[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7795-7796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02681]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-271; NRC-2020-0039]
NorthStar Nuclear Decommissioning Co., LLC; Vermont Yankee
Nuclear Power Station
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 an August 28, 2019, request from NorthStar
Nuclear Decommissioning Company (NorthStar NDC), for the Vermont Yankee
Nuclear Power Station, from the requirement to investigate and report
to the NRC when NorthStar NDC does not receive notification of receipt
of a shipment, or part of a shipment, of low-level radioactive waste
within 20 days after transfer from the Vermont Yankee facility.
NorthStar NDC 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 as operational experience indicates that rail or
mixed mode shipments may take more than 20 days to reach their
destination.
DATES: The exemption was issued on February 5, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0039 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-2020-0039. 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: Jack D. Parrott, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6634, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the exemption is attached.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of February 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bruce A. Watson,
Chief, Reactor Decommissioning Branch, Division of Decommissioning,
Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety
and Safeguards.
Attachment--Exemption From Certain Low-Level Waste Shipment Tracking
Requirements of 10 CFR Part 20, Appendix G, Section III.E
I. Background
The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VY), licensed under Title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 50 (renewed license
no. DPR-28, docket no. 50-271), is located in the town of Vernon,
Vermont, in Windham County on the western shore of the Connecticut
River immediately upstream of the Vernon Hydroelectric Station. VY
employed a General Electric boiling water reactor nuclear steam supply
system licensed to generate 1,912 megawatts (thermal energy). The
operating license for VY was issued on March 21, 1972, and commercial
operation commenced on November 30, 1972. The license was renewed on
March 21, 2011. VY permanently ceased operations on December 29, 2014
and on January 12, 2015 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15013A426), the licensee
certified to the NRC that it had permanently ceased operations at VY
and that all fuel from the reactor vessel had been permanently removed.
The VY renewed operating license was transferred to NorthStar NDC
by NRC order issued October 11, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18248A096).
Upon implementation of the license transfer, on January 11, 2019,
NorthStar NDC commenced dismantlement and decommissioning activities at
the VY site that included the generation of low-level radioactive
waste. This waste is primarily destined for transfer to the Waste
Control Specialists disposal site in Andrews, Texas by rail or mixed
mode shipment, such as a combination of truck/rail shipments.
Decommissioning of VY is scheduled to be complete by 2030.
II. Request/Action
By letter dated August 28, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML19252A056),
NorthStar NDC 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 disposals from the VY facility. Section III.E
requires that the shipper of any low-level radioactive waste to a
licensed 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, NorthStar NDC is requesting an exemption from
the requirements in 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G, Section III.E, under
the provisions of 10 CFR 20.2301, ``Applications for exemptions,'' to
extend the time period for NorthStar NDC to receive acknowledgement
that the shipment has been received from 20 to 45 days after transfer
for rail or mixed mode shipment from VY to the intended recipient.
Inherent to the decommissioning process, large volumes of low-level
radioactive waste are generated and require disposal. The licensee has
transported low-level radioactive waste from VY to distant locations
such as the waste disposal facility operated by Waste Control
Specialists in Andrews, Texas. Experience with waste shipments from VY
and other decommissioning power reactor sites indicates that rail or
mixed-mode 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 can further delay the issuance or
arrival of the receipt of notification.
[[Page 7796]]
III. Discussion
A. The Exemption Is Authorized by Law
The NRC's regulations in 10 CFR 20.2301 allow the Commission to
grant exemptions from the requirements of the regulations in 10 CFR
part 20 if it determines the exemption would be 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
NorthStar NDC 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 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 VY (for example see NorthStar NDC
reports on investigation pursuant to 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G (ADAMS
Accession Nos. ML19233A015, ML19233A032, ML19233A019, ML20014D560, and
ML19347B109) found that several shipments took longer than 20 days, and
one up to 59 days, to reach the Waste Control Specialist disposal
facility in Andrews, Texas once they left the VY facility. The NRC
acknowledges that, based on the history of low-level radioactive waste
shipments from VY, the need to investigate, trace and report on
shipments that take longer than 20 days could result in an excessive
administrative burden on the licensee. As stated in the request for
exemption, NorthStar NDC will request a daily update to be provided for
the location of the shipment from the appropriate carriers of the low-
level radioactive waste shipments.
Because of the oversight and monitoring of radioactive waste
shipments throughout the entire journey from VY to the disposal site,
it is unlikely that a shipment could be lost, misdirected, or diverted
without the knowledge of the carrier or NorthStar NDC. 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 of the low-level radioactive
waste as described by NorthStar NDC in its August 28, 2019, letter
would not result in an undue hazard to life or property.
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 NorthStar NDC an exemption from 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G,
Section III.E to extend the receipt of notification period from 20 days
to 45 days after transfer for rail or mixed-mode shipments of low-level
radioactive waste from the VY facility to a licensed land disposal
facility.
[FR Doc. 2020-02681 Filed 2-10-20; 8:45 am]
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