[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 168 (Thursday, August 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45552-45554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18616]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-1031, 72-44, 50-528, 50-529, and 50-530; NRC-2019-0161]
Arizona Public Service Company, Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station, 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 in response to a request submitted by Arizona Public Service
Company on July 5, 2019, for its general license to operate an
independent spent fuel storage installation at the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station. This exemption would permit the Arizona Public
Service Company to load spent fuel with a larger pellet diameter than
is authorized in the MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage cask system in
Certificate of Compliance No. 1031, Amendment No. 7.
DATES: The exemption was issued on August 23, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2019-0161 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-2019-0161. Address
questions about NRC docket IDs 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 in this document (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: Bernard White, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6577; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station began operation in 1986 and
has been storing pressurized-water reactor spent fuel in its
independent spent fuel storage installation since March 2003 utilizing
Certificate of Compliance No. 1015 for the NAC-UMS storage system. For
the loading campaign commencing in August 2019, Arizona Public Service
Company is transitioning to the MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage system,
Certificate of Compliance No. 1031, Amendment No. 7 (ADAMS Package
Accession No. ML17013A466). The majority of the spent fuel assemblies
to be loaded in the upcoming loading campaign have pellets with a
maximum diameter of 0.3255 inches (0.8268 centimeters). While the NAC-
UMS system was approved for this pellet diameter in Amendment No. 2 to
CoC No. 1015 (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML020250546), the
MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage system is approved for the nominal pellet
diameter of 0.325 inches (0.8255 centimeters), thereby precluding some
of the spent fuel at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station from
being loaded in the upcoming loading campaign.
II. Request/Action
By application dated July 5, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML19186A449), Arizona Public Service Company submitted a request for an
exemption from those provisions of title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR) 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i),
72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 that require compliance with the terms,
conditions, and specifications of Certificate of Compliance No. 1031,
Amendment No. 7, for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station to load
spent fuel with a maximum pellet diameter of 0.3255 inches (0.8268
centimeters), utilizing Amendment No. 7 for the NAC
[[Page 45553]]
International MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage system.
III. Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, the Commission may, upon application by
any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant such exemptions
from the requirements of the regulations of 10 CFR part 72 as it
determines are authorized by law and will not endanger life or property
or the common defense and security, and are otherwise in the public
interest.
The NRC staff prepared a safety evaluation report (ADAMS Accession
No. ML19213A033) to document the safety evaluation of the proposed
action (i.e., exemption to authorize loading spent fuel with a maximum
pellet diameter of 0.3255 inches (0.8268 centimeters)), to assure that
the exemption is authorized by law, will protect life or property or
the common defense and security and are otherwise in the public
interest. As summarized in this document, the NRC's safety review
concludes that the requested exemption meets the requirements for
issuance in 10 CFR 72.7.
A. The Exemption is Authorized by Law
This exemption would permit the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station to load spent fuel with a larger pellet diameter than
authorized in Certificate of Compliance No. 1031, Amendment No. 7.
Section 72.7 allows the Commission to grant exemptions from the
requirements of 10 CFR part 72 if the exemption is authorized by law
and will not endanger life or property nor the common defense and
security. Issuance of this exemption is consistent with the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and not otherwise inconsistent with
NRC's regulations or other applicable laws. Therefore, issuance of the
exemption is authorized by law.
B. Will Not Endanger Life or Property or the Common Defense and
Security
As discussed in the safety evaluation report and summarized in the
following sections, the NRC staff has found that Arizona Public Service
Company's proposed action is acceptable and will not endanger life or
property or the common defense and security.
Safety Review of the Requested Exemption
The staff reviewed the exemption request for Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station and concludes, as discussed in this document, that
the proposed exemption from certain requirements of 10 CFR part 72 will
not cause the MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage cask to encounter conditions
beyond those for which it has been evaluated and demonstrated to meet
the applicable safety requirements in 10 CFR part 72. As explained in
this document, the staff's evaluation includes only the criticality
safety area of review, since it is the only technical area revised by
this exemption.
