[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 245 (Friday, December 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 104234-104236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-30364]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-70, 50-373, and 50-374; NRC-2024-0205]
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; LaSalle County 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 finding of no significant impact
(FONSI) for an exemption request submitted by Constellation Energy
Generation, LLC (CEG), that would permit LaSalle County Station (LSCS)
to maintain four loaded and to load four 68M multi-purpose canister
(MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) in the HI-STORM 100 Cask
System at its LSCS 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. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1, are not met.
DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on
December 20, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024-0205 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-2024-0205. 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: Martin Ortiz Gonzalez, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-3637; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is reviewing an exemption request from CEG, dated September
19, 2024. CEG 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 CEG to comply with the terms, conditions, and
specifications of the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1. If
approved, the exemption would allow CEG to maintain four loaded and to
load four new MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the LSCS
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.
II. Environmental Assessment
Background
The LSCS site is approximately 75 miles (mi) (120 kilometers (km))
southwest of downtown Chicago, Illinois, and approximately 26 mi (42
km) west of Exelon's Braidwood Station in Braceville, Illinois, and 23
mi (37 km) southwest of the Dresden Nuclear Power Station near Morris,
Illinois. Interstate Highway 80 is 8 mi (13 km) north of the site. The
LSCS site is located in a rural and agricultural setting. The town of
Seneca lies 6 mi (10 km) northeast of LSCS. The town of Marseilles lies
7 mi (11 km) north-northwest of LSCS. The Illinois River is 5 mi (8 km)
north of LSCS. Unit 1 and Unit 2 began operating in 1984. CEG has been
storing spent fuel in an ISFSI at LSCS under a general license as
authorized by 10 CFR part 72, subpart K, ``General License for Storage
of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites.'' CEG 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 a specific MPC (i.e., MPC-68M)
at the LSCS 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-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System for the four already
loaded canisters and the planned loading of four new canisters. The
exemption would allow CEG to maintain four loaded and to load four new
MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the LSCS ISFSI, despite
the MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System not being in compliance
with the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1.
The HI-STORM 100 Cask 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 100 Cask System, developed a variant of
the design with continuous basket shims (CBS) for the MPC-68M, known as
MPC-68M-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. CEG had
previously loaded four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System and
plans to load four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System
beginning in June 2025. This exemption considers the storage of the
[[Page 104235]]
already loaded systems and the planned loading of the four canisters
with the CBS variant basket design.
Need for the Proposed Action
CEG requested this exemption because CEG 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 four already loaded MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-
STORM 100 Cask System to remain in storage at the LSCS ISFSI. The
exemption would also allow CEG to load four new MPC-68M-CBS in HI-STORM
100 Cask System at the LSCS ISFSI for the future loading campaign
scheduled to begin in June 2025.
Approval of the exemption request would allow CEG to effectively
manage the margin to full core discharge capability in the spent fuel
pool. It would also allow CEG to effectively manage the availability of
the specialized resources and equipment needed to support multiple
competing priorities at LSCS and throughout CEG's fleet.
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.
1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No.1. The exemption would allow four
already loaded MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask system to remain
loaded at the LSCS ISFSI. The exemption would also allow four new MPC-
68M-CBS to be loaded in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System in a future
loading campaign and maintained in storage at the LSCS 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 (55 FR 29181), 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 100 Cask System, CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1 (80 FR 49887), 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 100 Cask
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 CEG at the LSCS site as they relate to
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No.1, for the HI-STORM 100 Cask
System are limited to the use of the CBS variant basket design only for
the four previously loaded canisters and planned loading of four
canisters utilizing the CBS variant basket design. The NRC 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
environmental assessment supporting the issuance of CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 8, Revision 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
CEG considered requesting that Holtec provide eight fully compliant
canisters for the June 2025 campaign. However, CEG expects that Holtec
will not be able to meet this request based on current manufacturing
schedules. Additionally, CEG considered delaying the start of the 2025
campaign until Amendment No. 19 of the HI-STORM 100 CoC is approved.
This delay would result in the LSCS ISFSI campaign needing to pull
specialty resources which would otherwise be required to support other
CEG refueling and ISFSI campaigns.
The NRC staff considered the no-action alternative. The no-action
alternative (denial of the exemption request) would require LSCS to
unload spent fuel from the MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System
to bring it in compliance with the CoC terms, conditions, and
specifications in the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, 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 it could be loaded into an approved storage cask. Not
allowing the planned future loading campaign could affect LSCS's
ability to manage the margin to full core discharge capability. It
could also pose challenges to spent fuel heat removal and impact the
availability of the specialized resources and equipment needed to
support competing fuel loading and operational activities at LSCS,
including spent fuel pool clean-up and refueling outages. 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 NRC
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-68M-CBS
canisters.
Agencies Consulted
The NRC provided the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and
Office of Homeland Security (IL-IEMA-OHS) a copy of this draft EA for
review by an email dated November 22, 2024. On November 27, 2024, IL-
IEMA-OHS 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 environmental assessment, 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 the
past and specific future loading of baskets with the CBS variant
design, would not significantly impact the quality of the human
environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a finding of no
significant impact (FONSI) is appropriate, and an environmental impact
statement is not warranted.
[[Page 104236]]
IV. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons through one or more of the following methods, as
indicated.
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Document description ADAMS Accession No. or Federal Register notice
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CEG's request for exemption, dated September 19, 2024...... ML24263A206.
Certificate of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, ML16041A233 (Package).
Revision No. 1, dated February 10, 2016.
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, 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 49887.
Holtec International HI-STORM 100 Cask System, Certificate
of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision 1, dated
August 18, 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 IL-IEMA-OHS, ``State's review of EA/FONSI for ML24337A059.
LSCS Exemption,'' dated November 22, 2024.
IL-IEMA-OHS email, ``State's response regarding EA/FONSI ML24337A057.
for LSCS Exemption,'' dated November 27, 2024.
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Dated: December 16, 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. 2024-30364 Filed 12-19-24; 8:45 am]
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