[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 147 (Wednesday, July 31, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37353-37356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-16316]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-155 and 72-043; NRC-2019-0127]
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Entergy Nuclear Palisades, LLC;
Big Rock Point Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Exemption; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an
exemption from the requirement to maintain a specified level of onsite
property damage insurance in response to a request from Entergy Nuclear
Operations, Inc. (ENO) dated August 10, 2018. This exemption would
permit the Big Rock Point (BRP) Independent Spent Fuel Storage
Installation (ISFSI) to reduce its onsite insurance coverage from $500
million to $50 million.
DATES: The exemption was issued on July 31, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0127 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 website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov/ and search for Docket ID NRC-2019-0127. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301-287-9127; 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 https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, 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 this document.
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: Norma Garc[iacute]a Santos, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6999, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Big Rock Point is located in Charlevoix County, Michigan,
approximately 11 miles west of Petoskey, on the northern shore of
Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The BRP nuclear plant was a boiling water
reactor rated at 75 MW electric and began commercial operation in March
1963. The plant was permanently shut down on August 29, 1997, and
Consumer's Energy (CE) submitted a post shutdown decommissioning
activities report on September 19, 1997 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19196A241). In accordance with the requirements of paragraph
50.82(a)(9) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR),
the licensee submitted BRP's license termination plan (LTP) for its
facility. The licensee constructed an onsite ISFSI under its 10 CFR
part 50 general license (SFGL-16) and completed the transfer of all
spent nuclear fuel to the ISFSI in May 2003 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML031270219). After the release of land from the part 50 license in
January 2007 (ADAMS Accession No. ML063410368), the remaining onsite
area is a parcel of land approximately 30 acres, within which the ISFSI
is located, and an additional parcel of approximately 75 acres adjacent
to the ISFSI.
By order dated April 6, 2007 (ADAMS Accession No. ML070740758), the
NRC approved the direct transfer of Possession Only License No. DPR-06
for BRP from CE to Entergy Nuclear Palisades, LLC (ENP), and ENO, and
approved a conforming license amendment, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80,
``Transfer of licenses,'' and 10 CFR 72.50, ``Transfer of license,'' to
reflect the change. The order was published in the Federal Register
(FR) on April 16, 2007 (72 FR 19056). Accordingly, the project name was
changed from Big Rock Point Restoration Project to Big Rock Point
ISFSI.
[[Page 37354]]
II. Request/Action
The BRP site currently maintains $500 million in onsite insurance
coverage in accordance with a previous exemption approved by the NRC on
November 3, 1982 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19196A229). Under 10 CFR 50.12,
``Specific exemptions,'' BRP has requested an exemption from 10 CFR
50.54(w)(1) by letter dated August 10, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML18222A394). The exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1)
would permit BRP to reduce its onsite property damage insurance from
$500 million to $50 million. This second exemption is being requested
to allow reduced insurance coverage commensurate with the significantly
reduced risks associated with a single reactor facility that has ceased
operation, permanently defueled, and transferred all Spent Nuclear Fuel
(SNF), Special Nuclear Material (SNM), and Greater Than Class C (GTCC)
waste to dry fuel storage (DFS) casks stored in an ISFSI.
The regulation in 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) requires each licensee to have
and maintain onsite property damage insurance to stabilize and
decontaminate the reactor and reactor site in the event of an accident.
The onsite insurance coverage must be either $1.06 billion or whatever
amount of insurance is generally available from private sources
(whichever is less).
In its application, the licensee stated that there is a reduced
potential for, and consequences of, a fuel handling accident or a fuel
zirconium fire. Because reactor operation is no longer authorized at
BRP, there are no events that would require the stabilization of
reactor conditions after an accident. Similarly, the risk of an
accident that would result in significant onsite contamination at BRP
is also much lower than the risk of such an event at operating
reactors. In addition, plant structures have been removed from the
site, and non-ISFSI related portions of the site have been released
from the BRP part 50 license for unrestricted use. Therefore, BRP
requested an exemption from 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) that would permit a
reduction of its onsite property damage insurance from $500 million to
$50 million, commensurate with an ISFSI only facility, which is
consistent with the underlying purpose of the rule.
III. Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon application by
any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from
the requirements of 10 CFR part 50 when: (1) The exemptions are
authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to public health or
safety, and are consistent with the common defense and security; and
(2) any of the special circumstances listed in 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2) are
present.
The financial protection limits of 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) were
established after the Three Mile Island accident out of concern that
licensees may be unable to financially cover onsite cleanup costs in
the event of a major nuclear accident. The specified coverage
requirement ($1.06 billion) was developed based on an analysis of an
accident at a nuclear reactor operating at power, resulting in a large
fission product release and requiring significant resource expenditures
to stabilize the reactor conditions and ultimately decontaminate and
clean up the site.
The NRC developed cost estimates from the spectrum of postulated
accidents for an operating nuclear reactor and the consequences of any
associated release of radioactive material from the reactor. Although
the risk of an accident at an operating reactor is very low, the
consequences can be large. In an operating plant, the high temperature
and pressure of the reactor coolant system, as well as the inventory of
relatively short-lived radionuclides, contribute to both the risk and
consequences of an accident. With the permanent cessation of reactor
operations at BRP, the permanent removal of the fuel from the reactor
core, and the movement of all the irradiated fuel assemblies into
storage at the onsite ISFSI, such accidents are no longer possible. As
a result, the reactor, reactor coolant system, and supporting systems
no longer operate, and these components have already been dismantled
and removed from the site as part of the decommissioning process.
Therefore, these systems and components no longer serve any function
related to the storage of the irradiated fuel. As such, postulated
accidents involving failure or malfunction of the reactor, reactor
coolant system, or supporting systems are no longer applicable at BRP.
During reactor decommissioning, the principal radiological risks
are associated with the storage of spent fuel onsite, as well as the
inventory of radioactive liquids, activated reactor components, and
contaminated materials. In its August 10, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML18222A394), exemption request, BRP noted that because all of the
spent fuel is stored in dry fuel storage casks in an ISFSI, a fuel
handling accident and a zirconium fire caused by drain down of the
spent fuel pool are no longer considered credible events. In the
current state of decommissioning at BRP, no liquid and airborne
effluent releases resulting from decommissioning activities are
considered credible events. In addition, decontamination activities
have been completed and the site lands other than those associated with
the ISFSI have been released from the BRP part 50 license. The licensee
stated that this results in a significant reduction in the number and
severity of potential accidents involving a significant adverse effect
on public health and safety.
In addition, given that all the irradiated fuel assemblies at BRP
have already been moved into storage at the onsite ISFSI, the fuel is
no longer thermal-hydraulically capable of sustaining a zirconium fire,
and can be air-cooled in all credible accident scenarios and fuel
configurations. The NRC staff has previously authorized a lesser amount
of onsite property damage insurance coverage based on an analysis of
the zirconium fire risk. In SECY-96-256, ``Changes to Financial
Protection Requirements for Permanently Shutdown Nuclear Power
Reactors, 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) and 10 CFR 140.11,'' dated December 17,
1996 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15062A483), the NRC staff recommended
changes to the power reactor insurance regulations that would allow
licensees to lower onsite insurance levels to $50 million upon
demonstration that the fuel stored in the spent fuel pool can be air-
cooled and could account for the postulated rupture of a large liquid
radiological waste tank at the site, should such an event occur.
