[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 5, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 12362-12363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-04837]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 72
[NRC-2012-0052]
RIN 3150-AJ12
List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: HI-STORM 100 Cask
System; Amendment No. 9
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Direct final rule; confirmation of effective date.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is confirming the
effective date of March 11, 2014, for the direct final rule that was
published in the Federal Register on December 6, 2013, and corrected on
December 26, 2013. This direct final rule amended the NRC's spent fuel
storage regulations by revising the Holtec International HI-STORM 100
Cask System listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage
Casks'' to include Amendment No. 9 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC)
No. 1014.
DATES: The effective date of March 11, 2014, is confirmed for this
direct final rule published on December 6, 2013, and corrected on
December 26, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2012-0052 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information for this direct final rule.
You may access publicly-available information related to this direct
final rule by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0052. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; 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: Naiem Tanious, Office of Federal and
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-
6103, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Discussion
On December 6, 2013 (78 FR 73379), the NRC published a direct final
rule amending its regulations at Sec. 72.214 of Title 10 of the Code
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) by revising the Holtec International
HI-STORM 100 Cask System listing within the ``List of Approved Spent
Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 9 to CoC No. 1014.
Amendment No. 9 broadens the subgrade requirements for the HI-STORM
100U part of the HI-STORM 100 Cask System and updates the thermal model
and methodology for the HI-TRAC transfer cask from a two-dimensional
thermal-hydraulic model to a more accurate three-dimensional model. The
amendment also makes editorial corrections.
On December 26, 2013 (78 FR 78165), the NRC published a document
that
[[Page 12363]]
corrected several ADAMS accession numbers referenced in the December 6,
2013, direct final rule and delayed the effective date of the rule from
February 19, 2014, to March 11, 2014. The NRC also published on
December 26, 2013 (78 FR 78285), a document that corrected several
ADAMS accession numbers referenced in the December 6, 2013, companion
proposed rule and extended the public comment period from January 6,
2014, to January 27, 2014.
II. Public Comments on the Companion Proposed Rule
In the corrected direct final rule, the NRC stated that if no
significant adverse comments were received, the direct final rule would
become effective on March 11, 2014.
The NRC received one comment on this amendment, which stated that,
``[f]uels with a burn-up above 45 GWd/tU cause previously unforeseen
safety problems and would break existing NRC safety rules . . . unless
changes are made to the way fuel elements are packaged.'' The comment
raised general concerns with high burn-up spent fuel indicating that
issues associated with high burn-up fuel have been ``ignored and
remedial action defunded'' and that ``. . . the NRC has insufficient
data to support a licensing position on high burn-up cask storage.''
The public comment is available in ADAMS under Accession No.
ML14028A518.
The NRC staff reviewed this comment and concluded that this comment
is not a significant adverse comment as defined in NUREG-BR-0053,
Revision 6, ``United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulations
Handbook'' (hereinafter ``Regulations Handbook'') (ADAMS Accession No.
ML052720461), as it is beyond the scope of this rulemaking. Instead,
this comment raises a generic concern regarding the safety of high
burn-up fuel and its storage in spent fuel storage casks, and is not
specific to any issue or concern with the amendment to the cask
certificate that is the subject of this rulemaking. The ability of the
HI-STORM 100 Cask System to store high burn-up fuel for 20 years was
authorized in a prior amendment, Amendment No. 1. The final rule
approving that amendment was published in the Federal Register on July
15, 2002 (67 FR 46369). This current amendment, Amendment No. 9, does
not change that prior authorization, nor does this comment raise any
other issue specific to the amendment in question.
Moreover, even if the comment were determined to be in scope, it is
not a ``significant'' comment as defined in the Regulations Handbook in
that the comment does not present any new or significant information
that warrants a substantive response in this notice and comment
process. The general information cited by the commenter is not
substantive enough to aid the NRC in understanding any impact upon the
NRC's safety review, the technical specifications, or the NRC's
conclusions of this particular amendment.
Furthermore, the commenter's references to presentations regarding
the storage of high burn-up fuel involve ongoing efforts to study high
burn-up fuel for periods well beyond 20 years. However, Amendment No.
1, the prior amendment that authorized the storage of high burn-up fuel
in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, only authorized storage for 20 years
and not beyond. The current amendment in question, Amendment No. 9, is
also limited in term for a period of 20 years. The staff is considering
this issue in our review of storage license and certificate renewal
applications. The NRC is actively working with the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), DOE scientific laboratories, and the industry, to perform
additional testing and evaluation of the integrity of high burn-up fuel
when stored for periods well beyond 20 years. The NRC expects that
research, including cask demonstrations, cladding failure consequence
analyses, vibration testing, and fuel rod bend tests, will provide more
cladding material properties data regarding the storage of high burn-up
fuel for extended periods. The NRC expects to garner information in
this area over the next 5 years, and will use this information to
assess the ongoing storage of high burn-up fuel for extended periods
well beyond 20 years.
The NRC staff has concluded that there would be no significant
environmental impacts as confirmed in Section VII, ``Finding of No
Significant Environmental Impact: Availability,'' of the direct final
rule. This comment does not challenge that finding because, as the
Environmental Assessment explained, this amendment to the rule will not
result in any significant change in the types or significant 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. This amendment continues to ensure that the Commission's
regulations regarding dose rates, found in 10 CFR part 20, are
maintained.
A challenge to those dose rates, or the method by which the
Commission establishes those dose rates, would be most appropriately
addressed as a petition for rulemaking pursuant to 10 CFR 2.802.
Therefore, this rule will become effective as scheduled.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of February 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cindy Bladey,
Chief, Rules, Announcements, and Directives Branch, Division of
Administrative Services, Office of Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-04837 Filed 3-4-14; 8:45 am]
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