[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 3, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40200-40202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16029]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-1004, 72-40, 50-269, 50-270, and 50-287; NRC-2013-0135]
Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Oconee Nuclear Station Units 1, 2,
and 3; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact;
issuance.
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SUMMARY: The NRC is issuing an environmental assessment (EA) and a
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for an exemption request
submitted by Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, on August 13, 2012 for the
Oconee Nuclear Station Independent Spent Fuel Storage Facility (ISFSI).
[[Page 40201]]
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0135 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 is publicly available, using any of the following
methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0135. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-492-
3668; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
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 ADAMS accession number
for each document referenced in this document (if that document is
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is
referenced.
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: Jennifer Davis, Senior Project
Manager, Division of Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555, telephone: 301-287-9173; fax number:
301-287-9341; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of
an exemption to Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC (the applicant or the
licensee) pursuant to Sec. 72.7 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2),
72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.214, and the portion of 10 CFR
72.212(b)(11) that requires compliance with the terms, conditions, and
specifications of the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) only with regard
to the loading of the M5 clad Babcock and Wilcox (B & W) Mark B11 and
Mark B11A fuel. The applicant submitted its exemption request by letter
dated August 13, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12227A686)). The applicant
has previously loaded spent fuel in Transnuclear, Inc. (TN)
Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] System 24PHB dry storage casks (DSC) for
storage in the ISFSI at Oconee Nuclear Station under CoC No. 1004,
Amendment No. 9, as authorized by the General License provisions of 10
CFR part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of
Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related
Greater than Class C Waste.'' The applicant now seeks an exemption to
the CoC conditions that require the general licensee to meet the
requirements of the technical specifications (TS) for the
NUHOMS[supreg] system to permit the loading of M5 fuel into these
canisters. Specifically, the applicant is requesting an exemption from
TS 12.1, ``Fuel Specifications,'' and the associated tables listed
below, which specify requirements for the spent fuel assemblies to be
loaded in the 24PHB DSCs under Amendment No. 9.
Table 1-1i, ``PWR Fuel Specification for Fuel to be Stored in
the Standardized NUHOMS[supreg]-24PHB DSC''
Table 1-2n, ``PWR Fuel Qualification Table for Zone 1 with 0.7
kW per Assembly, Fuel With or Without BPRAs [Burnable Poison Rod
Assembly], for the NUHOMS[supreg]-24PHB DSC''
Table 1-2o, ``PWR Fuel Qualification Table for Zone 2 with 1.0
kW per Assembly, Fuel With or Without BPRAs, for the NUHOMS[supreg]-
24PHB DSC''
Table 1-2p, PWR Fuel Qualification Table for Zone 3 with 1.3
kW per Assembly, Fuel With or Without BPRAs, for the NUHOMS[supreg]-
24PHB DSC''
Specifically, the applicant is requesting an exemption from the
requirement that specifies that the fuel approved for use in these
casks is ``zircaloy clad,'' which includes only Zircaloy-2 or Zircaloy-
4 cladding. This requirement precludes loading B&W Mark B11 and Mark
B11A fuel assemblies, which have M5 cladding, and for which the
applicant requests an exemption to load at Oconee.
II. Environmental Assessment (EA)
Background: Oconee Nuclear Station is located on Lake Keowee in
Oconee County, South Carolina, 8 miles north of Seneca, South Carolina.
Unit 1 began commercial operation in 1973, followed by Units 2 and 3 in
1974. Since 1997, Oconee has been storing spent fuel in an ISFSI
operating under a general license as authorized by 10 CFR part 72,
subpart K, ``General License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor
Sites.'' The licensee also has a site-specific ISFSI license, which is
not affected by this exemption request and associated EA.
Identification of Proposed Action: The CoC is the NRC approved
design for each dry storage cask system. The proposed action would
exempt the applicant from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2),
72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.214, and the portion of 10 CFR
72.212(b)(11) that states the licensee shall comply with the terms,
conditions, and specifications of the CoC with regard to permitting the
loading of B&W Mark B11 and Mark B11A spent fuel assemblies for storage
in the generally licensed ISFSI at Oconee. These regulations
specifically require storage of spent nuclear fuel under a general
license in DSCs approved under the provisions of 10 CFR part 72, and
compliance with the terms and conditions set forth in the CoC for each
dry spent fuel storage cask used by an ISFSI general licensee.
