[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 202 (Monday, October 19, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66285-66287]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-22268]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[Docket Nos. PRM-72-7; NRC-2012-0266; NRC-2014-0067]


Spent Fuel Cask Certificate of Compliance Format and Content

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Withdrawal of petition for rulemaking; discontinuation of 
rulemaking activity.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is announcing the 
withdrawal of Petition for Rulemaking PRM-72-7 (PRM; petition), and 
discontinuation of the associated rulemaking activity, ``Spent Fuel 
Cask Certificate of Compliance Format and Content.'' The NRC will no 
longer track this rulemaking activity or PRM.

DATES: The docket for the rulemaking is closed on October 19, 2020. The 
petition was withdrawn on February 25, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket IDs NRC-2012-0266 or NRC-2014-0067 
when contacting the NRC about the availability of information for this 
action. You may obtain publicly-available information related to this 
action by any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2012-0266 or NRC-2014-
0067. 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 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]. Instructions about obtaining 
materials referenced in this document are provided in the Availability 
of Documents section of this document.
     Attention: The Public Document Room (PDR), where you may 
examine and order copies of public documents is currently closed. You 
may submit your request to the PDR via email at [email protected] or 
call 1-800-397-4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Anderson, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7126; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Discussion
II. NRC Analysis
III. Availability of Documents
IV. Conclusion

I. Discussion

    On October 3, 2012, the NRC received PRM-72-7 from the Nuclear 
Energy Institute (NEI; petitioner). The petition requested that the NRC 
revise part 72 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear 
Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater Than 
Class C Waste,'' to add a new rule governing spent fuel storage cask 
certificate of compliance format and content and make other changes to 
NRC oversight of dry cask storage activities.
    The petition was noticed in the Federal Register for public comment 
on February 5, 2013. The NRC received five comment letters, all 
supporting the petition. On July 18, 2014, the NRC announced that the 
six issues raised in the petition were appropriate for consideration in 
the rulemaking process. The petition issues were identified as follows:
    Issue No. 1: The petition requested an amendment to 10 CFR part 72, 
subpart L, ``Approval of Spent Fuel Storage Casks,'' to provide 
specific criteria for the format and content of the certificate of 
compliance for a spent fuel storage cask.
    Issue No. 2: The petition requested an amendment to Sec.  72.62 to 
provide backfit protection to certificate of compliance holders in 
addition to licensees.
    Issue No. 3: The petition requested an amendment to 10 CFR part 72, 
subpart

[[Page 66286]]

K, ``General License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor 
Sites,'' to remove the requirement in Sec.  72.212(b)(6) for general 
licensees to perform a review of the NRC's safety evaluation report for 
the certificate of compliance or amended certificate of compliance 
prior to use by a general licensee.
    Issue No. 4: The petition requested an amendment to 10 CFR part 72, 
subpart K, to clarify the requirement to review various plans and 
programs that are governed by other NRC regulations.
    Issue No. 5: The petition requested an amendment to 10 CFR part 72, 
subpart L, to remove the requirement in Sec.  72.236(k)(3) to mark the 
empty weight on each storage cask.
    Issue No. 6: The petition requested an amendment to Sec.  72.124(c) 
to expand the scope of activities for which criticality monitoring is 
not required.
    NRC's review of these six issues showed that they did not address 
safety, environmental, or security concerns. Accordingly, the 
rulemaking was assigned a medium priority.

