[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 178 (Friday, September 17, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51926-51928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20092]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-1050; NRC-2016-0231]


Interim Storage Partners, LLC; WCS Consolidated Interim Storage 
Facility; Issuance of Materials License and Record of Decision

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: License and record of decision; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued 
Materials License No. SNM-2515 to Interim Storage Partners, LLC (ISP) 
to construct and operate the WCS Consolidated Interim Storage Facility 
(CISF) as proposed in its license application, as amended, and to 
receive, possess, store, and transfer spent nuclear fuel and Greater-
than-Class-C radioactive waste at the WCS CISF in Andrews County, 
Texas. ISP will be required to operate under the conditions listed in 
Materials License No. SNM-2515. The NRC staff has published a record of 
decision (ROD) that supports the NRC's decision to approve ISP's 
license application for the WCS CISF and to issue the license.

DATES: September 17, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2016-0231 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may access 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-2016-0231. Address 
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; 
telephone: 301-415-0624; 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 access publicly

[[Page 51927]]

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. In addition, for the convenience of the reader, the ADAMS 
accession numbers are provided in a table in the section of this 
document entitled, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
     Attention: The 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 or 
301-415-4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John-Chau Nguyen, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-0262; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion

    The NRC has issued a license to ISP for its WCS CISF in Andrews 
County, Texas (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML21188A096). Materials 
License No. SNM-2515 authorizes ISP to construct and operate its 
facility as proposed in its license application, as amended, and to 
receive, possess, store, and transfer spent nuclear fuel, including a 
small quantity of mixed-oxide fuel, and Greater-than-Class-C 
radioactive waste at the WCS CISF. The license authorizes ISP to store 
up to 5,000 metric tons of uranium [5,500 short tons] of spent nuclear 
fuel for a license period of 40 years. ISP will be required to operate 
under the conditions listed in Materials License No. SNM-2515.
    The NRC staff's ROD that supports the NRC's decision to approve 
ISP's license application for the WCS CISF and to issue Materials 
License No. SNM-2515 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. 
ML21222A214. The ROD satisfies the regulatory requirement in section 
51.102 paragraph (a) of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR), which requires that a Commission decision on any action for which 
a final environmental impact statement (EIS) has been prepared be 
accompanied by or include a concise public ROD. As discussed in the ROD 
and the final EIS for ISP's license application for a CISF for spent 
nuclear fuel in Andrews County, Texas (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML21209A955), the NRC staff considered a range of reasonable 
alternatives that included the No-Action alternative, as required by 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended; storage at a 
government-owned CISF; alternative design and storage technologies; and 
alternative locations. The final EIS documents the environmental 
review, including the NRC staff's recommendation to issue an NRC 
license to ISP to construct and operate a CISF for spent nuclear fuel 
at the proposed location, subject to the determinations in the NRC 
staff's safety review of the application. The final EIS conclusion is 
based on the NRC staff's independent environmental review, as well as 
(i) the license application, which includes the environmental report 
and supplemental documents and ISP's responses to the NRC staff's 
requests for additional information; (ii) consultation with Federal, 
State, Tribal, and local agencies and input from other stakeholders, 
including members of the public; and (iii) the assessments provided in 
the final EIS.
    The NRC staff prepared a final safety evaluation report that 
documents the staff's safety and security review of the application 
(ADAMS Accession No. ML21188A101). The staff's safety and security 
review found that the application met applicable NRC regulations in 10 
CFR part 72, ``Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of 
Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-Related 
Greater than Class C Waste.''
    Documents related to the application carry Docket ID NRC-2016-0231. 
These documents for the ISP license include the license application, 
the applicant's safety analysis report, emergency plan, physical 
security plan, environmental report, updates to these documents, and 
applicant supplements and responses to NRC staff requests for 
additional information, and the NRC staff's final safety evaluation 
report, final EIS, and ROD.
    ISP's request for a materials license was previously noticed in the 
Federal Register on November 14, 2016 (81 FR 79531). A notice of 
docketing with an opportunity to request a hearing and to petition for 
leave to intervene was published in the Federal Register on January 30, 
2017 (82 FR 8773). Four groups of petitioners filed petitions to 
intervene. An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board considered petitions 
and admitted one contention. The Board subsequently dismissed the 
contention as moot after ISP supplemented its application with 
information that the contention had noted was missing, and the Board 
subsequently terminated the adjudicatory proceeding. Intervenors 
appealed the decisions to the Commission, and the Commission affirmed 
the Board decisions, with one new contention remanded to the Board for 
consideration. The Board subsequently dismissed the remanded 
contention, and the Commission denied an appeal of the Board decision.
    In issuing a materials license to ISP for the WCS CISF, the NRC has 
determined based on its review of this application that there is 
reasonable assurance that: (i) The activities authorized by the license 
can be conducted without endangering the health and safety of the 
public; and (ii) these activities will be conducted in compliance with 
the applicable regulations of 10 CFR part 72. The NRC has further 
determined that the issuance of the license will not be inimical to the 
common defense and security.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's ``Rules of Practice,'' 
the details with respect to this action, including the final safety 
evaluation report and accompanying documentation and license, are 
available electronically in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at 
https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can 
access ADAMS, which provides text and image files of the NRC public 
documents.

