[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 207 (Friday, October 25, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85254-85257]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24917]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-36, 50-321, and 50-366; NRC-2024-0147]
Southern Nuclear Operating Company; Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant
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 Southern Nuclear Operating Company permitting Edwin I.
Hatch Nuclear Plant (Hatch) to maintain three loaded and to load five
new 68M multi-purpose canisters with continuous basket shims in HI-
STORM 100 Cask System at its Hatch Units 1 and 2 independent spent fuel
storage installation in a storage condition where the terms,
conditions, and specifications in Certificate of Compliance No. 1014,
Amendment No. 11 are not met.
DATES: The exemption was issued on October 11, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0147 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-2024-0147. 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
[[Page 85255]]
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: Heath Stroud, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-287-3664; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of the exemption is attached.
Dated: October 22, 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. 72-36, 50-321, and 50-366
Southern Nuclear Operating Company; Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant Units
1 and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
I. Background
Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) is the holder of Renewed
Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-57 and NPF-5, which authorize
operation of the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant (Hatch), Units 1 and 2 in
Baxley, Georgia, 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. SNC 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 Hatch ISFSI. Under the terms of the general license,
SNC stores spent fuel at its Hatch ISFSI using the HI-STORM 100 Cask
System in accordance with Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1014,
Amendment No. 11.
II. Request/Action
By a letter dated June 25, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML24177A217), as supplemented
on July 26, 2024 (ML24208A172), SNC 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 Hatch to comply with the terms,
conditions, and specifications of CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11
(ML23328A045). If approved, SNC's exemption request would accordingly
allow Hatch to maintain three loaded and to load five multi-purpose
canisters (MPCs) with an unapproved, variant basket design with
continuous basket shims (CBS) (i.e., MPC-68M-CBS) in the HI-STORM 100
Cask System, and thus, to maintain and load the systems in a storage
condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in CoC No.
1014, Amendment No. 11 are not met.
SNC currently uses the HI-STORM 100 Cask System under CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 11, for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in MPC-68M at
the Hatch 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).
Prior to the issuance of the violation, SNC had loaded three MPC-
68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, which are safely in storage at
the Hatch ISFSI. SNC's loading campaign for the Hatch ISFSI include
loading five MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System beginning in
April 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 loading campaign.
Therefore, SNC submitted this exemption request to allow for the
continued storage of the three already loaded MPC-68-CBS, and future
loading of five MPC-68M-CBS beginning in April 2025 at the Hatch ISFSI.
This exemption is limited to the use of MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100
Cask System only for the three already loaded canisters and the planned
loading of five specific new canisters using the MPC-68M-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 SNC to maintain three loaded and to load
five MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at its Hatch ISFSI in
a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11, are not met. SNC 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 SNC to maintain three loaded and to load
five MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the Hatch ISFSI in
a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11, are not met. In support of its
exemption request,
[[Page 85256]]
SNC 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. SNC 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.
SNC 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 Hatch ISFSI. Specifically, SNC 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 No. 11 that is used at the Hatch site.
SNC also described its administrative controls for handling of the HI-
STORM 100 Cask System at the Hatch ISFSI to prevent a tip-over or
handling event. Those controls include operational procedures that
demonstrate lift height restrictions and that the system is handled
with a single failure proof device, which comply with CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 11, Appendix A.
Additionally, SNC provided specific information from Hatch's 72.212
Evaluation Report, Revision 27, indicating that during the design basis
event of a non-mechanistic tip-over, Hatch'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, SNC 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. SNC 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 SNC and
concludes that issuance of the exemption would not endanger life or
property because the administrative controls that SNC has in place at
the Hatch 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 are documented in the technical specifications and UFSAR for
the HI-STORM 100 Cask System CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11, that is
used at the Hatch site. In addition, the staff confirmed that the
information provided by SNC regarding Hatch's 72.212 Evaluation Report,
Revision 27, 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 Hatch 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 the three already loaded MPC-
68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System to remain in storage at the
Hatch ISFSI, and allow SNC to load five MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100
Cask System beginning in April 2025 at the Hatch ISFSI, even though the
CBS variant basket design is not part of the approved CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 11. According to SNC, the exemption is in the public
interest because being unable to load fuel into dry storage in the
future loading campaign would impact SNC's ability to offload fuel from
the Hatch reactor units, consequently impacting continued safe reactor
operation.
SNC rescheduled its 2024 loading campaign to 2025 and stated that
further delaying the future loading campaign would impact its ability
to effectively manage the margin to capacity in the Hatch Units 1 and 2
spent fuel pools. The low spent fuel pool capacity would make it
difficult to refuel and present potential risks to fuel handling
operations. In addition, a crowded spent fuel pool would challenge the
decay heat removal demand of the pool and increase the likelihood of a
loss of fuel pool cooling event and a fuel handling accident.
Furthermore, Hatch planned the cask loading campaign years in advance
based on availability of the specialized resources and equipment. These
specialty resources support competing activities and priorities,
including spent fuel pool clean-up and refueling outages. Therefore,
the available windows to complete cask loading campaigns are limited,
and any delays would have a cascading impact on other scheduled
specialized activities. SNC also stated that leaving the three loaded
CBS canisters is in the public interest because it eliminates the risks
associated with dispositioning spent fuel, including increased
radiation dose to workers and affecting SNC's ability to manage the
spent fuel pool capacity. SNC has ordered an additional five MPC-68M
canisters for the planned loading starting in April 2025, that comply
with CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 11. However, due to factors outside of
SNC's control, delivery of the compliant canisters is not guaranteed
for the April 2025 loading. It would put the 2025 campaign and Hatch's
capability for full core offloading of both reactors at risk.
For the reasons described by SNC in the exemption request, 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, SNC would
have to unload MPC-68M-CBS from the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the
Hatch ISFSI and reload into the older design MPC-68M to restore
compliance with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC.
This would subject onsite personnel to additional radiation exposures
and increase the risk of a possible fuel handling accident.
Furthermore, the removed spent fuel would need to be placed in the
spent fuel pool until it can be loaded into another storage cask or
remain in the spent fuel pool if it is not permitted to be loaded into
CBS casks for the future loadings. As described by SNC, this scenario
would affect SNC ability to effectively manage the spent pool capacity
and reactor fuel offloading at Hatch. In addition, the rescheduling of
the specialized resources for the future loading campaign would impact
the operations of Hatch.
[[Page 85257]]
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 October 11, 2024 (89 FR 82645).
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 SNC 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 ongoing storage of three MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask
System and a future loading in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System of five new
MPC-68M-CBS beginning in April 2025.
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated: October 11, 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. 2024-24917 Filed 10-24-24; 8:45 am]
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