The TN Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] dry cask storage system CoC
provides requirements, conditions and operating limits in Attachment A
of the TS (ADAMS Accession No. ML062830067). The Table 1-1i of the TSs,
``PWR Fuel Specification for Fuel to be Stored in the Standardized
NUHOMS[supreg]-24PHB DSC'' specify that the fuel cladding shall be
``zircaloy-clad fuel with no known or suspected gross cladding
breaches.'' Zircaloy is a type of zirconium alloy which includes both
Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 cladding, but does not include M5 cladding.
The M5 is a different type of zirconium alloy, which does not contain
any tin, as Zircaloy does, but which does contain some niobium.
This exemption only considers the loading of B&W 15x15 Mark B11 and
Mark B11A spent fuel assemblies at the Oconee Nuclear Station ISFSI.
Amendment No. 13 to CoC 1004, which is currently under review by the
Commission, would permit storage of ``zirconium alloy'' clad spent fuel
assemblies in the 24PHB DSC, which would include both the ``zircaloy
clad'' assemblies permitted under previous amendments, as well as the
M5 clad assemblies at issue in this exemption request. The NRC was able
to draw upon review work already underway in its consideration of
Amendment No. 13 for CoC 1004.
Need for the Proposed Action: The applicant has requested this
exemption in order to load B&W Mark B11 and Mark B11A fuel assemblies
in TN
[[Page 40202]]
NUHOMS[supreg] 24PHB DSCs under CoC No. 1004 at the Oconee Nuclear
Station. These fuel assemblies have M5 cladding (a zirconium alloy),
but the current TSs allow only ``zircaloy'' clad assemblies.
Approval of the exemption request will allow the applicant to
effectively manage its spent fuel inventory to meet decay heat zoning
requirements throughout its scheduled loading campaigns. The
applicant's ability to load M5 clad fuel in its next scheduled loading
campaign will mean that older ``zircaloy clad'' fuel assemblies will be
available for future loadings, so that future loadings will not be
restricted by the aggregate heat generated by hotter fuel and therefore
contain fewer total assemblies. The proposed action enables the
applicant to load the fewest possible DSCs by permitting cask loading
of the hotter M5 fuel without later needing to ``short load'' casks due
to heat load.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action: The staff has
determined that the proposed action would not endanger life or property
and would not have significant impacts on the human environment. The
potential impact of using the TN Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] dry cask
storage system was initially evaluated in the EA for the rulemaking 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 28496, June 2, 1994 (Proposed
Rule); 59 FR 65920, December 22, 1994 (Final Rule)).
The exemption proposed to Amendment No. 9 to CoC 1004 would permit
the loading of M5 clad B&W Mark B11 and B11A fuel. The proposed action
does not result in any changes to the types or amounts of any
radiological effluents that may be released offsite, and there is no
significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure as a
result of the proposed action. Therefore, there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. The proposed
action only affects the requirements associated with the fuel
assemblies to be loaded into the 24PHB DSCs and does not affect plant
effluents, or any other aspects of the environment. Therefore, there
are no significant impacts associated with the proposed action.
Accordingly, the Commission concludes that there are no significant
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Alternative to the Proposed Action: Because 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 proposed action would involve loading
additional DSCs due to heat load restrictions, as described in the
safety evaluation report. Denial of the exemption would result in an
increase in radiological exposure to workers, potential additional
radioactive releases to the environment, additional opportunities for
accidents, and increased cost to the licensee. Therefore, the NRC staff
has determined that approving the proposed action has a lesser
environmental impact than denying the proposed action.
Agencies and Persons Consulted: The EA associated with this
exemption request was sent to Ms. Shelly Wilson of the South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) by email dated
April 10, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No. ML13107B435). The state response
was received by email dated April 11, 2013 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML13107B441). The email states that SCDHEC reviewed the draft EA and
has no comments. 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 that has the potential to impact historic properties, because
the proposed action would occur within the established Oconee site
boundary. Therefore, no consultation is required under Section 106 of
the National Historic Preservation Act.
III. 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 the requirements of
10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.214, and the
portion of 10 CFR 72.212(b)(11) that states the licensee shall comply
with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC limited to
the loading of the 24PHB DSCs with M5 clad B&W Mark B11 and Mark B11A
fuel assemblies, will not significantly impact the quality of the human
environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined that
preparation of an environmental impact statement for the proposed
exemption is not warranted and that a finding of no significant impact
is appropriate.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of June 2013.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
W. Christopher Allen,
Acting Chief, Licensing Branch, Division of Spent Fuel Storage and
Transportation, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2013-16029 Filed 7-2-13; 8:45 am]
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