In its Staff Requirements Memorandum to SECY-96-256, dated January
28, 1997 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15062A454), the Commission supported
the staff's recommendation that, among other things, would allow
permanently shutdown power reactor licensees to reduce commercial
onsite property damage insurance coverage to $50 million when the
licensee was able to demonstrate the technical criterion that the spent
fuel could be air-cooled if the spent fuel pool was drained of water,
and could account for the postulated rupture of a large liquid
radiological waste tank at the site. In SECY-96-256, the postulated
large liquid radiological waste storage tank rupture event was
determined to have a bounding onsite cleanup cost of approximately $50
million. The staff has used this technical criterion to grant similar
exemptions to other decommissioning reactors (e.g., Fort Calhoun
Station, published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2018 (83 FR
14898); and La Crosse Boiling Water
[[Page 37355]]
Reactor, published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2018 (83 FR
37532)). These prior exemptions were based on the licensees
demonstrating that the spent fuel could be air-cooled, consistent with
the technical criterion discussed above. Accordingly, for BRP,
decommissioning of the site is complete and the site lands other than
those associated with the ISFSI have been released for unrestricted
use. Additionally, all SNF, SNM, and GTCC waste are stored in DFS casks
at the ISFSI. Therefore, the NRC staff determined $50 million to be an
adequate level of onsite property damage insurance coverage for the BRP
site, given that (1) all SNF, SNM, and GTCC waste is stored in the BRP
ISFSI and the spent fuel is no longer susceptible to a zirconium fire;
and (2) the inventory of radioactive liquids at the site has been
eliminated such that liquid and airborne effluent releases are no
longer considered credible events.
A. Authorized by Law
The regulation in 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) requires each licensee to have
and maintain onsite property damage insurance of either $1.06 billion
or whatever amount of insurance is generally available from private
sources, whichever is less. In accordance with 10 CFR 50.12, the
Commission may grant exemptions from the regulations in 10 CFR part 50,
as the Commission determines are authorized by law.
As explained above, the NRC staff has determined that the
licensee's proposed reduction in onsite property damage insurance
coverage to a level of $50 million is consistent with the basis
provided in SECY-96-256 because there is no credible risk of a
zirconium fire with all irradiated fuel stored in the onsite ISFSI,
where it is air-cooled in all accident scenarios, all SNM and GTCC
waste is stored in the ISFSI, and the inventory of radioactive liquids
at the site has been eliminated such that liquid and airborne effluent
releases are no longer considered credible events.
The NRC staff has determined that granting of the licensee's
proposed exemption will not result in a violation of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954, or other laws, as amended. Therefore, based on its review
of BRP's exemption request, as discussed above, and consistent with
SECY-96-256, the NRC staff concludes that the exemption is authorized
by law.
B. No Undue Risk to Public Health and Safety
The onsite property damage insurance requirements of 10 CFR
50.54(w)(1) were established to provide financial assurance that
following a significant nuclear accident, onsite reactor conditions
could be stabilized, and the site decontaminated. The requirements of
10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) and the existing level of onsite insurance coverage
for BRP are predicated on the assumption that the reactor is operating.
However, the BRP reactor has been permanently shutdown, defueled, and
removed from the site, with all SNF, SNM, and GTCC waste stored in an
ISFSI, and the inventory of radioactive liquids at the site has been
eliminated such that liquid and airborne effluent releases are no
longer considered credible events. The permanently defueled status of
the facility has resulted in a significant reduction in the number and
severity of potential accidents, and correspondingly, a significant
reduction in the potential for, and severity of, onsite property
damage. The proposed reduction in the amount of onsite insurance
coverage does not impact the probability or consequences of any
potential accidents. The proposed level of insurance coverage is
commensurate with the reduced risk and reduced cost consequences of
potential nuclear accidents at BRP. Therefore, the NRC staff concludes
that granting the requested exemption will not present an undue risk to
the health and safety of the public.
C. Consistent With the Common Defense and Security
The proposed exemption would not eliminate any requirements
associated with physical protection of the site and would not adversely
affect BRP's ability to physically secure the site or protect special
nuclear material. Physical security measures at BRP are not affected by
the requested exemption. Therefore, the proposed exemption is
consistent with the common defense and security.
D. Special Circumstances
Under 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), special circumstances are present if
the application of the regulation in the particular circumstances would
not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary to
achieve the underlying purpose of the rule. The underlying purpose of
10 CFR 50.54(w)(1) is to provide reasonable assurance that adequate
funds will be available to stabilize reactor conditions and cover
onsite cleanup costs associated with site decontamination, following a
reactor accident that results in the release of a significant amount of
radiological material.
