[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 33 (Thursday, February 20, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9978-9980]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-02842]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 72-25; NRC-2025-0023]
Department of Energy; Idaho Spent Fuel Facility; Termination of
License
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is terminating
Special Nuclear Material (SNM) License No. SNM-2512 for the Idaho Spent
Fuel Facility (ISFF). By letter dated November 26, 2024, the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) requested that the NRC terminate the ISFF
license. The ISFF has not been constructed, no physical or principal
activities authorized by the license have been conducted, and no
nuclear materials have been possessed under the license. Consequently,
the ISFF site is approved for unrestricted use.
DATES: The license termination for License No. SNM-2512 was issued on
February 14, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-0023 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this action. 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 NRC-2025-0023. Address questions
about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-
415-1003; 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
[[Page 9979]]
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: Kristina Banovac, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-7116, email:
[email protected].
I. Introduction
The NRC issued SNM-2512 to Foster Wheeler Environmental
Corporation, a contractor to DOE, for the ISFF on November 30, 2004.
Issuance of this license constituted authorization for a 20-year term
to receive, possess, store, and transfer spent fuel and associated
radioactive materials at the ISFF, which was to be located at the Idaho
National Laboratory in Butte County, Idaho. On May 30, 2008, DOE
applied for transfer of the SNM-2512 license from Foster Wheeler
Environmental Corporation to DOE. NRC approved the license transfer of
SNM-2512 to DOE by Order dated, July 17, 2009, and issued a conforming
license amendment on September 9, 2009.
By letter dated November 26, 2024, DOE requested termination of
SNM-2512 for the ISFF. In its letter, DOE stated that the facility, as
described in Condition 10 of SNM-2512, has not been constructed and
that no physical or principal activities authorized by the license had
been conducted at the facility site. In its letter, DOE also stated
that the decision has been made that the facility will not be
constructed and therefore the license should be terminated.
Subsequently, the SNM-2512 license expired on November 30, 2024.
II. License Termination
The termination of NRC licenses issued under part 72 of title 10 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), ``Licensing Requirements for
the Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive
Waste, and Reactor-Related Greater Than Class C Waste,'' is governed by
10 CFR 72.54, ``Expiration and termination of licenses and
decommissioning of sites and separate buildings or outdoor areas.'' The
staff finds that DOE's license termination request dated November 26,
2024, demonstrates that the criteria of 10 CFR 72.54 are met.
Requirements for license termination in 10 CFR 72.54 include the
submission of NRC Form 314, ``Certificate of Disposition of
Materials,'' or equivalent information. The staff finds that DOE met
these requirements through the information provided in its November 26,
2024, letter.
Further, as there was no construction on the ISFF site, no physical
or principal activities authorized by the license have been conducted,
and no nuclear materials have been possessed under the license, there
is no need for a site radiation survey to be conducted under 10 CFR
72.54. With no radiological contamination associated with the license,
the ISFF site may be released for unrestricted use pursuant to 10 CFR
20.1402.
III. Environmental Considerations
DOE seeks to terminate the ISFF license for which construction
never commenced, no physical or principal activities authorized by the
license have been conducted, and no nuclear materials have been
possessed under the license.
Terminating a 10 CFR part 72 license is a licensing action that
would ordinarily require an environmental assessment under 10 CFR
51.21, unless a categorical exclusion in 10 CFR 51.22(c) applies and no
special circumstances under 10 CFR 51.22(b) exist. Actions listed in 10
CFR 51.22(c) were previously found by the Commission to be part of a
category of actions that ``does not individually or cumulatively have a
significant effect on the human environment.''
The categorical exclusion identified in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(20)
includes:
Decommissioning of sites where licensed operations have been
limited to the use of--
(i) Small quantities of short-lived radioactive materials;
(ii) Radioactive materials in sealed sources, provided there is no
evidence of leakage of radioactive material from these sealed sources;
or
(iii) Radioactive materials in such a manner that a decommissioning
plan is not required by 10 CFR 30.36(g)(1), 40.42(g)(1), or
70.38(g)(1), and the NRC has determined that the facility meets the
radiological criteria for unrestricted use in 10 CFR 20.1402 without
further remediation or analysis.
This categorical exclusion captures decommissioning activities at
sites where contamination from radioactive material is determined to be
nominal. In the case of the ISFF, no associated radiological
contamination exists because construction never commenced, no physical
or principal activities authorized by the license have been conducted,
and no nuclear materials have been possessed under the license. As a
result, a decommissioning plan for this site is not required by 10 CFR
72.54(g), and the site meets the radiological criteria for unrestricted
use in 10 CFR 20.1402 without further remediation or analysis. Further,
no special circumstances under 10 CFR 51.22(b) apply. The factors
listed in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(20) are consistent with the circumstances
here because there is no environmental impact associated with
terminating the ISFF license, which is even less than the nominal
impacts anticipated by the categorical exclusion. Therefore,
application of the categorical exclusion to the termination of the ISFF
license is warranted. Consequently, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.22(b)
and (c)(20), an environmental assessment or an environmental impact
statement is not required for the termination of the SNM-2512 license.
IV. Conclusion
As previously discussed in this document, the Commission has
determined that the ISFF license termination request meets the
categorical exclusion criteria set forth in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(20) and
that the unrestricted use criteria pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1402 are met.
The NRC staff determined that no associated radiological contamination
exists because construction never commenced, no physical or principal
activities authorized by the license have been conducted, and no
nuclear materials have been possessed under the license. The Commission
grants DOE's request to terminate the SNM-2512 license for the ISFF.
This license termination was effective upon DOE's receipt of NRC's
termination letter, dated February 14, 2025.
V. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in this notice are available to interested
persons through ADAMS.
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Document description ADAMS Accession No.
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DOE--Request for Termination of Materials ML24332A156 (Package).
License No. SNM-2512 for the Idaho Spent
Fuel Facility, dated November 26, 2024.
Issuance of Materials License No. SNM-2512 ML043360251 (Package).
for the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility, dated
November 30, 2004.
[[Page 9980]]
DOE Application for the Transfer of ML081630247.
Materials License No. SNM-2512 for the
Idaho Spent Fuel Facility, dated May 30,
2008.
Order Approving Direct Transfer of Facility ML091940447 (Package).
Operating License for Idaho Spent Fuel
Facility, dated July 17, 2009.
Issuance of Conforming Licensing Amendment ML092530022 (Package).
Reflecting Direct Transfer of SNM-2512 for
Idaho Spent Fuel Facility, dated September
9, 2009.
Letter to M. Brown, DOE, Termination of ML24366A114.
Special Nuclear Materials License No. SNM-
2512 for the Idaho Spent Fuel Facility,
dated February 14, 2025.
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Dated: February 14, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Cinthya I. Roman-Cuevas,
Deputy Director, Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2025-02842 Filed 2-19-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P