[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31226-31229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08769]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-1048, 50-390, and 50-391; NRC-2024-0064]
Tennessee Valley Authority; Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and
2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; Exemption
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an
exemption to Tennessee Valley Authority permitting Watts Bar Nuclear
Plant to load five of the model 37 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with
continuous basket shims beginning July 2024 in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind
MPC Storage System at its Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2
independent spent fuel storage installation in a storage condition
where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of
Compliance No. 1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1 are not met.
DATES: The exemption was issued on April 17, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0064 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-2024-0064. 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
[[Page 31227]]
(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, at 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: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies
of publicly available documents, is open by appointment. To make an
appointment to visit the PDR, please send an email to
[email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8
a.m. and 4 p.m. eastern time (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; telephone: 301-415-0262; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the exemption is attached.
Dated: April 19, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Yoira Diaz-Sanabria,
Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel
Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
Attachment--Exemption.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Docket Nos. 72-1048, 50-390, and 50-391
Tennessee Valley Authority; Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Units 1 and 2;
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
I. Background
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is the holder of Facility
Operating License Nos. NPF-90 and NPF-96, which authorize operation of
the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Units 1 and 2 in Rhea County,
Tennessee, pursuant to Part 50 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR), ``Domestic Licensing of Production and
Utilization Facilities.'' The licenses provide, among other things,
that the facility is subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) now or hereafter in
effect.
Consistent with 10 CFR part 72, subpart K, ``General License for
Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites,'' a general license is
issued for the storage of spent fuel in an Independent Spent Fuel
Storage Installation (ISFSI) at power reactor sites to persons
authorized to possess or operate nuclear power reactors under 10 CFR
part 50. TVA is authorized to operate nuclear power reactors under 10
CFR part 50 and holds a 10 CFR part 72 general license for storage of
spent fuel at the WBN ISFSI. Under the terms of the general license,
TVA stores spent fuel at its WBN ISFSI using the HI-STORM Flood/Wind
(FW) Multi-Purpose Canister (MPC) Storage System in accordance with
Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No.
1.
II. Request/Action
By a letter dated February 28, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML24059A369), and
supplemented on March 18, 2024 (ML24078A257), TVA requested an
exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3),
72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 that require WBN to comply
with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC No. 1032,
Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1 (ML16112A309). If approved, TVA's
exemption request would accordingly allow WBN to load MPCs with
continuous basket shims (CBS) (i.e., MPC-37-CBS), an unapproved,
variant basket design, in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, and thus,
to load the systems in a storage condition where the terms, conditions,
and specifications in the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1
are not met.
TVA currently uses the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System under CoC No.
1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1, for dry storage of spent nuclear
fuel in MPC-37 at the WBN ISFSI. Holtec International (Holtec), the
designer and manufacturer of the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System,
developed a variant of the design with CBS for the MPC-37, known as
MPC-37-CBS. Holtec performed a non-mechanistic tip-over analysis with
favorable results and implemented the CBS variant design under the
provisions of 10 CFR 72.48, ``Changes, tests, and experiments,'' which
allows licensees to make changes to cask designs without a CoC
amendment under certain conditions (listed in 10 CFR 72.48(c)). After
evaluating the specific changes to the cask designs, the NRC determined
that Holtec erred when it implemented the CBS variant design under 10
CFR 72.48, as this is not the type of change allowed without a CoC
amendment. For this reason, the NRC issued three Severity Level IV
violations to Holtec (ML24016A190).
TVA's near-term loading campaign for the WBN ISFSI includes plans
to load five MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System beginning
in July 2024. While Holtec was required to submit a CoC amendment to
the NRC to seek approval of the CBS variant design, such a process will
not be completed in time to inform decisions for this near-term loading
campaign. Therefore, TVA submitted this exemption request in order to
allow for future loading of five MPC-37-CBS beginning in July 2024 at
the WBN ISFSI. This exemption is limited to the use of MPC-37-CBS in
the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System only for the specific near-term
planned loading of five canisters using the MPC-37-CBS variant basket
design.
III. Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, ``Specific exemptions,'' 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.
A. The Exemption Is Authorized by Law
This exemption would allow TVA to load five MPC-37-CBS in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System, beginning July 2024, at its WBN ISFSI in a
storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in
the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1, are not met. WBN is
requesting an exemption from the provisions in 10 CFR part 72 that
require the licensee to comply with the terms, conditions, and
specifications of the CoC for the approved cask model it uses. Section
72.7 allows the NRC to grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR
part 72. This authority to grant exemptions is consistent with the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and is not otherwise
inconsistent with NRC's regulations or other applicable laws.
Additionally, no other law prohibits the activities that would be
authorized by the exemption. 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.
[[Page 31228]]
B. The Exemption Will Not Endanger Life or Property or the Common
Defense and Security
This exemption would allow TVA to load five MPC-37-CBS in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System, beginning July 2024, at the WBN ISFSI in a
storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in
the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1, are not met. In
support of its exemption request, TVA asserts that issuance of the
exemption would not endanger life or property because a tip-over or
handling event is administratively controlled, and that the containment
boundary would be maintained in such an event. TVA relies, in part, on
the approach in the NRC's Safety Determination Memorandum
(ML24018A085). The NRC issued this Safety Determination Memorandum to
address whether, with respect to the enforcement action against Holtec
regarding this violation, there was any need to take an immediate
action for the cask systems that were already loaded with non-compliant
basket designs. The Safety Determination Memorandum documents a risk-
informed approach concluding that, during the design basis event of a
non-mechanistic tip-over, the fuel in the basket in the MPC-37-CBS
remains in a subcritical condition.
