Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; LaSalle County Station Units 1 and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; Exemption, 1198-1201 [2025-00116]
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Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 4 / Tuesday, January 7, 2025 / Notices
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[FR Doc. 2024–31784 Filed 1–6–25; 8:45 am]
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pursuant to the National Science
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TIME AND DATE: Friday, January 10, 2025,
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[FR Doc. 2025–00272 Filed 1–3–25; 4:15 pm]
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[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; Exemption
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) issued an exemption
to Constellation Energy Generation,
LLC, permitting LaSalle County Station
(LSCS) to maintain four loaded and to
load four new 68M multi-purpose
canister with continuous basket shims
in HI–STORM 100 Cask System at its
LSCS Units 1 and 2 independent spent
fuel storage installation in a storage
condition where the terms, conditions,
and specifications in the Certificate of
Compliance No. 1014, Amendment No.
8, Revision No. 1, are not met.
DATES: The exemption was issued 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:
Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. 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
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
SUMMARY:
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150
Frequency
150
Time per
response
0.25 hours
Total annual
burden
(hours)
37.5 hours
accession number for each document
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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov
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:
Martin.OrtizGonzalez@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text of
the exemption is attached.
Dated: January 2, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Yen-Ju Chen,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation
Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel
Management, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety, and Safeguards.
Attachment—Exemption
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
Docket Nos. 72–70, 50–373, and 50–374
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC;
LaSalle County Station Units 1 and 2;
Independent Spent Fuel Storage
Installation
I. Background
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC
(CEG), is the holder of Renewed Facility
Operating Licenses Nos. NPF–11 and
NPF–18, which authorize operation of
the LaSalle County Station, (LSCS)
Units 1 and 2 in Marseilles, Illinois,
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,’’
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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.
CEG 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
LSCS ISFSI. Under the terms of the
general license, CEG stores spent fuel at
its LSCS ISFSI using the HI–STORM
100 Cask System in accordance with
Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No.
1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No.
1.
II. Request/Action
By a letter dated September 19, 2024
(Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System [ADAMS]
Accession No. ML24263A206), CEG
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
LSCS to comply with the terms,
conditions, and specifications of the
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8,
Revision No. 1 (ML16041A233). If
approved, CEG’s exemption request
would accordingly allow LSCS to
maintain four loaded and to load, in the
future loading campaign beginning in
June 2025, four 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 the
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8,
Revision No. 1, are not met.
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
MPC–68M at the LSCS 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
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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,
CEG had loaded four MPC–68M–CBS in
the HI–STORM 100 Cask System, which
are safely in storage at the LSCS ISFSI.
CEG’s future loading campaign for the
LSCS ISFSI includes loading four MPC–
68M–CBS in the HI–STORM 100 Cask
System beginning in June 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 future loading
campaign. Therefore, CEG submitted
this exemption request in order to allow
for the continued storage of the four
already loaded MPC–68–CBS, and
future loading of four MPC–68M–CBS,
beginning in June 2025, at the LSCS
ISFSI. This exemption is limited to the
use of MPC–68M–CBS in the HI–
STORM 100 Cask System only for the
four already loaded canisters and the
specific planned loading of four new
canisters beginning in June 2025.
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 CEG to
maintain four loaded and to load four
MPC–68M–CBS in the future loading
campaign beginning in June 2025, in the
HI–STORM 100 Cask System at its 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. CEG 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
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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 CEG to
maintain four loaded and to load four
MPC–68M–CBS in the future loading
campaign beginning in June 2025, 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. In
support of its exemption request, CEG
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. CEG 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.
CEG 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 LSCS
ISFSI. Specifically, CEG 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 8, Revision No. 1, that is
used at the LSCS site. CEG also
described its administrative controls for
handling of the HI–STORM 100 Cask
System at the LSCS ISFSI to prevent a
tip-over or handling event. Those
controls include operational procedures
that demonstrate the system is handled
with a single failure proof device in
accordance with NUREG–0554
(ML110450636), ‘‘Single-Failure-Proof
Cranes for Nuclear Power Plants,
NUREG–0612, ‘‘Control of Heavy Loads
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at Nuclear Power Plants’’
(ML070250180), and ANSI N14.6, ‘‘for
Radioactive Materials—Special Lifting
Devices for Shipping Containers
Weighing 10 000 Pounds (4500 kg) or
More,’’ and employing redundant drop
protection features which comply with
CoC No. 1014, Amendment 8, Revision
No. 1, Appendix A.
Additionally, CEG provided specific
information from LSCS’s 72.212
Evaluation Report, Revision 9,
indicating that during the design basis
event of a non-mechanistic tip-over,
LSCS’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 10 CFR 72.106,
‘‘Controlled area of an ISFSI or MRS.’’
Specifically, CEG described that, in the
highly unlikely event of a tip-over, any
potential fuel damage from a nonmechanistic tip-over event would be
localized, the confinement barrier
would be maintained, and the shielding
material would remain intact. Coupled
with the distance of the LSCS ISFSI to
the site area boundary, CEG 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 CEG and
concludes that issuance of the
exemption would not endanger life or
property because the administrative
controls that CEG has in place at the
LSCS 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.
