[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 84 (Tuesday, April 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34282-34284]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09231]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 72-53, 50-254, and 50-265; NRC-2024-0074]


Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; Quad Cities Nuclear Power 
Station, Units 1 and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of no significant impact 
(FONSI) for an exemption request submitted by Constellation Energy 
Generation, LLC (Constellation) that would permit the Quad Cities 
Nuclear Power Station (QCNPS) to load four new 68M multi-purpose 
canisters (MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) beginning June 2024 
in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at its QCNPS Units 1 and 2 independent 
spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) in a storage condition where 
the terms, conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of 
Compliance (CoC) No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, are not 
met.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on 
April 30, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0074 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-2024-0074. 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 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]. For the convenience of the reader, 
instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are 
provided in the ``Availability of Documents'' section.
     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: Yen-Ju Chen, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555; telephone: 301-415-1018; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The NRC is reviewing an exemption request from Constellation, dated 
March 15, 2024. Constellation is requesting an exemption, pursuant to 
section 72.7 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
in paragraphs 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 
72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 that require Constellation to comply with the 
terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC No. 1014, Amendment 
No. 8, Revision No. 1. If approved, the exemption would allow 
Constellation to load four MPC-68M-CBS beginning June 2024 in the HI-
STORM 100 Cask System at the QCNPS ISFSI in a storage condition where 
the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1014, 
Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, are not met.

II. Environmental Assessment

Background

    QCNPS is located 32 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of the Quad 
Cities Metropolitan Area of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock 
Island, Moline and East Moline, Illinois. The site is on the east bank 
of Pool 14 of the Mississippi River, between Lock and Dams 13 and 14 
and approximately 810 kilometers (506 miles) upstream from its 
confluence with the Ohio River. Both Units 1 and 2 began operating in 
1973. Constellation has been storing spent fuel in an ISFSI at QCNPS 
under a general license as authorized by 10 CFR part 72, subpart K, 
``General License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites.'' 
Constellation currently uses the HI-STORM 100 Cask System under CoC No. 
1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, for dry storage of spent nuclear 
fuel in a specific MPC (i.e., MPC-68M) at the QCNPS ISFSI.

Description of the Proposed Action

    The CoC is the NRC approved design for each dry cask storage 
system. The proposed action would exempt the applicant 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 only as these requirements pertain to the use 
of the MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System for the near-term 
planned loading of the systems. The exemption would allow Constellation 
to load four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the QCNPS 
ISFSI beginning June 2024, despite the MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 
Cask System not being in compliance with the terms, conditions, and 
specifications in the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1.
    The HI-STORM 100 Cask System CoC provides the requirements, 
conditions, and operating limits necessary for use of the system to 
store spent fuel. Holtec International (Holtec), the designer and 
manufacturer of the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, developed a variant of 
the design with continuous basket shims (CBS) for the MPC-68M, known as 
MPC-68M-CBS. Holtec originally implemented the CBS variant design under 
the provisions of 10 CFR 72.48, 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 was not 
the type of change allowed without a CoC amendment. For this reason, 
the NRC issued three Severity Level IV violations to Holtec. 
Constellation plans to load four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask 
System beginning in June 2024. This exemption considers the near-term 
planned loading of the four canisters with the CBS variant basket 
design.

Need for the Proposed Action

    Constellation requested this exemption in order to allow QCNPS to 
load four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the QCNPS

[[Page 34283]]

