[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 45 (Monday, March 10, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11628-11630]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-03762]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-1036, 50-220, and 50-410; CEQ ID EAXX-429-00-000-
1740728721; NRC-2025-0030]
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; Nine Mile Point Nuclear
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 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station
(NMP) Units 1 and 2 to load six 89 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) at the
NMP independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) in a near-term
loading campaign beginning in May 2025, including the use of the HI-
TRAC VW transfer cask (HI-TRAC) during loading and transport
operations, where the terms, conditions, and specifications in
Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No.
0, are not met.
DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on
March 10, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-0030 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-2025-0030. 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 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 CEG, dated January
22, 2025, and supplemented on February 4, 2025. 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. 1032,
Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0. If approved, the exemption would allow
CEG to use the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System, including
the use of the HI-TRAC during loading and transport operations, for six
specific MPCs (i.e., MPC-89) at the NMP ISFSI, beginning in May 2025,
where the terms, conditions, and specifications in CoC No. 1032,
Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0, are not met.
II. Environmental Assessment
Background
NMP is located on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario,
approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) northeast of Oswego, New York, and
60 kilometers (36 miles) north-northwest of Syracuse, New York. Unit 1
began operating in 1969 and Unit 2 began operating in 1988. CEG has
been storing spent fuel in the NMP ISFSI 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
FW MPC Storage System under CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No.
0, for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in a specific MPC (i.e., MPC-
89) at the NMP 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 six MPC-89 in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System planned for a
near-term loading campaign beginning in May 2025. The exemption would
allow CEG to use the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, including the use
of the HI-TRAC during loading and transport operations, for six MPC-89
at the NMP ISFSI, beginning in May 2025, despite CEG's site-specific
analysis of a postulated tornado missile event for the HI-TRAC not
being in compliance with the terms, conditions, and specifications in
the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0.
Before using a CoC, general licensees are required to perform a
site-specific evaluation to establish that, once loaded with spent
fuel, the cask will conform to the terms, conditions, and
specifications of the CoC, including following the NRC-approved final
safety analysis report (FSAR) methodology. CEG currently uses the HI-
STORM FW
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MPC Storage System under CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0,
for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in MPC-89 at the NMP ISFSI. The
HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System CoC provides the requirements,
conditions, and operating limits necessary for use of the system to
store spent fuel. One of the operating limits established in the CoC
involves potential tornado-generated missile impacts. The HI-STORM FW
FSAR table 2.2.5 evaluates a generic set of tornado-generated missile
impacts. CEG discovered that NMP's site-specific analysis performed to
demonstrate protection of the loaded MPC-89, while in the HI-TRAC,
against tornado-generated missiles was not performed consistent with
the NRC-approved method of evaluation in the FSAR. Contrary to CEG's
site-specific analysis, the NRC-approved evaluation in the FSAR does
not take credit for the missile resistance offered by the HI-TRAC water
jacket shell, and assumes that the small and intermediate missiles will
penetrate the water jacket shell with no energy loss.
Therefore, CEG requests this exemption to allow it to conduct the
planned loading and transport operations of the six MPC-89 in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System at NMP ISFSI beginning in May 2025, even
though, because of the different tornado-generated missile analysis of
the HI-TRAC in NMP's site-specific review, the terms, conditions, and
specifications of the CoC will not be met.
Need for the Proposed Action
CEG requested this exemption in order to allow the use of the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System, including the use of the HI-TRAC during
loading and transport operations for six MPC-89 at the NMP ISFSI,
beginning in May 2025, despite the terms, conditions, and
specifications of the CoC not being met. Approval of the exemption
request would allow CEG to effectively manage the margin to full core
discharge capacity to enable refueling and offloading fuel from the
reactor. It would also allow CEG to effectively manage the availability
of the specialized resources and equipment needed to support competing
fuel loading and operational activities at NMP.
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. 3, Revision No. 0. The exemption would allow CEG to
use the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, including the use of the HI-
TRAC during loading and transport operations for six MPC-89 at the NMP
ISFSI, for the loading campaign beginning in May 2025, even though the
terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC will not be met.
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 FW MPC Storage System, CoC No.
1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0, (82 FR 29225), published in
2017, 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 CEG at the NMP site as they relate to
CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0, for the HI-STORM FW MPC
Storage System are limited to using the HI-TRAC during loading and
transport operations for the MPC-89 for the planned loading of six
canisters starting in May 2025, despite the NMP site-specific analysis
of tornado-generated missiles not being performed consistent with the
NRC-approved method of evaluation in the CoC FSAR, and so the terms,
conditions, and specifications of the CoC not being met. The staff has
determined that this change in analysis will 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. 3, Revision No.
0. 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
The staff considered the no-action alternative. The no-action
alternative (denial of the exemption request) would require CEG to
delay the near-term planned loading of spent fuel in the MPC-89 in the
HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the NMP ISFSI. Delaying the loading
of spent fuel in the six casks in May 2025 could affect CEG's ability
to effectively manage spent fuel pool capacity, reactor fuel
offloading, and refueling. Not allowing the planned future loading
campaign could also pose challenges to spent fuel heat removal and
impact the availability of the specialized workforce and equipment
needed to support competing fuel loading and operational activities at
NMP and other CEG sites.
The NRC 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.
Agencies Consulted
The NRC provided the New York State Energy, Research & Development
Authority (NYSERDA) a copy of this draft EA for review by an email
dated February 24, 2025. On February 28, 2025, NYSERDA 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, in this case limited to the use of the
Holtec HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, including the use of the HI-TRAC
during loading and transport operations, for the specific near-term
future loading of six MPC-89 beginning in May 2025, would not
significantly impact the quality of the human environment. Accordingly,
the NRC has determined that a FONSI is appropriate,
[[Page 11630]]
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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CEG's request for exemption, dated January ML25022A240.
22, 2025.
CEG's request for exemption, supplemented, ML25036A335.
dated February 4, 2025.
Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, ML17214A039 (Package).
Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0, dated
August 9, 2017.
Final Safety Analysis Report on the HI- ML19177A171.
STORM FW MPC Storage System, Revision No.
6, dated June 18, 2019.
10 CFR part 72 amendment to allow spent 55 FR 29181.
fuel storage in NRC-approved casks,
published July 18, 1990.
EA for part 72 amendment to allow spent ML051230231.
fuel storage in NRC-approved casks, dated
March 8, 1989.
Final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel 82 FR 29225.
Storage Casks: Holtec International HI-
STORM Flood/Wind Multipurpose Canister
Storage System, Certificate of Compliance
No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, published June
28, 2017.
NRC email to NYSERDA, ``Request for State ML25059A175.
comments regarding two environmental
assessments--Nine Mile Point Units 1 and
2,'' dated February 24, 2025.
NYSERDA email to NRC, ``Response: Request ML25059A179.
for State comments regarding two
environmental assessments--Nine Mile Point
Units 1 and 2,'' dated February 28, 2025.
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Dated: March 4, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas Boyce,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of
Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2025-03762 Filed 3-7-25; 8:45 am]
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