[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53452-53455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13978]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 72-1041, 50-498, and 50-499; NRC-2024-0104]


South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company; South Texas 
Project Electric Generating 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

[[Page 53453]]

finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for an exemption request 
submitted by South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) 
that would permit South Texas Project Electric Generating Station (STP) 
to shuffle (relocate) 10 loaded and load two new 37 multi-purpose 
canisters (MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) in January and March 
2025, respectively, in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System 
at its STP 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. 2, are not met.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on 
June 26, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0104 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-2024-0104. 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 STPNOC, dated May 7, 
2024, and supplemented on May 15, 2024. STPNOC 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 STPNOC to 
comply with the terms, conditions, and specifications of CoC No. 1032, 
Amendment No. 2. If approved, the exemption would allow STPNOC to 
shuffle (relocate) 10 loaded MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage 
System on the ISFSI pad at the STP ISFSI in January 2025, and load two 
MPC-37-CBS in March 2025 in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the 
STP ISFSI in a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and 
specifications in CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 2, are not met.

II. Environmental Assessment

Background

    STP is located in Bay City, Texas. STP occupies a 12,200-acre site 
west of the Colorado River and approximately 70 miles southwest of 
Houston. Unit 1 began operating in 1988 and Unit 2 began operating in 
1989. STPNOC has been storing spent nuclear fuel in an ISFSI at STP 
under a general license as authorized by 10 CFR part 72, subpart K, 
``General License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites.'' 
STPNOC currently uses the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System under CoC No. 
1032, Amendment No. 2, for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in a 
specific MPC (i.e., MPC-37) at the STP 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 near-
term planned shuffling and loading of the systems. The exemption would 
allow STPNOC to shuffle (relocate) 10 loaded MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM 
FW MPC Storage System on the ISFSI pad at the STP ISFSI in January 
2025, and load two new MPC-37-CBS in March 2025 in the HI-STORM FW MPC 
Storage System at the STP ISFSI in a storage condition, 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. 2.
    The HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System CoC provides the requirements, 
conditions, and operating limits necessary for the 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. STPNOC plans to shuffle 
(relocate) the 10 loaded MPC-37-CBS canisters on the ISFSI pad in 
January 2025 and to load two new MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC 
Storage System in March 2025. This exemption considers the relocation 
of the 10 already loaded canisters and the near-term planned loading of 
the two canisters with the CBS variant basket design.

Need for the Proposed Action

    STPNOC requested this exemption in order to allow STP to shuffle 
(relocate) 10 loaded MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System 
on the ISFSI pad at the STP ISFSI in January 2025, and load two new 
MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the STP ISFSI in a 
storage condition in March 2025.
    Approval of the exemption request would allow STPNOC to effectively 
manage the margin for full core offload in the STP spent nuclear fuel 
pool to maintain its ability to offload fuel from the reactor and 
account for unplanned outages and cask storage component fabrication 
challenges that could drive rescheduling the loading campaign. It would 
reduce the decay heat removal demand on the spent fuel pool cooling 
system, and thus reduce the consequence of a design basis accident 
associated with a loss of spent fuel pool cooling event and the 
likelihood of a fuel handling accident. Approval of the exemption 
request would also allow

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STPNOC to shuffle already loaded MPC-37-CBS canisters, and thus 
optimize available space on STP ISFSI pad for cask transporter 
maneuverability and minimize long-term damage to the STP ISFSI pad and 
personnel radiation exposure from cask transporter use.

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. 2. The exemption would allow STPNOC to shuffle 
(relocate) 10 loaded MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System 
on the ISFSI pad at the STP ISFSI in January 2025, and load two new 
MPC-37-CBS in March 2025 in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the 
STP ISFSI in a storage condition.
    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 nuclear 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. 2, published on August 23, 2016, 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 STPNOC at the STP site as they relate 
to CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 2, for the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage 
System are limited to the use of the CBS variant basket design only for 
shuffling the 10 already loaded canisters and near-term planned loading 
of two canisters utilizing the CBS variant basket design. The staff has 
determined that this change in the basket would 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. 2. If the 
exemption is granted, there would 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 STPNOC to 
keep the spent nuclear fuel in the spent fuel pool until the approved 
design canisters can be fabricated and delivered to the site in April 
2025 which is after the planned March 2025 loading campaign. Because 
the March 2025 loading campaign was scheduled, budgeted, and planned 
several years in advance based on planned refueling outages, new fuel 
receipts, and other enterprise-level projects while considering the 
availability of specialty resources (equipment, vendors), any delay 
would have cascading impacts to future new fuel receipt, refueling 
outage, and other enterprise projects. Delay beyond 2025, if unable to 
reschedule in 2025, would result in loading these two canisters during 
the next scheduled loading campaign in 2028. Then, the number of 
canisters to be loaded could increase even more based on the new 
criticality analysis for the spent fuel pools to accommodate the 
planned use of accident tolerant fuel.
    Further, if STPNOC does not shuffle the 10 loaded canisters, this 
could challenge the cask transporter maneuverability on the STP ISFSI 
pad, and thus increase the use of a cask transporter on the STP ISFSI 
pad, which could increase the long-term damage to the STP ISFSI pad and 
result in likely longer personnel radiation exposure from increased 
transporter use.
    The NRC has determined that these potential impacts of the no-
action alternative 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 safely in the MPC-37-CBS canisters.

Agencies Consulted

    The NRC provided the Texas Department of State Health Services 
(TDSHS) a copy of this draft EA for review by an email dated June 3, 
2024. On June 18, 2024, the TDSHS 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, would not significantly impact the quality 
of the human environment. The exemption in this case would be limited 
to the shuffling and near-term loading of specific canisters with the 
CBS variant basket design. 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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STPNOC's request for exemption, dated May    ML24128A157.
 7, 2024.
Supplement to request for exemption, dated   ML24136A284.
 May 15, 2024.
Certificate of Compliance No. 1032,          ML16280A008 (Package).
 Amendment 2, dated November 7, 2016.
Holtec International, Inc.--Notice of        ML24016A190.
 Violation; 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      55 FR 29181.
 fuel storage in NRC-approved casks, dated
 July 18, 1990.

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EA for part 72 amendment to allow spent      ML051230231.
 fuel storage in NRC-approved casks, dated
 March 8, 1989.
Direct Final Rule for List of Approved       81 FR 57442.
 Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec
 International HI-STORM Flood/Wind
 Multipurpose Canister Storage System,
 Amendment 2, dated August 23, 2016.
Safety Determination of a Potential          ML24018A085.
 Structural 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 TDSHS requesting review of EA/  ML24170A886.
 FONSI for STP Exemption, dated June 3,
 2024.
TDSHS email response regarding review of EA/ ML24170A887.
 FONSI for TSP Exemption, dated June 18,
 2024.
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    Dated: June 21, 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. 2024-13978 Filed 6-25-24; 8:45 am]
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