ISFSI for the future loading campaign scheduled to begin in June 2024. 
Approval of the exemption request would allow Constellation to 
effectively manage the spent fuel pool margin and capacity to enable 
refueling and offloading fuel from the reactor. It would also allow 
Constellation to effectively manage the availability of the specialized 
workforce and equipment needed to support competing fuel loading and 
operational activities at QCNPS and other Constellation sites.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    This EA evaluates the potential environmental impacts of granting 
an exemption from the terms, conditions, and specifications in CoC No. 
1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1. The exemption would allow four 
MPC-68M-CBS to be loaded in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System in the near-
term loading campaign and maintained in storage at the QCNPS ISFSI.
    The potential environmental impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel 
in NRC-approved storage systems have been documented in previous 
assessments. On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC amended 10 CFR 
part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel under a general 
license in cask designs approved by the NRC. The EA for the 1990 final 
rule analyzed the potential environmental impacts of using NRC-approved 
storage casks. The EA for the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, CoC No. 1014, 
Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1 (80 FR 49887), published in 2015, tiers 
off of the EA issued for the July 18, 1990, final rule. ``Tiering'' off 
earlier EAs is a standard process encouraged by the regulations 
implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) that 
entails the use of impact analyses of previous EAs to bound the impacts 
of a proposed action where appropriate. The Holtec HI-STORM 100 Cask 
System is designed to mitigate the effects of design basis accidents 
that could occur during storage. Considering the specific design 
requirements for the accident conditions, the design of the cask would 
prevent loss of containment, shielding, and criticality control. If 
there is no loss of containment, shielding, or criticality control, the 
environmental impacts would not be significant.
    The exemptions requested by Constellation at the QCNPS site as they 
relate to CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, for the HI-
STORM 100 Cask System are limited to the use of the CBS variant basket 
design only for the near-term planned loading of four canisters 
utilizing the CBS variant basket design. The staff has determined that 
this change in the basket will not result in either radiological or 
non-radiological environmental impacts that significantly differ from 
the environmental impacts evaluated in the environmental assessment 
supporting the issuance of CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 
1. If the exemption is granted, there will be no significant change in 
the types or amounts of any effluents released, no significant increase 
in individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure, 
and no significant increase in the potential for or consequences from 
radiological accidents. Accordingly, the Commission concludes that 
there would be no significant environmental impacts associated with the 
proposed action.

Alternative to the Proposed Action

    The staff considered the no-action alternative. The no-action 
alternative (denial of the exemption request) would require 
Constellation to delay the near-term planned future loading of four 
MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System. Not allowing the planned 
future loading campaign could affect Constellation's ability to manage 
pool capacity, reactor fuel offloading, and refueling. It could also 
pose challenges to spent fuel heat removal and impact the availability 
of the specialized workforce and equipment needed to support competing 
fuel loading and operational activities at QCNPS and other 
Constellation sites. The NRC has determined that the no-action 
alternative would result in undue potential human health and safety 
impacts that could be avoided by proceeding with the proposed 
exemption, especially given that the staff has concluded in the NRC's 
Safety Determination Memorandum, issued with respect to the enforcement 
action against Holtec regarding these violations, that fuel can be 
stored safely in the MPC-68M-CBS canisters.

Agencies Consulted

    The NRC provided the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and 
Office of Homeland Security (IL-IEMA-OHS) a copy of this draft EA for 
review by an email dated April 15, 2024. On April 23, 2024, the IL-
IEMA-OHS provided its concurrence by email.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed 
in accordance with the requirements in 10 CFR part 51, which implement 
NEPA. Based upon the foregoing environmental assessment, the NRC finds 
that the proposed action of granting the exemption from the regulations 
in 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11) 
and 72.214, which require the licensee to comply with the terms, 
conditions, and specifications of the CoC, in this case limited to the 
specific future loading of four canisters with the CBS variant basket 
design beginning June 2024, would not significantly impact the quality 
of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a 
FONSI is appropriate, and an environmental impact statement is not 
warranted.

IV. Availability of Documents

    The documents identified in the following table are available to 
interested persons through ADAMS, as indicated.

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                                                  ADAMS accession No. or
              Document description                   Federal Register
                                                          notice
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Constellation's request for exemption, dated      ML24075A001.
 March 15, 2024.
Certificate of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment 8,  ML16041A233 (Package).
 Revision 1, dated February 10, 2016.
Holtec International, Inc.--Notice of Violation;  ML24016A190.
 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
 Inspection Report No. 07201014/2022-201, EA-23-
 044, dated January 30, 2024.
10 CFR part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel      55 FR 29181.
 storage in NRC-approved casks, dated July 18,
 1990.
EA for part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel      ML051230231.
 storage in NRC-approved casks, dated March 8,
 1989.
Final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel        80 FR 49887.
 Storage Casks: Holtec International HI-STORM
 100 Cask System CoC No. 1014, Amendment 8,
 Revision 1, dated August 18, 2015.
Safety Determination of a Potential Structural    ML24018A085.
 Failure of the Fuel Basket During Accident
 Conditions for the HI-STORM 100 and HI-STORM
 Flood/Wind Dry Cask Storage Systems, dated
 January 31, 2024.
NRC email to IL-IEMA-OHS requesting review of EA/ ML24114A170.
 FONSI for Quad Cities Exemption, dated April
 15, 2024.

[[Page 34284]]

 
IL-IEMA-OHS email response, regarding review of   ML24114A171.
 EA/FONSI for Quad Cities Exemption,'' dated
 April 23, 2024.
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    Dated: April 24, 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.
[FR Doc. 2024-09231 Filed 4-29-24; 8:45 am]
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