TVA also provided site-specific technical information, as
supplemented, including information explaining why the use of the
approach in the NRC's Safety Determination Memorandum is appropriate
for determining the safe use of the CBS variant baskets at the WBN
ISFSI. Specifically, TVA described that the analysis of the tip-over
design basis event that is relied upon in the NRC's Safety
Determination Memorandum, which demonstrates that the MPC confinement
barrier is maintained, is documented in the updated final safety
analysis report (UFSAR) for the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System CoC No.
1032, Amendment 0, Revision No. 1 that is used at the WBN site. TVA
stated the transporter for handling of the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage
System at the WBN ISFSI has redundant drop protection features and was
designed, fabricated, and tested in accordance with the applicable
codes described in the CoC No. 1032.
Additionally, TVA provided specific information from WBN's 72.212
Evaluation Report, Revision 5, indicating the calculated total values
for annual dose to any real individual who is located beyond the
controlled area are shown to be well below the limits required by 10
CFR 72.104(a), ``Criteria for radioactive materials in effluents and
direct radiation from an ISFSI or MRS.'' The analysis of a design basis
accident scenario also demonstrates compliance with 72.106,
``Controlled area of an ISFSI or MRS.'' Specifically, TVA described
that, in the highly unlikely event of a tip-over, any potential fuel
damage from a non-mechanistic tip-over event would be localized, the
confinement barrier would be maintained, and the shielding material
would remain intact. Coupled with the distance of the WBN ISFSI to the
site area boundary, TVA concluded that compliance with 72.104 and
72.106 is not impacted by approving this exemption request.
The NRC staff reviewed the information provided by TVA and
concludes that issuance of the exemption would not endanger life or
property because the administrative controls TVA has in place at the
WBN ISFSI sufficiently minimize the possibility of a tip-over or
handling event, and that the containment boundary would be maintained
in such an event. The staff confirmed that these administrative
controls comply with the technical specifications and UFSAR for the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System CoC No. 1032, Amendment 0, Revision No. 1
that is used at the WBN site. In addition, the staff confirmed that the
information provided by TVA regarding WBN's 72.212 Evaluation Report,
Revision 5, demonstrates that the consequences of normal and accident
conditions would be within the regulatory limits of the 10 CFR 72.104
and 10 CFR 72.106. The staff also determined that the requested
exemption is not related to any aspect of the physical security or
defense of the WBN ISFSI; therefore, granting the exemption would not
result in any potential impacts to common defense and security.
For these reasons, 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 or the
common defense and security.
C. The Exemption Is Otherwise in the Public Interest
The proposed exemption would allow WBN to load five MPC-37-CBS in
the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System beginning in July 2024, at the WBN
ISFSI, even though the CBS variant basket design is not part of the
approved CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 0, Revision No. 1. According to
TVA, the exemption is in the public interest because not being able to
load fuel into dry storage in the future loading campaign would impact
TVA's ability to offload fuel from the WBN reactor units, consequently
impacting continued safe reactor operation.
TVA stated that to delay the future loading would impact the
ability to effectively manage the margin to full core discharge reserve
in the WBN Unit 1 and Unit 2 spent fuel pools. WBN's upcoming loading
campaign was originally scheduled to begin on January 29, 2024, but was
postponed until July 2024 . Any further delay would lead to
insufficient space in the spent fuel pool for core offload and the
shutdown of WBN Unit 2, which in turn would potentially impact the
energy supply in the area. According to TVA, the planned July 2024
loading campaign is the latest, and only opportunity for cask loading
to avoid loss of full core reserve in 2025.
For the reasons described by TVA in the exemption request, the NRC
agrees that it is in the public interest to grant the exemption. If the
exemption is not granted, in order to comply with the CoC, WBN would
have to keep spent fuel in the spent fuel pool if it is not permitted
to be loaded into casks for future loading. This would impact the
ability to manage the margin for full core reserve in the WBN spent
fuel pool. Increased inventory in the spent fuel pool would likely
require additional fuel moves, which could in turn increase dose to
workers and the risk of accidents during fuel handling operations.
Moreover, once the spent fuel pool capacity is reached, the ability to
refuel the operating reactor is limited, thus affecting continued
reactor operations. As described by TVA, this scenario would possibly
result in the shutdown of one unit, which could potentially impact the
energy supply in the area.
Therefore, the staff concludes that approving the exemption is in
the public interest.
Environmental Consideration
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,
[[Page 31229]]
and there would be 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
April 17, 2024 (89 FR 27465).
IV. Conclusion
Based on these considerations, the NRC has determined that,
pursuant to 10 CFR 72.7, the 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 NRC grants TVA an
exemption from the requirements of Sec. Sec. 72.212(a)(2),
72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 with respect
to the future loading in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System of five
MPC-37-CBS beginning in July 2024.
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated: April 17, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bernard H. White,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of
Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-08769 Filed 4-23-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P