[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 147 (Thursday, July 31, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44318-44320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-18082]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 147 / Thursday, July 31, 2014 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 44318]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[NRC-2013-0269]
RIN 3150-AJ30


List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Transnuclear, Inc. 
NUHOMS[supreg] HD Cask System, Certificate of Compliance No. 1030, 
Amendment No. 2

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to 
amend its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Transnuclear, 
Inc. NUHOMS[supreg] HD Cask System listing within the ``List of 
Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 2 to 
Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1030.

DATES: Submit comments by September 2, 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-2013-0269. 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.
     Hand deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (Eastern Time) Federal 
workdays; telephone: 301-415-1677.
    For additional direction on accessing information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory Trussell, Office of Federal 
and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-
6445, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

    Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2013-0269 when contacting the NRC 
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain 
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the 
following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2013-0269.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection 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 (if it is available 
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. The proposed CoC, proposed Technical 
Specifications (TSs), and preliminary Safety Evaluation Report (SER) 
are available in ADAMS under Package Accession No. ML13322B445.
     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-2013-0269 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 in your comment submission. The NRC posts all comment 
submissions at: http://www.regulations.gov as well as enter 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 that they do not want to be 
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. 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 into ADAMS.

II. Procedural Background

    This proposed rule is limited to the changes contained in Amendment 
No. 2 to CoC No. 1030 and does not include other aspects of the 
Transnuclear, Inc. NUHOMS[supreg] HD Cask 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 October 14, 
2014. However, if the NRC receives significant adverse comments on this 
proposed rule by September 2, 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

[[Page 44319]]

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 and the regulatory analysis, 
see the direct final rule published in the Rules and Regulations 
section of this issue of the Federal Register.

III. Background

    The NRC is proposing to amend its spent fuel storage regulations by 
revising the Transnuclear, Inc. NUHOMS[supreg] HD Cask System listing 
within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include 
Amendment No. 2 to CoC No. 1030. Amendment No. 2 includes changes to: 
increase the soluble boron concentration to 2,800 ppm for criticality 
safety analyses and add maximum enrichments for Combustion Engineering 
14 x 14 fuel assemblies that were previously unauthorized for storage; 
improve clarity of certain TSs, such as heat load zoning configuration, 
fuel qualification table, fuel class, and intact fuel/damaged fuel 
definitions; allow for increased fuel assembly weight by 25 pounds; 
revise the definition of control components; include blended low 
enriched uranium fuel material; increase shielding effectiveness of the 
horizontal storage module by adding optional dose reduction hardware; 
update licensing basis documents based on recent experience with 
ongoing licensing actions involving other NUHOMS[supreg] systems; and 
accommodate installation practices for a limiting gap size that was 
evaluated based on dose rates. In addition, the amendment makes 
editorial changes to the TSs.
    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 which added a new subpart K in part 72 of Title 
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 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 on December 11, 2006 (71 FR 71463), that approved 
the NUHOMS[supreg] HD Cask System design and added it to the list of 
NRC-approved cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214 as CoC No. 1030.

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. 552 and 553; the NRC is proposing to adopt the 
following amendments to 10 CFR part 72.

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); Government 
Paperwork Elimination Act sec. 1704 (44 U.S.C. 3504 note); Energy 
Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-58, 119 Stat. 788 (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 Nuclear Waste Policy Act sec. 
218(a) (42 U.S.C. 10198).


0
2. In Sec.  72.214, Certificate of Compliance 1030 is revised to read 
as follows:


Sec.  72.214  List of approved spent fuel storage casks.

* * * * *
    Certificate Number: 1030.
    Initial Certificate Effective Date: January 10, 2007.
    Amendment Number 1 Effective Date: March 29, 2011.

[[Page 44320]]

    Amendment Number 2 Effective Date: October 14, 2014.
    SAR Submitted by: Transnuclear, Inc.
    SAR Title: Final Safety Analysis Report for the NUHOMS[supreg] HD 
Horizontal Modular Storage
    System for Irradiated Nuclear Fuel.
    Docket Number: 72-1030.
    Certificate Expiration Date: January 10, 2027.
    Model Number: NUHOMS[supreg] HD -32PTH.
* * * * *

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of July, 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark A. Satorius,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2014-18082 Filed 7-30-14; 8:45 am]
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