[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 89 (Wednesday, May 10, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21832-21834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09456]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-409; NRC-2015-0279]


LaCrosse Solutions, LLC; Dairyland Power Cooperative; La Crosse 
Boiling Water Reactor

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Exemption; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
exemption in response to a January 16, 2017, request from 
LaCrosseSolutions, LLC (LS), for the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor 
(LACBWR), from the requirement to investigate and report to the NRC 
when LS does not receive notification of receipt of a shipment, or part 
of a shipment, of low-level radioactive waste within 20 days after 
transfer by rail from the LACBWR facility. LaCrosseSolutions requested 
that the time period for it to receive acknowledgement that the 
shipment has been received by the intended recipient be extended from 
20 to 45 days to avoid an excessive administrative burden because of 
operational experience that indicates that rail shipments may take more 
than 20 days to reach their destination.

DATES: May 10, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2015-0279 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2015-0279. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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 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 in this notice (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: Marlayna G. Vaaler, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3178, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor was an Atomic Energy Commission 
(AEC) Demonstration Project Reactor that first went critical in 1967, 
commenced commercial operation in November 1969, and was capable of 
producing 50 megawatts electric. The LACBWR is located on the east bank 
of the Mississippi River in Vernon County, Wisconsin, and is co-located 
with the Genoa Generating Station, which is a coal-fired electrical 
power plant that is still in operation. The Allis-Chalmers Company was 
the original licensee; the AEC later sold the plant to the Dairyland 
Power Cooperative (DPC) and granted it Provisional Operating License 
No. DPR-45 on August 28, 1973 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17080A423).
    The LACBWR permanently ceased operations on April 30, 1987 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML17080A422), and reactor defueling was completed on June 
11, 1987 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17080A420). In a letter dated August 4, 
1987 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17080A393), the NRC terminated

[[Page 21833]]

DPC's authority to operate the LACBWR under Provisional Operating 
License No. DPR-45, and granted the licensee a possess-but-not-operate 
status. By letter dated August 18, 1988 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML17080A421), the NRC amended DPC's Provisional Operating License No. 
DPR-45 to Possession Only License No. DPR-45 to reflect the permanently 
defueled configuration at the LACBWR.
    The NRC issued an order to authorize decommissioning of the LACBWR 
and approve the licensee's proposed Decommissioning Plan (DP) on August 
7, 1991 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17080A454). Because the NRC approved 
DPC's DP before August 28, 1996, pursuant to section 50.82 of title 10 
of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the DP is considered the 
Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) for the LACBWR. 
The PSDAR public meeting was held on May 13, 1998, and subsequent 
updates to the LACBWR decommissioning report have combined the DP and 
PSDAR into the ``LACBWR Decommissioning Plan and Post-Shutdown 
Decommissioning Activities Report'' (D-Plan/PSDAR). The DPC constructed 
an onsite Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) under its 
10 CFR part 72 general license, and completed the movement of all 333 
spent nuclear fuel elements from the Fuel Element Storage Well to dry 
cask storage at the ISFSI by September 19, 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML12290A027). The remaining associated buildings and structures are 
ready for dismantlement and decommissioning activities.
    By order dated May 20, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16123A073), the 
NRC approved the direct transfer of Possession Only License No. DPR-45 
for the LACBWR from DPC to LS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 
EnergySolutions, LLC, and approved a conforming license amendment, 
pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, ``Transfer of licenses,'' and 10 CFR 50.90, 
``Application for amendment of license, construction permit, or early 
site permit,'' to reflect the change. The order was published in the 
Federal Register on June 2, 2016 (81 FR 35383). The transfer assigns 
DPC's licensed possession, maintenance, and decommissioning 
responsibilities for the LACBWR to LS in order to implement expedited 
decommissioning at the LACBWR site. Decommissioning of the LACBWR is 
scheduled to be completed in 2018.

