[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 98 (Monday, May 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43878-43881]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10932]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 72-78, 50-317, and 50-318; NRC-2024-0085]


Constellation Energy Generation, LLC.; Calvert Cliffs Nuclear 
Power Plant, 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 Calvert Cliffs 
Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) to maintain nine loaded and to

[[Page 43879]]

load six new 37 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with continuous basket 
shims (CBS) in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System at its 
CCNPP 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. 1032, Amendment No. 1, 
Revision No. 1, are not met.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on 
May 20, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0085 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-2024-0085. 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 22, 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. 1032, Amendment 
No. 1, Revision No. 1. If approved, the exemption would allow 
Constellation to maintain nine loaded and to load six new MPC-37-CBS in 
the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the CCNPP ISFSI in a storage 
condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC 
No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, are not met.

II. Environmental Assessment

Background

    CCNPP is located near Maryland Highway 2-4 in Calvert County on the 
west bank of the Chesapeake Bay, approximately halfway between the 
mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and its headwaters at the Susquehanna 
River. Unit 1 began operating in 1975 and Unit 2 began operating in 
1977. Constellation has been storing spent fuel in an ISFSI at CCNPP 
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 FW MPC Storage System under 
CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, for dry storage of spent 
nuclear fuel in a specific MPC (i.e., MPC-37) at the CCNPP 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-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System for the already 
loaded systems and the near-term planned loading of the canisters. The 
exemption would allow Constellation to maintain nine loaded and to load 
six new MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the CCNPP 
ISFSI, despite the MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System not 
being in compliance with the terms, conditions, and specifications in 
the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1.
    The HI-STORM FW MPC Storage 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 FW MPC Storage System, developed a variant 
of the design with CBS for the MPC-37, known as MPC-37-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. Prior to the issuance of the 
violations, Constellation had already loaded nine MPC-37-CBS in a HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System, which are safely in storage on the CCNPP 
ISFSI pad. Additionally, Constellation plans to load six new MPC-37-CBS 
in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System beginning in July 2024. This 
exemption considers the loading of the nine already loaded systems and 
the near-term planned loading of the six canisters with the CBS variant 
basket design.

Need for the Proposed Action

    Constellation requested this exemption because Constellation is 
currently out of compliance with NRC requirements, resulting from the 
previous loading of spent fuel into a storage system with the CBS 
variant basket design. This exemption would allow nine already loaded 
MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System to remain in storage 
at the CCNPP ISFSI. The applicant also requested the exemption in order 
to allow CCNPP to load six new MPC-37-CBS in HI-STORM FW MPC Storage 
System at the CCNPP ISFSI for the future loading campaign beginning in 
July 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 CCNPP and other Constellation sites.

[[Page 43880]]

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. 
1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1. The exemption would allow nine 
loaded MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System to remain 
loaded at the CCNPP ISFSI. The exemption also would allow a near-term 
loading of six new MPC-37-CBS to be loaded in the HI-STORM FW MPC 
Storage System and maintained in storage at the CCNPP 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, 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 FW MPC Storage System, CoC No. 1032, 
Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, 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 FW MPC Storage 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 CCNPP site as they 
relate to CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, for the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System are limited to the use of the CBS variant 
basket design only for the already loaded nine canisters and near-term 
planned loading of six 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 EA supporting the issuance of CoC No. 1032, Amendment 
No. 1, 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 unload spent fuel from the MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM 
FW MPC Storage System to bring it in compliance with the CoC terms, 
conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, 
Revision No. 1. Unloading the cask would subject station personnel to 
additional radiation exposure, generate additional contaminated waste, 
increase the risk of a possible fuel handling accident, and increase 
the risk of a possible heavy load handling accident. Furthermore, the 
removed spent fuel would need to be placed in the spent fuel pool, 
where it would remain until approved storage casks can be fabricated 
and delivered to site for loading. Delay in the loading of this spent 
fuel into other casks, as well as not allowing the planned future 
loading campaign, could affect Constellation's ability to effectively 
manage the spent fuel 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 
CCNPP 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 NRC's 
Safety Determination Memorandum, issued with respect to the enforcement 
action against Holtec regarding these violations, that fuel can be 
stored safety in the MPC-37-CBS canisters.

Agencies Consulted

    The NRC provided the Maryland Department of Natural Resources 
(MDNR) a copy of this draft EA for review by an email dated April 29, 
2024. On May 9, 2024, MDNR 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 EA, 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 past and specific 
future loadings of baskets with the CBS variant design, 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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                    Document description                        ADAMS accession No. or Federal Register notice
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Constellation's request for exemption, dated March 22, 2024  ML24082A008
Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment 1, Revision    ML15152A358 (Package)
 1, dated May 29, 2015.
Holtec International, Inc.--Notice of Violation; The U.S.    ML24016A190
 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 storage in NRC- 55 FR 29181
 approved casks, dated July 18, 1990.
EA for part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel storage in NRC- ML051230231
 approved casks, March 8, 1989.
Final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks:    80 FR 14291
 Holtec HI-STORM FW System CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1,
 Revision No. 1, dated March 19, 2015.
Safety Determination of a Potential Structural Failure of    ML24018A085
 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 MDNR regarding the review of EA/FONSI for       ML24131A121
 CCNPP Exemption, dated April 29, 2024.

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MDNR's email response regarding EA/FONSI for CCNPP           ML24131A120
 Exemption, dated May 9, 2024.
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    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
    Dated: May 14, 2024.
Bernard H. White,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of 
Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2024-10932 Filed 5-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P