[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 8, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38923-38925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10046]
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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;
Exemption
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an
exemption to Constellation Energy Generation, LLC. that permits Quad
Cities Nuclear Power Station (QCNPS) to load four model 68M multi-
purpose canisters with continuous basket shims beginning June 2024 in
the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at its QCNPS 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.
1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1 are not met.
DATES: The exemption was issued 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]. 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: 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: The text of the exemption is attached.
Dated: May 3, 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. 72-53, 50-254, and 50-265
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station
Units 1 and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
I. Background
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (Constellation) is the holder
of Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-29 and DPR-30, which
authorize operation of the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Units 1
and 2 (QCNPS) in Cordova, Illinois, 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
[[Page 38924]]
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. Constellation 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 QCNPS ISFSI. Under the terms of the
general license, Constellation stores spent fuel at its QCNPS ISFSI
using the HI-STORM 100 Cask System in accordance with Certificate of
Compliance (CoC) No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1.
II. Request/Action
By a letter dated March 15, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML24075A001), Constellation
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
QCNPS to comply with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1 (ML16041A233). If
approved, Constellation's exemption request would accordingly allow
QCNPS to load four Multi-Purpose Canisters (MPC) with an unapproved
variant basket design with continuous basket shims (CBS) (i.e., MPC-
68M-CBS) in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, beginning June 2024, and
thus, to load the systems in a storage condition where the terms,
conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8,
Revision No. 1 are not met.
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 MPC-68M at the QCNPS ISFSI. Holtec International
(Holtec), the designer and manufacturer of the HI-STORM 100 Cask
System, developed a variant of the design with CBS for the MPC-68M,
known as MPC-68M-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).
Constellation's near-term loading campaign for the QCNPS ISFSI
includes loading four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System
beginning in June 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, Constellation submitted this
exemption request to allow for the future loading of four new MPC-68M-
CBS beginning in June 2024, at the QCNPS ISFSI. This exemption is
limited to the use of four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System
for the specific near-term planned loading beginning June 2024.
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 Constellation to load four MPC-68M-CBS
in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System beginning June 2024 at its 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.
Constellation 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.
B. The Exemption Will Not Endanger Life or Property or the Common
Defense and Security
This exemption would allow Constellation to load four MPC-68M-CBS
in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System beginning June 2024 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. In
support of its exemption request, Constellation asserts that issuance
of the exemption would not endanger life or property because the
administrative controls the applicant has in place prevent a tip-over
or handling event and that the containment boundary would be maintained
in such an event. Constellation 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-68M-CBS remains in a subcritical
condition.
Constellation also provided site-specific technical information,
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 QCNPS ISFSI.
Specifically, Constellation 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 100 Cask System CoC No. 1014,
Amendment 8, Revision No. 1, that is used at the QCNPS site.
Constellation also described its administrative controls for handling
of the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the QCNPS ISFSI to prevent a tip-
over or handling event. Those controls include operational procedures
that demonstrate that the system is handled with a single failure proof
device, designed in accordance with ANSI N14.6, ``Radioactive
Materials--Special Lifting Devices for Shipping Containers Weighing 10
000 Pounds
[[Page 38925]]
(4500 kg) or More,'' for heavy load lifting component, inside of the
Reactor Buildings and during transport to the ISFSI. In addition, the
transporter employs redundant drop features.
Additionally, Constellation provided specific information from
QCNPS's 72.212 Evaluation Report, Revision 17, indicating that during
the design basis event of a non-mechanistic tip-over, QCNPS's ISFSI
would meet the requirements in 10 CFR 72.104, ``Criteria for
radioactive materials in effluents and direct radiation from an ISFSI
or MRS,'' and 72.106, ``Controlled area of an ISFSI or MRS.''
Specifically, Constellation 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 QCNPS ISFSI to the site area boundary,
Constellation 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 Constellation
and concludes that issuance of the exemption would not endanger life or
property because the administrative controls that Constellation has in
place at the QCNPS 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 100 Cask System CoC No. 1014, Amendment 8,
Revision No. 1, that is used at the QCNPS site. In addition, the staff
confirmed that the information provided by Constellation regarding the
QCNPS's 72.212 Evaluation Report, Revision 17, 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 QCNPS 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 Constellation to load four MPC-
68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System beginning in June 2024 at the
QCNPS ISFSI, even though the CBS variant basket design is not part of
the approved CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1. According
to Constellation, the exemption is in the public interest because the
inability to load fuel into dry storage in the future loading campaign
would impact Constellation's ability to offload fuel from the QCNPS
reactor units, consequently impacting continued safe reactor operation.
Constellation stated that delaying the future loading campaign
would impact its ability to effectively manage the margin to full core
discharge capacity in the QCNPS Unit 1 and Unit 2 spent fuel pools. The
low spent fuel pool capacity would make it difficult to refuel and
present potential risks to fuel handling operations during pre- and
post-outage. In addition, a crowded spent fuel pool would challenge the
decay heat removal demand of the pool and, therefore, increase the
consequence of a loss of fuel pool cooling event. The additional fuel
moves that would be required to manage the fuel pool loading with extra
bundles in the pool would also increase the likelihood of a fuel
handling accident. Furthermore, QCNPS planned the cask loading campaign
years in advance based on availability of the specialized workforce and
equipment that is shared throughout the Constellation fleet. These
specialty resources support competing priorities including refueling
outages, loading campaigns, fuel pool cleanouts, fuel inspections, fuel
handing equipment upgrade and maintenance, fuel sipping, new fuel
receipt, and crane maintenance and upgrades. Any delays would have a
cascading impact on other scheduled specialized activities.
For the reasons described by Constellation in the exemption
request, the NRC agrees that it is in the public interest to grant the
exemption. If the exemption is not granted, to comply with the CoC,
Constellation would have to delay future loading and keep the spent
nuclear fuel in the spent fuel pool. As described by Constellation,
this scenario would affect Constellation's ability to effectively
manage the spent pool capacity and reactor fuel offloading at QCNPS. In
addition, a crowded spent fuel pool would challenge the decay heat
removal demand of the pool increasing the consequence of a loss of fuel
pool cooling event; and, because additional fuel moves would be
required, it would also increase the likelihood of a fuel handling
accident. Moreover, the rescheduling of the specialized resources for
the future loading campaign would impact the operations of QCNPS and
other Constellation sites.
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, 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 30, 2024 (89 FR 34282).
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
Constellation 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 100 Cask System of
four MPC-68M-CBS beginning in June 2024.
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated: April 30, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
/RA/
Yoira Diaz-Sanabria,
Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel
Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-10046 Filed 5-7-24; 8:45 am]
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