The licensee submitted an exemption request to deviate from the
maximum pellet diameter for Combustion Engineering 16x16 fuel, stored
in the NAC MAGNASTOR[supreg] dry storage system. The licensee stated
that NAC International evaluated a pellet diameter of 0.3255 inches
(0.8268 centimeters) in the MAGNASTOR[supreg] final safety analysis
report (ADAMS Accession No. ML091030364), to determine the effect of an
upper manufacturing tolerance of 0.0005 inches (0.0013 centimeters)
applied to the nominal value of 0.3250 inches (0.8255 centimeters). In
that final safety analysis report, NAC International determined that
the system k-effective with this larger diameter pellet is
statistically the same as the system k-effective with the nominal
pellet diameter. Therefore, Arizona Public Service Company stated that
its proposed exemption has no effect on the criticality safety of the
MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage system.
The staff reviewed the final safety analysis report and agrees that
the proposed change to the pellet diameter will not result in changes
to system k-effective that are statistically significant. The staff
also agrees that the results of the NAC International criticality
analysis, and with the licensee's conclusion that this proposed
exemption does not affect the ability of the MAGNASTOR[supreg] system
to meet the criticality safety requirements of 10 CFR part 72.
Based on these evaluations, the staff has concluded that granting
this exemption will be consistent with the requirements of 10 CFR part
72 and will not endanger life or property.
Review of Common Defense and Security: Modification of the pellet
diameter does not affect the independent spent fuel storage
installation security plans. Accordingly, the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station independent spent fuel storage installation will
continue to be physically protected under Arizona Public Service
Company's independent spent fuel storage installation Physical Security
Plan to the same level of security.
Based on its review, the NRC staff has determined that under the
requested exemption, the storage system will continue to meet the
safety requirements of 10 CFR part 72 and the offsite dose limits of 10
CFR part 20 and, therefore, will not endanger life or property. The NRC
staff also found that the exemption would not endanger common defense
and security.
D. Otherwise in the Public Interest
In determining whether the exemption is in the public interest, the
staff considered the no-action alternative of denying the exemption
request. Denial of the exemption request would cause Arizona Public
Service Company to postpone loading of spent fuel that contains the
larger pellet diameter until it is approved in an amendment for CoC No.
1031 or alternative loading arrangements are implemented.
The licensee stated that the proposed exemption is in the public
interest because it would allow Arizona Public Service Company to load
spent fuel on schedule, maintain full-core offload capability and would
not affect power plant operations or refueling outages for the three
units at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
E. Environmental Considerations
The NRC staff also considered whether there would be any
significant environmental impacts associated with the exemption. For
this proposed action, the NRC staff performed an environmental
assessment pursuant to 10 CFR 51.30. The environmental assessment
concluded that the proposed action would not significantly impact the
quality of the human environment. The NRC staff concluded that the
proposed action would not result in any changes in the types or amounts
of any radiological or non-radiological effluents that may be released
offsite, and there is no significant increase in occupational or public
radiation exposure because of the proposed action. The environmental
assessment and the finding of no significant impact was published on
August 23, 2019 (84 FR 44339).
IV. Conclusion
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
72.7, this exemption is authorized by law, will not endanger life or
property or the common defense and security, and is otherwise in the
public interest. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Arizona Public
Service Company an exemption from those provisions of 10 CFR
72.212(a)(2), 10 CFR 72.212(b)(3), 10 CFR 72.212(b)(5)(i), 10 CFR
72.214, and the portion of 10 CFR 72.212(b)(11) that require compliance
[[Page 45554]]
with terms, conditions, and specifications of the Certificate of
Compliance No. 1031, Amendment No. 7, for the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station to load spent fuel with a maximum pellet diameter of
0.3255 inches (0.8268 centimeters) in the MAGNASTOR[supreg] storage
system using Certificate of Compliance No. 1031, Amendment No. 7.
The exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day of August, 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. 2019-18616 Filed 8-28-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P