The BRP site is permanently shutdown and defueled, and source terms
have been removed by placing all SNF, SNM, and GTCC waste in DFS casks
in an ISFSI. Decontamination activities associated with the operating
reactor have been completed and site lands have been released from the
BRP part 50 license for unrestricted use with only the area supporting
the ISFSI remaining. Therefore, any radiological consequences of
accidents that will remain possible at BRP in the decommissioned ISFSI-
only condition are substantially lower than those at an operating
plant. Accordingly, the staff concludes that the application of the
current requirements in 10 CFR 50.54(w)(1), as exempted, for BRP to
maintain $500 million in onsite insurance coverage is not necessary to
achieve the underlying purpose of the rule for the permanently shutdown
and defueled BRP facility.
Under 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(iii), special circumstances are present
whenever compliance would result in undue hardship or other costs that
are significantly in excess of those contemplated when the regulation
was adopted, or that are significantly in excess of those incurred by
others similarly situated.
The NRC staff concludes that if the licensee was required to
continue to maintain an onsite insurance level of $500 million, the
associated insurance premiums would be in excess of those necessary and
commensurate with the radiological contamination risks posed by the
site in its current configuration. In addition, such insurance levels
would be significantly in excess of other decommissioning reactor
facilities that have been granted similar exemptions by the NRC.
As such, the NRC staff finds that compliance with the existing rule
would result in an undue hardship or other costs that are significantly
in excess of those contemplated when the regulation was adopted and are
significantly in excess of those incurred by others similarly situated.
Therefore, the special circumstances required by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii)
and 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(iii) exist for the BRP facility.
E. Environmental Considerations
The NRC approval of an exemption to insurance or indemnity
requirements belongs to a category of actions that the Commission, by
rule or regulation, has declared to be a categorical exclusion, after
first finding that the category of actions does not individually or
cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment.
Specifically, the exemption is categorically excluded from further
analysis under 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25).
[[Page 37356]]
Under 10 CFR 51.22(c)(25), granting of an exemption from the
requirements of any regulation of chapter I to 10 CFR is a categorical
exclusion provided that (i) there is no significant hazards
consideration; (ii) there is no significant change in the types or
significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may be
released offsite; (iii) there is no significant increase in individual
or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure; (iv) there is
no significant construction impact; (v) there is no significant
increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological
accidents; and (vi) the requirements from which an exemption is sought
involve: Surety, insurance, or indemnity requirements.
The NRC staff determined that approval of the exemption request
involves no significant hazards consideration because reducing the
licensee's onsite property damage insurance for BRP does not (1)
involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an
accident previously evaluated; or (2) create the possibility of a new
or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated;
or (3) involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. The
exempted financial protection regulation is unrelated to the operation
of BRP. Accordingly, there is no significant change in the types or
significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may be
released offsite; and no significant increase in individual or
cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure.
The exempted regulation is not associated with construction, so
there is no significant construction impact. The exempted regulation
does not concern the source term (i.e., potential amount of radiation
in an accident), nor mitigation. Therefore, there is no significant
increase in the potential for, or consequences of, a radiological
accident. In addition, there would be no significant impacts to biota,
water resources, historic properties, cultural resources, or
socioeconomic conditions in the region. The requirement for onsite
property damage insurance involves surety, insurance, and indemnity
matters. Therefore, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b) and 10 CFR
51.22(c)(25), no environmental impact statement or environmental
assessment need be prepared in connection with the approval of this
exemption request.
IV. Conclusions
The Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a),
the exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to
the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense
and security. Also, special circumstances are present. Therefore, the
Commission hereby grants BRP an exemption from the requirements of 10
CFR 50.54(w)(1), to permit the licensee to reduce its onsite property
damage insurance coverage to a level of $50 million.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of July, 2019.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John B. McKirgan,
Chief, Spent Fuel Licensing Branch, Division of Spent Fuel Management,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2019-16316 Filed 7-30-19; 8:45 am]
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