[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 72 (Tuesday, April 15, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21156-21158]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-08345]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[NRC-2013-0271]
RIN 3150-AJ31


List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Transnuclear, Inc. 
Standardized Advanced NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal Modular Storage System; 
Amendment No. 3

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to 
amend its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Transnuclear, 
Inc. Standardized Advanced NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal Modular Storage 
System (NUHOMS[supreg] Storage System) within the ``List of Approved 
Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 3 to Certificate of 
Compliance (CoC) No. 1029. Amendment No. 3 adds a new transportable dry 
shielded canister (DSC), 32PTH2, to the NUHOMS[supreg] Storage System; 
and makes editorial corrections.

DATES: Submit comments by May 15, 2014. Comments received after this 
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC staff 
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received on or before 
this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods 
(unless this document describes a different method for submitting 
comments on a specific subject):
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0271. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, telephone: 301-287-
3422, email: [email protected]. For technical questions, please 
contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this document.
     Email comments to: [email protected]. If you do 
not receive an automatic email reply confirming receipt, then contact 
us at 301-415-1677.
     Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission at 301-415-1101.
     Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Accessing Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Naiem S. 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. Accessing Information and Submitting Comments

A. Accessing Information

    Please refer to Docket ID-NRC-2013-0271 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this proposed rule. You may 
access publicly-available information related to this proposed 
rulemaking by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID-NRC-2013-0271.
     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 notice (if that document is 
available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced. The proposed CoC, proposed technical specifications (TSs), 
and preliminary Safety Evaluation Report (SER) are available in ADAMS 
under Accession Nos.

[[Page 21157]]

ML13290A176, ML13290A182, and ML13290A205, respectively.
     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.

B. Submitting Comments

    Please include Docket ID-NRC-2013-0271 in the subject line of your 
comment submission, in order to ensure that the NRC is able to make 
your comment submission available to the public in this docket.
    The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact 
information in comment submissions that you do not want to be publicly 
disclosed. The NRC posts all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov as well as entering the comment submissions into 
ADAMS, and the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove identifying or contact information.
    If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons 
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to 
include identifying or contact information in their comment submissions 
that they do not want to be publicly disclosed. Your request should 
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to 
remove such information before making the comment submissions available 
to the public or entering the comment submissions into ADAMS.

II. Procedural Background

    This proposed rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment 
No. 3 to CoC No. 1029 and does not include other aspects of the 
NUHOMS[supreg] Storage System design. Because the NRC considers this 
action noncontroversial and routine, the NRC is publishing this 
proposed rule concurrently with a direct final rule in the Rules and 
Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register. Adequate 
protection of public health and safety continues to be ensured. The 
direct final rule will become effective on June 30, 2014. However, if 
the NRC receives significant adverse comments on this proposed rule by 
May 15, 2014, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws the 
direct final rule. If the direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC will 
address the comments received in response to these proposed revisions 
in a subsequent final rule. Absent significant modifications to the 
proposed revisions requiring republication, the NRC will not initiate a 
second comment period on this action in the event the direct final rule 
is withdrawn.
    A significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter 
explains why the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to 
the rule's underlying premise or approach, or would be ineffective or 
unacceptable without a change. A comment is adverse and significant if:
    (1) The comment opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficient 
to require a substantive response in a notice-and-comment process. For 
example, a substantive response is required when:
    (a) The comment causes the NRC staff to reevaluate (or reconsider) 
its position or conduct additional analysis;
    (b) The comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a 
substantive response to clarify or complete the record; or
    (c) The comment raises a relevant issue that was not previously 
addressed or considered by the NRC staff.
    (2) The comment proposes a change or an addition to the rule, and 
it is apparent that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable 
without incorporation of the change or addition.
    (3) The comment causes the NRC staff to make a change (other than 
editorial) to the rule, CoC, or TSs.
    For additional procedural information including the regulatory 
analysis, and the availability of the environmental assessment and the 
finding of no significant impact, see the direct final rule published 
in the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal 
Register.