II. NRC Analysis

    NRC staff evaluated the issues raised by the petitioner in 
accordance with its rulemaking process. The staff's early assessment of 
the petition issues determined that Issue No. 1 pertaining to the 
certificate of compliance format and content was the most consequential 
for improving the efficiency of the licensing process.
    In 2016 and 2017, the NRC staff engaged with external stakeholders 
through a series of public workshops to explore options for achieving 
the efficiency improvements raised by Issue No. 1. The information 
obtained from those workshops supported development of qualitative 
risk-informed graded approach criteria that could be used to streamline 
the format and content of certificates of compliance and focus the 
certificate of compliance content on the most risk significant aspects. 
The graded approach criteria help determine the level of detail and 
location of information that should be included in a certificate of 
compliance for a spent fuel dry storage cask design. This graded 
approach is described in Regulatory Issue Resolution Protocol I-16-01.
    On June 29, 2017, TN Americas LLC (formerly AREVA) submitted an 
application for Renewed Amendment 16 \1\ to the Standardized 
NUHOMS[supreg] Horizontal Modular Storage System (NUHOMS[supreg]) 
Certificate of Compliance No. 1004 to pilot the application of the 
graded approach criteria. Chapter 2 of the preliminary safety 
evaluation report for the amendment discusses the development of the 
graded approach criteria in more detail, including information on the 
public meetings that were held and how the criteria were applied in 
review of the amendment request. After completing a safety review of 
the application, the staff, by letter dated January 8, 2020, endorsed 
the use of the pilot study's graded approach criteria by other cask 
vendors. This letter noted that NRC will continue to explore the use of 
risk information and enhancements to the dry storage licensing process. 
On June 30, 2020 (85 FR 39049), the NRC published the rulemaking for 
this pilot amendment with a direct final rule and companion proposed 
rule in the Federal Register; as corrected on July 17, 2020 (85 FR 
43419).
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    \1\ On December 3, 2017, the NRC issued the renewals of initial 
certificate; Amendment Nos. 1 through 11 and 13, Revision 1; and 
Amendment No. 14 of Certificate of Compliance No. 1004 for the 
Standardized NUHOMS[supreg] System. Subsequently, Renewed Amendment 
No. 15 was issued on December 14, 2018. The certificates were 
renewed for an additional 40-year period. The TN Americas LLC 
Certificate of Compliance No. 1004, its amendments, and all future 
amendments to the certificate are referred to as Renewed Amendments.
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    While the TN Americas LLC renewed amendment was under development, 
the staff, in the summer of 2019, identified potential rulemaking 
alternatives for the petition items and performed a preliminary cost-
benefit analysis in support of the rulemaking plan. These assessments 
determined that resolution of Issue No. 1 could result in substantial 
averted costs (benefits) to the NRC, certificate of compliance holders, 
and licensees and could be achieved without rulemaking. The remaining 
Issues 2-6 were estimated to produce negligible net benefits that, 
without the benefits of Issue No. 1, would not justify the costs of 
rulemaking. Furthermore, other staff assessments indicated that, in 
addition to Issue No. 1, some of the other issues raised by the 
petition could be satisfactorily addressed outside of the rulemaking 
process using non-rulemaking approaches.
    On November 18, 2019, the NRC staff held a public meeting on the 
status of the rulemaking associated with PRM-72-7. At the meeting, the 
petitioner, NEI, supported non-rulemaking alternatives to gain 
certificate of compliance efficiencies as soon as possible. The 
transcript and public meeting summary from this meeting are listed in 
Section III, Availability of Documents, of this notice.
    Subsequently, in a letter dated February 25, 2020, NEI withdrew the 
petition. In this letter, NEI stated that Issue No. 1 was ``the central 
purpose of PRM 72-7,'' and that this issue was addressed through the 
NRC's endorsement of the graded approach criteria. In addition, NEI 
indicated that, with this central purpose addressed, ``none of the 
other issues raised in the petition, on their own merits, warrant the 
dedication of specific [NRC] resources to a rulemaking.''
    With the development and endorsement of the graded approach 
criteria, the NRC finds that the primary intent of the petition has 
been satisfied. Additionally, a preliminary cost-benefit analysis 
demonstrates that rulemaking is not cost-justified for the remaining 
issues. Accordingly, the NRC is taking no further action on the 
petition and is discontinuing the rulemaking effort.

III. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are related to this 
action and are available to interested persons through one or more of 
the following methods, as indicated.

