[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 133 (Friday, July 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41629-41631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14827]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-285; NRC-2020-0157]


Omaha Public Power District; Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1

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 dated March 26, 2020, from the Omaha 
Public Power District (OPPD), for Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 (FCS), 
from the

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requirement to investigate and report to the NRC when OPPD 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 
FCS facility. OPPD 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 such 
shipments may take more than 20 days to reach their destination.

DATES: The exemption was issued on June 30, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0157 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-2020-0157. 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.
     The 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 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.

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: July 6, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bruce Watson,
Chief, Reactor Decommissioning Branch, Division of Decommissioning, 
Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety 
and Safeguards.

Attachment--Exemption

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Docket No. 50-285

Omaha Public Power District

Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1

Exemption From Certain Low-Level Waste Shipment Tracking Requirements 
of 10 CFR part 20, Appendix G, Section III.E

I. Background

    Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 (FCS), is licensed to the Omaha Public 
Power District (OPPD) under title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
(10 CFR) part 50 (renewed license no. DPR-40, docket no. 50-285). FCS 
is located in Washington County, Nebraska on the western shore of the 
Missouri River three miles south of the town of Blair, Nebraska and 20 
miles north of Omaha, Nebraska. FCS employed a Combustion Engineering 
pressurized water reactor nuclear steam supply system licensed to 
generate 1,500 megawatts (thermal energy). The operating license for 
FCS was issued on August 9, 1973, and commercial operation commenced on 
September 26, 1973. The operating license was renewed on November 4, 
2003. FCS permanently ceased operations on October 24, 2016, and on 
November 13, 2016, OPPD certified to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC) that all fuel had been permanently removed from the 
reactor vessel.
    By letter dated March 30, 2017 (NRC's Agencywide Documents Access 
and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML17089A759), OPPD 
submitted the FCS Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report 
(PSDAR). A PSDAR is required to be submitted to the NRC by 10 CFR 
50.82(a)(4)(i). The FCS PSDAR described the decommissioning approach 
that was selected by OPPD as the SAFSTOR method where the facility is 
placed in a safe and stable condition after shutdown. The facility is 
maintained in that state for approximately 50 years, allowing for 
levels of radioactivity to decrease through radioactive decay, followed 
by decontamination of the facility to levels that permit license 
termination.
    By letter dated December 16, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML19351E355), OPPD submitted a revised PSDAR describing a change of 
decommissioning strategy to the DECON method that would commence prompt 
decontamination and dismantlement of the facility primarily after all 
spent nuclear fuel is transferred to the onsite Independent Spent Fuel 
Storage Installation (ISFSI). By letter dated May 18, 2020 (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML20139A138), OPPD certified that all spent nuclear fuel 
assemblies had been permanently transferred out of the FCS spent fuel 
pool and placed in storage within the onsite ISFSI.
    Inherent to the decommissioning process, large volumes of low-level 
radioactive waste are generated and require processing and/or disposal. 
FCS will transport low-level radioactive waste from the facility to 
locations such as the waste disposal facility operated by 
EnergySolutions, LLC. (ES) in Clive, Utah by truck or by mixed mode 
shipments, such as a combination of truck and rail. The decommissioning 
of FCS is scheduled to be complete by 2026.

II. Request/Action

    By letter dated March 26, 2020 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20085H951), 
OPPD 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 transfers of low-level radioactive waste from the 
FCS facility. Section III.E requires that the shipper of any low-level 
radioactive waste to a licensed land disposal or processing facility 
must investigate and trace the shipment if the shipper has not received 
notification of the shipment's receipt by the disposal or processing 
facility within 20 days after transfer. In addition, Section III.E 
requires licensees to report such investigations to the NRC. 
Specifically, OPPD 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 OPPD to receive notification that the shipment has been 
received, from 20 to 45 days after transfer for a rail or mixed mode 
shipment from FCS to the intended recipient, before having to 
investigate and report such shipments to the NRC.
    Experience with waste shipments from FCS by ES indicate that the 
truck transportation time to the ES Clive Disposal Site can take longer 
than 20 days to complete. In January 2019, ES, under contract to OPPD, 
transported the original FCS reactor vessel head, as a specialized 
over-the-road trailer shipment, to the Clive Disposal Site.

[[Page 41631]]

The transport started on January 20, 2019 and arrived at the Clive 
Disposal Site on February 13, 2019. The total transit time between when 
the trailer was released from the FCS facility until verification of 
receipt of the trailer at the Clive Disposal Site was 32 days. This was 
investigated by ES on behalf of FCS and reported to the NRC in a 
letter, dated February 19, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. ML20078L422). In 
October 2019, FCS started a shipment of one of FCS's original steam 
generators, again as a specialized over-the-road trailer shipment by 
ES, to the Clive Disposal Site. The transport started on October 24, 
2019 and, at the time of the investigation, was estimated to arrive in 
Clive, Utah on December 8, 2019. The total estimated transit time 
between when the trailer was released from the FCS facility until 
verification of receipt of the trailer at the Clive Disposal Facility 
was 45 days. This was investigated by ES on behalf of FCS and reported 
to the NRC in a letter dated November 20, 2019 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML19340A027).

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.

B. The Exemption Presents No Undue Risk to Public Health and Safety

    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 on low-level radioactive waste shipments from FCS 
described above, found that shipments took longer than 20 days to reach 
the ES Clive Disposal Site in Clive, Utah once they left the FCS 
facility, but not longer that 45 days. This was not because they were 
lost, but simply a result of the complexity involved in shipping large 
components. In addition, the licensee notes that shipping times beyond 
20 days have been encountered due to issues not specifically related to 
the transport of large components, such as rail cars containing LLW in 
switchyards waiting to be included in a complete train to the disposal 
facility. Based on the history of low-level radioactive waste shipments 
from FCS, the need to investigate, trace and report on shipments that 
take longer than 20 days is therefore inappropriate. As stated in the 
request for exemption, for rail shipments, FCS will utilize an 
electronic data tracking system interchange, or similar tracking 
system, that will allow for monitoring the progress of the shipments by 
the rail carrier on a daily basis in lieu of the 20 day requirement, 
and will initiate an investigation as provided for in Section III.E 
after 45 days.
    Because of the oversight and monitoring of low-level radioactive 
waste shipments throughout the entire journey from FCS to a disposal or 
processing site noted above, it is unlikely that a shipment could be 
lost, misdirected, or diverted without the knowledge of the carrier or 
OPPD. 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 is 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 OPPD in its March 26, 2020, letter would not result in an 
undue hazard to life or property.

C. The Exemption Is Subject to a Categorical Exclusion

    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 OPPD 
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 proposed action presents (i) no significant 
hazards consideration, (ii) would not result in a significant change in 
the types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that 
may be released offsite; (iii) would not result in a significant 
increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation 
exposure; (iv) has no significant construction impact; (v) does not 
present a significant increase in the potential for or consequences 
from radiological accidents; and (vi) requests an exemption that 
involves reporting requirements (10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(vi)(B)) as well as 
inspection or surveillance requirements (10 CFR 51.22(c)(25)(vi)(C)). 
Therefore, no further analysis is required under NEPA.

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 OPPD 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 FCS facility to a licensed land disposal or 
processing facility.

    Dated: June 30th, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Patricia K. Holahan,

Director, Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste 
Programs, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 2020-14827 Filed 7-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P