[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 24 (Thursday, February 5, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6466-6468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02309]


 ========================================================================
 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. 80, No. 24 / Thursday, February 5, 2015 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 6466]]



NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[NRC-2014-0233]
RIN 3150-AJ47


List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec International 
HI-STORM 100 Cask System, Certificate of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment 
No. 8, Revision No. 1

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 Holtec 
International HI-STORM 100 Cask System listing within the ``List of 
approved spent fuel storage casks'' to add Amendment No. 8, Revision 
No. 1, to the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1014. Amendment No. 
8, Revision No. 1, changes burnup/cooling time limits for thimble plug 
devices; changes Metamic-HT material testing requirements; changes 
Metamic-HT material minimum guaranteed values; and updates fuel 
definitions to allow boiling water reactor fuel affected by certain 
corrosion mechanisms with specific guidelines to be classified as 
undamaged fuel.

DATES: Submit comments by March 9, 2015. 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-2014-0233. 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 obtaining information and submitting 
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory R. Trussell, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, 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-2014-0233 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-2014-0233.
     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]. For 
the convenience of the reader, instructions about obtaining materials 
referenced in this document are provided in the ``Availability of 
Documents'' section.
     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-2014-0233 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 will post 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 adding Amendment No. 8, Revision 
No. 1, which will supersede Amendment No. 8 (effective May 2, 2012, and 
corrected on November 16, 2012), to CoC No. 1014 to the ``List of 
approved spent fuel storage casks,'' and does not include other aspects 
of the Holtec International HI-STORM 100 Cask System design. Amendment 
No. 8 continues to be effective but is now being modified with respect 
to certain specified provisions, as outlined in Amendment No. 8, 
Revision No. 1, which apply to all general licensees using the casks 
for Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSI). Thus, 
Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, supersedes the previously issued 
Amendment No. 8. In requesting this

[[Page 6467]]

revision, Holtec indicated that it has not manufactured any cask under 
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, and, consequently, no ISFSI licensee has 
placed such a cask into service. 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 April 21, 2015. However, if the NRC receives 
significant adverse comments on this proposed rule by March 9, 2015, 
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 Technical Specifications.
    For additional procedural information, including the regulatory 
analysis and the environmental assessment and 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 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 in 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 
May 1, 2000 (65 FR 25241), that approved the Holtec International HI-
STORM 100 Cask System design and added it to the list of NRC-approved 
cask designs in 10 CFR 72.214 as Coc No. 1014.

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.

V. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as 
indicated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Document                        ADAMS accession No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision     ML14262A478
 No. 1.
Safety Evaluation Report..................  ML14262A476
Technical Specifications, Appendix A......  ML14262A480
Technical Specifications, Appendix B......  ML14262A479
Application (portions are non-public/       ML13235A082
 proprietary).
December 20, 2013, Application Supplement.  ML14009A271
February 28, 2014, Application Supplement.  ML14064A344
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The NRC may post materials related to this document, including 
public comments, on the Federal rulemaking Web site at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2014-0233. The Federal 
rulemaking Web site allows you to receive alerts when changes or 
additions occur in a docket folder. To subscribe: 1) Navigate to the 
docket folder (NRC-2014-0233); 2) click the ``Sign up for Email 
Alerts'' link; and 3) enter your email address and select how 
frequently you would like to receive emails (daily, weekly, or 
monthly).

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 continues 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,

[[Page 6468]]

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 No. 1014 is revised to 
read as follows:


Sec.  72.214  List of approved spent fuel storage casks.

* * * * *
    Certificate Number: 1014.
    Initial Certificate Effective Date: May 31, 2000.
    Amendment Number 1 Effective Date: July 15, 2002.
    Amendment Number 2 Effective Date: June 7, 2005.
    Amendment Number 3 Effective Date: May 29, 2007.
    Amendment Number 4 Effective Date: January 8, 2008.
    Amendment Number 5 Effective Date: July 14, 2008.
    Amendment Number 6 Effective Date: August 17, 2009.
    Amendment Number 7 Effective Date: December 28, 2009.
    Amendment Number 8 Effective Date: May 2, 2012, as corrected on 
November 16, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. ML12213A170), superseded by 
Amendment 8, Revision 1 on April 21, 2015.
    Amendment Number 8, Revision No. 1, Effective Date: April 21, 2015.
    Amendment Number 9 Effective Date: March 11, 2014.
    SAR Submitted by: Holtec International.
    SAR Title: Final Safety Analysis Report for the HI-STORM 100 Cask 
System.
    Docket Number: 72-1014.
    Certificate Expiration Date: May 31, 2020.
    Model Number: HI-STORM 100.
* * * * *

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26 day of January.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mark A. Satorius,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2015-02309 Filed 2-4-15; 8:45 am]
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