]

SNF systems, (d) add a recommendation for an optional misload analysis 
coupled with additional administrative SNF system loading procedures, 
in lieu of a direct burnup measurement, and (e) make miscellaneous and 
editorial changes.

II. Further Information

    The draft SFST-ISG-8, Revision 3, was published in the Federal 
Register on May 2, 2012 (77 FR 26050) for a 30-day public comment 
period. The public comment period closed on June 1, 2012. A table 
containing the comments received from external stakeholders and the 
staff responses to these comments is available in ADAMS under Accession 
No. ML12261A432.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of September, 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark Lombard,
Director, Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2012-24396 Filed 10-2-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P