II. Request/Action

    By letter dated January 16, 2017 (ADAMS Accession No. ML17018A136), 
LS requested an exemption from 10 CFR part 20, appendix G, 
``Requirements for Transfers of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Intended 
for Disposal at Licensed Land Disposal Facilities and Manifests,'' 
section III.E. for the LACBWR. Section III.E requires that the shipper 
of any low-level radioactive waste to a land disposal facility must 
investigate and trace the shipment if the shipper has not received 
notification of the shipment's receipt by the disposal facility within 
20 days after transfer. In addition, section III.E requires licensees 
to report such missing shipments to the NRC. Specifically, LS is 
requesting that the time period for LS to receive acknowledgement that 
the shipment has been received be extended from 20 to 45 days after 
transfer for rail shipments from LACBWR.
    The NRC's regulations in 10 CFR 20.2301, ``Applications for 
exemptions,'' allow the Commission to grant exemptions from the 
requirements of the regulations if it determines the exemption would be 
authorized by law and would not result in undue hazard to life or 
property. Inherent to the decommissioning process, large volumes of 
slightly contaminated debris are generated and require disposal. The 
licensee transports low-level radioactive waste from LACBWR to distant 
locations such as the waste disposal facility operated by 
EnergySolutions in Clive, Utah, and waste processors in Texas. 
Experience with waste shipments from LACBWR and at other 
decommissioning power reactor sites indicates that rail transportation 
time to waste disposal facilities has, in several instances, exceeded 
the 20-day receipt of notification requirement. In addition, 
administrative processes at the disposal facility and mail delivery 
times could further delay the issuance or arrival of the receipt of 
notification.

III. Discussion

A. The Exemption Is Authorized by Law

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 20.2301, the Commission may, upon application by 
a licensee or upon its own initiative, grant an exemption from the 
requirements of regulations in 10 CFR part 20 if it determines the 
exemption is authorized by law and would not result in undue hazard to 
life or property. There are no provisions in the Atomic Energy Act of 
1954, as amended (or in any other Federal statute) that impose a 
requirement to investigate and report on low-level radioactive waste 
shipments that have not been acknowledged by the recipient within 20 
days of transfer. Therefore, the NRC concludes that there is no 
statutory prohibition on the issuance of the requested exemption and 
the NRC is authorized to grant the exemption by law.
    With respect to compliance with Section 102(2) of the National 
Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2) (NEPA), the NRC staff has 
determined that the proposed action, namely, the approval of the LS 
exemption request, is within the scope of the two categorical 
exclusions listed at 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(vi)(B) and 10 CFR 
51.22(c)(25)(vi)(C). The categorical exclusion listed at 10 CFR 
51.22(c)(25)(vi)(B) concerns approval of exemption requests from 
reporting requirements and the categorical exclusion listed at 10 CFR 
51.22(c)(25)(vi)(C) concerns approval of exemption requests from 
inspection or surveillance requirements. Therefore, no further analysis 
is required under NEPA.

B. The Exemption Would Not Result in Undue Hazard to Life or Property

    The NRC finds that the underlying purpose of 10 CFR part 20, 
appendix G, section III.E is to require licensees to investigate, 
trace, and report radioactive shipments that have not reached their 
destination, as scheduled, for unknown reasons. Data from the San 
Onofre Nuclear Generating Station found that rail shipments took over 
16 days on average, and on occasion, took up to 57 days. The NRC 
acknowledges that, based on the history of low-level radioactive waste 
shipments from the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the need to 
investigate and report on shipments that take longer than 20 days could 
result in an excessive administrative burden on the licensee. For rail 
shipments, LS will require electronic data tracking system interchange, 
or similar tracking systems that allow for monitoring the progress of 
the shipments by the rail carrier on a daily basis.
    Because of the oversight and monitoring of radioactive waste 
shipments throughout the entire journey from the LACBWR to the disposal 
site, it is unlikely that a shipment could be lost, misdirected, or 
diverted without the knowledge of the carrier or LS. Furthermore, by 
extending the elapsed time for receipt acknowledgment to 45 days before 
requiring investigations, tracing, and reporting, a reasonable upper 
limit on shipment duration (based on historical analysis) is still 
maintained if a breakdown of normal tracking systems were to occur. 
Consequently, the NRC finds that extending the receipt of notification 
period from 20 to 45 days after transfer for the rail shipments 
described by LS in its January 16, 2017, letter would not

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result in an undue hazard to life or property. The NRC also finds that 
the underlying purpose of 10 CFR part 20, appendix G, section III.E 
will be met.

IV. Conclusions

    Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 
20.2301, the exemption is authorized by law and will not result in 
undue hazard to life or property. Therefore, the Commission hereby 
grants LaCrosseSolutions, LLC an exemption from 10 CFR part 20, 
appendix G, section III.E to extend the requirement to extend the 
receipt of notification period from 20 days to 45 days after transfer 
by rail of low-level radioactive waste from the LACBWR facility.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of May 2017.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John R. Tappert,
Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste 
Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2017-09456 Filed 5-9-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P