[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 129 (Friday, July 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55659-55662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14715]


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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; Exemption

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an 
exemption to South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company permitting 
South Texas Project Electric Generating Station to shuffle (relocate) 
10 already loaded model 37 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with 
continuous basket shims (MPC-37-CBS) in January 2025 and to load two 
new MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind MPC Storage System at its 
South Texas Project Electric Generating Station, 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. 2, are not met.

DATES: The exemption was issued 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]. 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: July 1, 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. 72-1041, 50-498, and 50-499

South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company

South Texas Project Electric Generating Station Units 1 and 2

Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation

I. Background

    South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) is the 
holder of Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-76 and NPF-80, which 
authorize operation of the South Texas Project Electric Generating 
Station (STP), Units 1 and 2 in Bay City, Texas, 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. STPNOC 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 STP ISFSI. Under the terms of the general license, 
STPNOC stores spent fuel at its STP 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. 2.

II. Request/Action

    By a letter dated May 7, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML24128A157), and

[[Page 55660]]

supplemented on March 15, 2024 (ML24136A284), STPNOC 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 STP to comply 
with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC No. 1032, 
Amendment No. 2 (ML16280A008). If approved, STPNOC's exemption request 
would accordingly allow STP to shuffle (relocate) 10 loaded and to load 
two Multi-Purpose Canisters (MPC) 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. 2, are not met.
    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 the 
MPC-37 at the STP 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).
    STPNOC has near-term plans to shuffle (relocate) 10 already loaded 
MPC-37-CBS on the STP ISFSI pad in January 2025 and load two new MPC-
37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System in March 2025. 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 shuffling and 
loading campaign. Therefore, STPNOC submitted this exemption request in 
order to allow for the shuffling of 10 already loaded MPC-37-CBS in 
January 2025, and the future loading of two MPC-37-CBS in March 2025 at 
the STP ISFSI. This exemption is limited to the use of MPC-37-CBS in 
the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System only for shuffling the 10 already 
loaded canisters and specific near-term planned loading of two new 
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 STPNOC to shuffle (relocate) 10 already 
loaded and to load two MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage 
System, in January and March 2025, respectively, at its STP ISFSI in a 
storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in 
the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 2, are not met. STPNOC 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 STPNOC to shuffle (relocate) 10 already 
loaded MPC-37-CBS in January 2025 and to load two MPC-37-CBS in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System in March 2025, at the STP ISFSI in a 
storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in 
the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 2, are not met. In support of its 
exemption request, STPNOC 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. STPNOC 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.
    STPNOC 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 STP ISFSI. Specifically, STPNOC 
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 2, that is used 
at the STP site. STPNOC stated the transporter for handling of the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System at the STP ISFSI meets the design 
requirements described in the CoC No. 1032 technical specifications 
5.2.c.
    Additionally, STPNOC provided specific information from STP's 
72.212 Evaluation Report, Revision 3, indicating the calculated dose 
rate is in compliance with 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, STPNOC stated that, as described in section 12.2 of HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System UFSAR, there are no accidents which could 
significantly affect shielding effectiveness of the HI-STORM FW MPC 
Storage System. Coupled with the distance of the STP ISFSI to the site 
area boundary, STPNOC 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 STPNOC and 
concludes that issuance of the exemption would not endanger life or 
property because the administrative controls STPNOC has in place at the

[[Page 55661]]

STP 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 2, that is used at 
the STP site. In addition, the staff confirmed that the information 
provided by STPNOC regarding STP's 72.212 Evaluation Report, Revision 
3, 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 STP 
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 STPNOC to shuffle (relocate) 10 
already 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 
the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System in March 2025 at the STP ISFSI, even 
though the CBS variant basket design is not part of the approved CoC 
No. 1032, Amendment No. 2. According to STPNOC, the exemption is in the 
public interest because being able to load the two MPC-37-CBS will 
ensure adequate full core offload margin that is necessary for 
completing refueling outages, implementing enterprise projects, and 
sustaining safe and efficient operation of the nuclear facilities. 
STPNOC stated that the full core offload margin was adversely impacted 
when STP could not load the two MPC-37-CBS canisters in its 2022 
campaign. Further delay in the loading campaign would further impact 
the full core offload margin, and STPNOC would lose its ability to 
refuel the operating reactor. In addition, each fuel bundle contributes 
to the decay heat removal demand on the spent fuel pool cooling system, 
and removing the spent fuel bundles from the pool would allow for 
dispersion of the remaining heat load and reduce the consequence of a 
design basis accident associated with a loss of spent fuel pool cooling 
event. A crowded pool would also increase the likelihood of a fuel 
handling accident based on the additional fuel moves required to manage 
spent fuel pool loading with extra assemblies in the pool. STPNOC 
further stated that the shuffling (relocating) of the 10 already loaded 
MPC-37-CBS is necessary to optimize available space on the STP ISFSI 
pad for cask transporter maneuverability and minimize long-term damage 
to the STP ISFSI pad from cask transporter use, and thus ensures long-
term safe storage of fuel-loaded spent fuel storage canisters. The 
shuffling also provides additional shielding to plant structures (such 
as warehouses and fabrication shops which are to the south of the STP 
ISFSI pad) by moving the spent fuel storage canisters with higher 
calculated dose rates (i.e., those loaded in MPC-37-CBS) further north 
from the plant structures and also by placing the canisters with lower 
dose rate between the plant structures and MPC-37-CBS canisters.
    STPNOC has considered procuring empty MPC-37 canisters from other 
utilities; however, STP's fuel assemblies are longer than fuel 
assemblies of other utilities that load the MPC-37 model. Therefore, 
procuring MPC-37 canisters from other utilities is not an option.
    STPNOC has also considered procuring new MPC-37 canisters from the 
vendor and confirmed the approximate delivery would be in April 2025, 
which is after the planned March 2025 loading campaign. The loading 
campaigns are 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) to complete a campaign. Any 
delay to the March 2025 loading campaign would have cascading impacts 
to future new fuel receipts, refueling outages, and other enterprise 
projects. STPNOC asserted that delaying loading the two canisters 
beyond 2025 would result in loading these two canisters during the next 
scheduled loading campaign in 2028. Then, the number of canisters to be 
loaded would increase even more based on the new criticality analysis 
for the spent fuel pools to accommodate the planned storage of accident 
tolerant fuel.
    For the reasons described by STPNOC in the exemption request, as 
supplemented, 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, STPNOC would have to keep the loaded MPC-37-CBS at the current 
location on the STP ISFSI pad, and would have to keep spent fuel in the 
spent fuel pool since it is not permitted to be loaded into MPC-37-CBS. 
This would impact STPNOC's ability to manage the full core offload 
margin in STP's spent fuel pool, resulting in undesirable cascading 
impacts to new fuel receipts, refueling outages, other enterprise 
projects, and potentially safe reactor operation. Denying the exemption 
request could also 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 cask transporter use.
    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 June 26, 2024 (89 FR 53452).

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 STPNOC 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 shuffling of 10 MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System 
in January 2025 and the future loading in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage 
System of two MPC-37-CBS in March 2025.

[[Page 55662]]

    This exemption is effective upon issuance.

    Dated: June 26, 2024.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Christian Jacobs,

Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division 
of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and 
Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 2024-14715 Filed 7-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P