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                                   Adams Accession No./ Federal Register
             Document                             Citation
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Petition for rulemaking from the   ML12299A380
 Nuclear Energy Institute,
 October 3, 2012.
Federal Register notice for        78 FR 8050
 receipt and request for comment,
 ``Spent Fuel Cask Certificate of
 Compliance Format and Content,''
 February 5, 2013.
Letters, Public Comments on PRM-   ML14134A072 (package)
 72-7, May 15, 2014.
Federal Register notice for        79 FR 41935
 consideration in rulemaking
 process, ``Spent Fuel Cask
 Certificate of Compliance Format
 and Content,'' July 18, 2014.
Letter, ``Proposed RIRP Issue      ML16158A048
 Screening Form and Resolution
 Plan for Improving the
 Efficiency of the Regulatory
 Framework for Dry Storage of
 Spent Nuclear Fuel,'' April 12,
 2016.

[[Page 66287]]

 
Letter, ``Regulatory Issue         ML17138A119
 Resolution Protocol Screening
 Form and Resolution Plan for
 Improving the Part 72 Regulatory
 Framework (RIRP-I-16-01),'' May
 12, 2017.
Letter, ``Response to Nuclear      ML17150A458
 Energy Institute's Letter
 Regarding Regulatory Issue
 Resolution Protocol Screening
 Form and Resolution Plan for
 Improving the Part 72 Regulatory
 Framework (RIRP-I-16-01),'' June
 5, 2017.
Letter, ``Application for          ML17191A235
 Amendment 16 to Standardized
 NUHOMS[supreg] Certificate of
 Compliance No. 1004 for Spent
 Fuel Storage Casks, Revision 0
 (Docket No. 72-1004),'' June 29,
 2017.
Letter, ``Application for          ML17206A045
 Amendment No. 16 to Standardized
 NUHOMS[supreg] Certificate of
 Compliance No. 1004--Accepted
 for Review,'' July 21, 2017.
Preliminary Safety Evaluation      ML19262E161
 Report, ``TN Americas LLC
 Standardized NUHOMS[supreg]
 Horizontal Modular Storage
 System for Irradiated Nuclear
 Fuel Docket No. 72-1004
 NUHOMS[supreg] System Amendment
 No. 16,'' September 18, 2019.
Letter, ``Industry White Paper--   ML19318D970
 Defining Spent Fuel Performance
 Margins,'' November 8, 2019.
Public Meeting Documentation,      ML19324C657 (package)
 November 18, 2019.
Summary, November 18, 2019 Public  ML19340A414
 Meeting, December 18, 2019.
Transcript, ``Public Meeting to    ML20079H441
 Discuss the Issues Contained in
 PRM-72-7 and Additional Staff-
 Identified.
Changes to 10 CFR Part 72,''
 November 18, 2019.
Letter, Endorsement of Graded      ML19353D337 (package)
 Approach, January 8, 2020.
Letter, Request to Withdraw PRM-   ML20058B100
 72-7, February 25, 2020.
Federal Register notice for        85 FR 39049
 direct final rule, ``TN Americas
 LLC, Standardized NUHOMS[supreg]
 Horizontal Modular Storage
 System, Certificate of
 Compliance No. 1004, Renewed
 Amendment No. 16,'' June 30,
 2020.
Federal Register notice            85 FR 43419
 correction, ``TN Americas LLC,
 Standardized NUHOMS[supreg]
 Horizontal Modular Storage
 System, Certificate of
 Compliance No. 1004, Renewed
 Amendment No. 16,'' July 17,
 2020.
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IV. Conclusion

    The NRC is withdrawing PRM-72-7 and is no longer pursuing the Spent 
Fuel Cask Certificate of Compliance Format and Content rulemaking for 
the reasons discussed in this document. If the NRC decides to pursue a 
similar or related rulemaking in the future, it will inform the public 
through a new rulemaking entry in the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Activities.

    Dated: October 2, 2020.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Annette L. Vietti-Cook,
Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-22268 Filed 10-16-20; 8:45 am]
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