II. Availability of Documents

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

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                          Document                                           ADAMS accession No.
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1. Initial application, safety analysis report (SAR) and     ML16133A070 (Package).
 environmental report (ER), dated April 28, 2016.
2. Application Revision 1, SAR Revision 1, and ER Revision   ML17082A021 (Package).
 1, dated March 16, 2017.
3. Application Revision 2, SAR Revision 2, and ER Revision   ML18206A595 (Package).
 2, dated July 19, 2018.
4. ER Revision 3, dated February 17, 2020..................  ML20052E144 (Package).

[[Page 51928]]

 
5. SAR Revision 3, dated May 22, 2020......................  ML20150A337 (Package).
6. Application Revision 3, dated August 24, 2020...........  ML20237F470.
7. SAR Revision 4, September 2, 2020.......................  ML20261H419 (Package).
8. Application Revision 4 and SAR Revision 5, dated April    ML21105A766 (Package).
 12, 2021.
9. Applicant response to request for additional              ML18208A437.
 information, dated July 19, 2018.
10. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19009A099.
 information, dated January 7, 2019.
11. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19085A055.
 information, dated March 22, 2019.
12. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19156A048 (Package).
 information, dated May 31, 2019.
13. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19197A044.
 information, dated June 26, 2019.
14. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19184A159 (Package).
 information, dated June 28, 2019.
15. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19190A227 (Package).
 information, dated June 28, 2019.
16. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19217A231 (Package).
 information, dated July 31, 2019.
17. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19235A157 (Package).
 information, dated August 20, 2019.
18. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19270E399.
 information, dated September 18, 2019.
19. Applicant submittal of supplemental information, dated   ML19268A113 (Package).
 September 20, 2019.
20. Applicant response to request for additional             ML19337B502 (Package).
 information, dated November 21, 2019.
21. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20015A448 (Package).
 information, dated January 6, 2020.
22. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20028E843 (Package).
 information, dated January 17, 2020.
23. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20028D890 (Package).
 information, dated January 22, 2020.
24. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20052D995 (Package).
 information, dated February 14, 2020.
25. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20052E047 (Package).
 information, dated February 14, 2020.
26. Applicant submittal of supplemental information, dated   ML20071F152 (Package).
 March 5, 2020.
27. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20083J964 (Package).
 information, dated March 16, 2020.
28. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20105A133 (Package).
 information, dated April 7, 2020.
29. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20105A171 (Package).
 information, dated April 7, 2020.
30. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20139A173 (Package).
 information, dated May 18, 2020.
31. Applicant response to request for additional             ML20163A008.
 information, dated June 11, 2020.
32. Applicant submittal of supplemental information, dated   ML20203M040.
 July 21, 2020.
33. Applicant submittal of supplemental information, dated   ML21027A147.
 January 27, 2021.
34. Draft Environmental Impact Statement, dated May 2020...  ML20122A220.
35. Overview of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement,    ML20121A016.
 dated May 2020.
36. Overview of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement     ML20136A148.
 (Spanish language version), dated May 2020.
37. Final Environmental Impact Statement, dated July 2021..  ML21209A955.
38. Overview of the Final Environmental Impact Statement,    ML21200A050.
 dated July 2021.
39. Final Safety Evaluation Report, dated September 2021...  ML21188A101.
40. NRC Staff's Record of Decision, dated September 13,      ML21222A214.
 2021.
41. Materials License for ISP, dated September 13, 2021....  ML21188A096 (Package).
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    Dated: September 13, 2021.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Shana R. Helton,
Director, Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2021-20092 Filed 9-16-21; 8:45 am]
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