[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 63 (Thursday, April 2, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16588-16590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06374]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
10 CFR Part 72
[NRC-2026-0562]
RIN 3150-AL66
List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec International
HI-STORM UMAX Canister Storage System, Certificate of Compliance No.
1040, Amendment No. 5
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to
amend its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec
International HI-STORM UMAX Canister Storage System listing within the
``List of approved spent fuel storage casks'' to include Amendment No.
5 to Certificate of Compliance No. 1040. Amendment No. 5 revises the
certificate of compliance to include two new versions of the HI-STORM
UMAX design (Version B1 and B2).
DATES: Submit comments by May 4, 2026. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the NRC is
able to ensure consideration of only comments received on or before
this date.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID NRC-2026-0562,
at https://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be submitted
using https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the individual listed
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for
alternate instructions.
Do not include any personally identifiable information (such as
name, address, or other contact information) or confidential business
information that you do not want publicly disclosed. All comments are
public records; they are publicly displayed exactly as received, and
will not be deleted, modified, or redacted. Comments may be submitted
anonymously.
Follow the search instructions on https://www.regulations.gov to
view public comments.
You can read a plain language description of this proposed rule at
https://www.regulations.gov/docket/
[[Page 16589]]
NRC-2026-0562. For additional direction on obtaining information and
submitting comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting
Comments'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy McKenna, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; email: Amy [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
II. Rulemaking Procedure
III. Background
IV. Plain Writing
V. Regulatory Planning and Review
VI. Availability of Documents
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2026-0562 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2026-0562. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Helen Chang, telephone: 301-415-3228,
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 ADAMS Public 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, Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
B. Submitting Comments
The NRC encourages electronic comment submission through the
Federal rulemaking website (https://www.regulations.gov). Please
include Docket ID NRC-2026-0562 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission. The NRC will post all comment submissions at
https://www.regulations.gov as well as enter the comment submissions
into ADAMS. The NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove identifying or contact information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Rulemaking Procedure
Because the NRC considers this action to be non-controversial, the
NRC is publishing this proposed rule concurrently with a direct final
rule in the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal
Register. The direct final rule will become effective on June 16, 2026.
However, if the NRC receives any significant adverse comment by May 4,
2026, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws the direct
final rule. If the direct final rule is withdrawn, the NRC will address
the comments in a subsequent final rule. In general, absent significant
modifications to the proposed revisions requiring republication, the
NRC will not initiate a second comment period on this action in the
event the direct final rule is withdrawn.
A significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter
explains why the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to
the rule's underlying premise or approach, or would be ineffective or
unacceptable without a change. A comment is adverse and significant if:
(1) The comment opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficient
to require a substantive response in a notice-and-comment process. For
example, a substantive response is required when:
(a) The comment causes the NRC to reevaluate (or reconsider) its
position or conduct additional analysis;
(b) The comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a
substantive response to clarify or complete the record; or
(c) The comment raises a relevant issue that was not previously
addressed or considered by the NRC.
(2) The comment proposes a change or an addition to the rule, and
it is apparent that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable
without incorporation of the change or addition.
(3) The comment causes the NRC to make a change (other than
editorial) to the rule, certificate of compliance, or technical
specifications.
For a more detailed discussion of the proposed rule changes and
associated analyses, see the direct final rule published in the Rules
and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register.
III. Background
Section 218(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended,
requires that ``[t]he Secretary [of the Department of Energy] shall
establish a demonstration program, in cooperation with the private
sector, for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel at civilian nuclear
power reactor sites, with the objective of establishing one or more
technologies that the [Nuclear Regulatory] Commission may, by rule,
approve for use at the sites of civilian nuclear power reactors
without, to the maximum extent practicable, the need for additional
site-specific approvals by the Commission.'' Section 133 of the Nuclear
Waste Policy Act states, in part, that ``[t]he Commission shall, by
rule, establish procedures for the licensing of any technology approved
by the Commission under Section 219(a) [sic: 218(a)] for use at the
site of any civilian nuclear power reactor.''
To implement this mandate, the Commission approved dry storage of
spent nuclear fuel in NRC-approved casks under a general license by
publishing a final rule that added a new subpart K in part 72 of title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) entitled ``General
License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites'' (55 FR
29181; July 18, 1990). This rule also established a new subpart L in 10
CFR part 72 entitled ``Approval of Spent Fuel Storage Casks,'' which
contains procedures and criteria for obtaining NRC approval of spent
fuel storage cask designs. The NRC subsequently issued a final rule on
March 6, 2015 (80 FR 12073), as corrected (80 FR 15679; March 25,
2015), that approved the Holtec International HI-STORM UMAX Canister
Storage System design and added it to the list of NRC-approved
[[Page 16590]]
cask designs in Sec. 72.214 as Certificate of Compliance No. 1040.
IV. Plain Writing
The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federal
agencies to write documents in a clear, concise, and well-organized
manner. The NRC has written this document to be consistent with the
Plain Writing Act as well as the Presidential Memorandum, ``Plain
Language in Government Writing,'' published June 10, 1998 (63 FR
31885). The NRC requests comment on this proposed rule with respect to
clarity and effectiveness of the language used.
V. Regulatory Planning and Review
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, as amended by E.O. 14215, provides
that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) will
determine whether a regulatory action is significant as defined by E.O.
12866 and will review significant regulatory actions. OIRA determined
that this proposed rule is not a significant regulatory action under
E.O. 12866.
VI. Availability of Documents
The documents identified in the following table are available to
interested persons as indicated.
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ADAMS accession No./web link/
Document Federal Register citation
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Proposed Certificate of Compliance and Technical Specifications
Documents
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User Need Memo for Amendment No. 5 of ML26013A271
the Certificate of Compliance No.
1040 for the Holtec HI-STORM UMAX
Storage System.
Proposed CoC No. 1040, Amendment No. 5 ML26013A272
Proposed Technical Specifications for ML26013A273
CoC No. 1040, Amendment No. 5,
Appendix A.
Proposed Technical Specifications for ML26013A274
CoC No. 1040, Amendment No. 5,
Appendix B.
Preliminary Safety Evaluation Report ML26013A275
for CoC No. 1040, Amendment No. 5.
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The NRC may post materials related to this document, including
public comments, on the Federal rulemaking website at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2026-0562. In addition, the
Federal rulemaking website allows members of the public to receive
alerts when changes or additions occur in a docket folder. To
subscribe: (1) navigate to the docket folder (NRC-2026-0562); (2) click
the ``Subscribe'' link; and (3) enter an email address and click on the
``Subscribe'' link.
Dated: March 20, 2026.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Michael King,
Executive Director for Operations.
[FR Doc. 2026-06374 Filed 4-1-26; 8:45 am]
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