III. Background

    Section 218(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, as 
amended, requires that ``the Secretary [of the Department of Energy] 
shall establish a demonstration program, in cooperation with the 
private sector, for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel at civilian 
nuclear power reactor sites, with the objective of establishing one or 
more technologies that the [Nuclear Regulatory] Commission may, by 
rule, approve for use at the sites of civilian nuclear power reactors 
without, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional 
site-specific approvals by the Commission.'' Section 133 of the NWPA 
states, in part, that [the Commission] shall, by rule, establish 
procedures for the licensing of any technology approved by the 
Commission under Section 219(a) [sic: 218(a)] for use at the site of 
any civilian nuclear power reactor.''
    To implement this mandate, the Commission approved dry storage of 
spent nuclear fuel in NRC-approved casks under a general license by 
publishing a final rule in part 72 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), ''Licensing Requirements for the Independent 
Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and 
Reactor-Related Greater Than Class C Waste,'' which added a new subpart 
K within 10 CFR part 72 entitled, ``General License for Storage of 
Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites'' (55 FR 29181; July 18, 1990). This 
rule also established a new subpart L within 10 CFR part 72 entitled, 
``Approval of Spent Fuel Storage Casks,'' which contains procedures and 
criteria for obtaining NRC approval of spent fuel storage cask designs. 
The NRC subsequently issued a final rule (68 FR 463; January 6, 2003) 
that approved the NUHOMS[supreg] Storage System design and added it to 
the list of NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214 ``List of 
approved spent fuel storage casks,'' as CoC No. 1029.

IV. Plain Writing

    The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal 
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, well-organized manner 
that also follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or 
field and the intended audience. The NRC has written this document to 
be consistent with the Plain Writing Act as well as the Presidential 
Memorandum, ``Plain Language in Government Writing,'' published June 
10, 1998 (63 FR 31883). The NRC requests comment on the proposed rule 
with respect to clarity and effectiveness of the language used.

List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 72

    Administrative practice and procedure, Criminal penalties, Manpower 
training programs, Nuclear materials, Occupational safety and health, 
Penalties, Radiation protection, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Security measures, Spent fuel, Whistleblowing.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authority of 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; the Energy Reorganization 
Act of 1974, as amended; the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as 
amended; and 5 U.S.C. 553; the NRC is proposing to adopt the following 
amendments to 10 CFR part 72.

[[Page 21158]]

PART 72--LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INDEPENDENT STORAGE OF 
SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL, HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE, AND REACTOR-
RELATED GREATER THAN CLASS C WASTE

0
1. The authority citation for part 72 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority:  Atomic Energy Act secs. 51, 53, 57, 62, 63, 65, 69, 
81, 161, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 189, 223, 234, 274 (42 U.S.C. 
2071, 2073, 2077, 2092, 2093, 2095, 2099, 2111, 2201, 2232, 2233, 
2234, 2236, 2237, 2239, 2273, 2282, 2021); Energy Reorganization Act 
secs. 201, 202, 206, 211 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 5842, 5846, 5851); 
National Environmental Policy Act sec. 102 (42 U.S.C. 4332); Nuclear 
Waste Policy Act secs. 131, 132, 133, 135, 137, 141, 148 (42 U.S.C. 
10151, 10152, 10153, 10155, 10157, 10161, 10168); sec. 1704, 112 
Stat. 2750 (44 U.S.C. 3504 note); Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. 
109-58, 119 Stat. 549 (2005).
    Section 72.44(g) also issued under Nuclear Waste Policy Act 
secs.142(b) and 148(c), (d) (42 U.S.C. 10162(b), 10168(c), (d)).
    Section 72.46 also issued under Atomic Energy Act sec. 189 (42 
U.S.C. 2239); Nuclear Waste Policy Act sec. 134 (42 U.S.C. 10154).
    Section 72.96(d) also issued under Nuclear Waste Policy Act sec. 
145(g) (42 U.S.C. 10165(g)).
    Subpart J also issued under Nuclear Waste Policy Act secs. 
117(a), 141(h) (42 U.S.C. 10137(a), 10161(h)).
    Subpart K also issued under sec. 218(a) (42 U.S.C. 10198).

0
2. In Sec.  72.214, Certificate of Compliance 1029 is revised to read 
as follows:


Sec.  72.214  List of approved spent fuel storage casks.

* * * * *
    Certificate Number: 1029.
    Initial Certificate Effective Date: February 5, 2003.
    Amendment Number 1 Effective Date: May 16, 2005.
    Amendment Number 2 Effective Date: Amendment not issued by the NRC.
    Amendment Number 3 Effective Date: June 30, 2014.
    SAR Submitted by: Transnuclear, Inc.
    SAR Title: Final Safety Analysis Report for the Standardized 
Advanced NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal Modular Storage System for 
Irradiated Nuclear Fuel.
    Docket Number: 72-1029.
    Certificate Expiration Date: February 5, 2023.
    Model Number: Standardized Advanced NUHOMS[supreg] -24PT1, -24PT4, 
and -32PTH2.
* * * * *

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of March, 2014. For 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Darren B. Ash,
Acting Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2014-08345 Filed 4-14-14; 8:45 am]
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