8, Revision No. 1, that is used at the
LSCS site. In addition, the staff
confirmed that the information provided
by CEG regarding LSCS’s 72.212
Evaluation Report, Revision 9,
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
LSCS 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
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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 four already loaded MPC–68M–CBS
in the HI–STORM 100 Cask System to
remain in storage at the LSCS ISFSI, and
allow CEG to load four MPC–68M–CBS
in the HI–STORM 100 Cask System in
the future loading campaign beginning
in June 2025, at the LSCS ISFSI, even
though the CBS variant basket design is
not part of the approved CoC No. 1014,
Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1.
According to CEG, the exemption is in
the public interest because being unable
to load fuel into dry storage in the future
loading campaign would impact CEG’s
ability to offload fuel from the LSCS
reactor units, consequently impacting
continued safe reactor operation.
CEG stated that further delaying the
future loading campaign would impact
its ability to effectively manage the
margin to full core discharge capability
in the LSCS 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, CEG loading
campaigns are scheduled based on
availability of the specialized work force
and equipment that is shared
throughout the CEG fleet. These
specialty resources support multiple
competing priorities, including
refueling outages, loading campaigns,
fuel pool cleanouts, fuel inspections,
fuel handling equipment upgrades and
maintenance, fuel sipping, new fuel
receipt, and crane maintenance and
upgrades. Therefore, the available
windows to complete cask loading
campaigns are limited, and any delays
would have a cascading impact on other
scheduled specialized activities. CEG
also considered requesting that Holtec
provide eight (8) 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 19 of the HISTORM 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.
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For the reasons described by CEG 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, CEG would have to unload MPC–
68M–CBS from the HI–STORM 100
Cask System at the LSCS 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 CEG, this
scenario would affect CEG’s ability to
effectively manage the margin to full
core discharge capacity and present a
potential reactivity management risk to
fuel handling operations during preand post-refueling outages at LSCS. In
addition, the rescheduling of the
specialized resources for the future
loading campaign would impact the
operations of LSCS.
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
December 20, 2024 (89 FR 104234).
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 CEG an exemption from the
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requirements of §§ 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 four MPC–
68M–CBS in the HI–STORM 100 Cask
System and a future loading in the HI–
STORM 100 Cask System of four new
MPC–68M–CBS beginning in June 2025.
This exemption is effective upon
issuance.
Dated: December 20, 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.
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COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 50–277 and 50–278; NRC–
2024–0214; CEQ ID SEIS–429–00–000–
1734688863]
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC;
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station,
Units 2 and 3; Notice of Intent To
Prepare a Supplement to the
Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC, the Commission)
staff will prepare a supplement to
NUREG–1437, ‘‘Generic Environmental
Impact Statement for License Renewal
of Nuclear Plants,’’ Supplement 10,
Second Renewal, ‘‘Regarding
Subsequent License Renewal for Peach
Bottom Atomic Power Station Units 2
and 3,’’ dated January 2020 (the final
supplemental environmental impact
statement (SEIS)) in order to complete
its evaluation of the environmental
impacts of the subsequent license
renewal (SLR) of Renewed Facility
Operating License Nos. DPR–44 and
DPR–56 for Peach Bottom Atomic Power
Station (Peach Bottom), Units 2 and 3,
respectively. The supplement will
address new information since the
issuance of the final SEIS. A draft of the
supplement will be issued for public
comment.
DATES: January 7, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC–2024–0214 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:
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SUMMARY:
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• Federal Rulemaking website: Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2024–0214. Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and search
for Docket ID NRC–2024–0214. Address
questions about Docket IDs in
Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301–415–0624; email:
Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. 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
PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. The ADAMS
accession number for each document
referenced in this document (if it is
available in ADAMS) is provided the
first time that it is referenced.
• 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 PDR.Resource@nrc.gov
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:
Kevin Folk, telephone: 301–415–6944;
email: Kevin.Folk@nrc.gov or Karen
Loomis, telephone: 301–415–5142;
email: Karen.Loomis@nrc.gov. Both are
staff in the Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
By letter dated July 10, 2018 (ADAMS
Package Accession No. ML18193A689),
Exelon Generation Company, LLC (now
operating as Constellation Energy
Generation, LLC (CEG)) submitted to the
NRC an application, filed pursuant to
section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended, and part 54 of title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations
(10 CFR), ‘‘Requirements for Renewal of
Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power
Plants,’’ for subsequent renewed facility
operating licenses with expiration dates
of August 8, 2053, for Peach Bottom,
Unit 2 and July 2, 2054, for Peach
Bottom, Unit 3, which are 20 years
beyond when the current renewed
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facility operating licenses expire. The
SLR application included an
environmental report (ADAMS Package
Accession No. ML18271A185). Peach
Bottom is located primarily in Peach
Bottom Township, York County,
Pennsylvania, near Delta, Pennsylvania.
A notice of receipt of the Peach
Bottom SLR application was published
in the Federal Register on August 1,
2018 (83 FR 37529). A notice of
acceptance for docketing of the
application and opportunity to request a
hearing was published in the Federal
Register on September 6, 2018 (83 FR
45285). A notice of intent to conduct a
scoping process and prepare a SEIS was
published in the Federal Register on
September 10, 2018 (83 FR 45692). A
notice of issuance of the draft SEIS and
request for comment was published in
the Federal Register on August 7, 2019
(84 FR 38676). A notice of issuance of
the final SEIS was published in the
Federal Register on January 31, 2020
(85 FR 5725). A notice of issuance of the
subsequent renewed facility operating
licenses was published in the Federal
Register on March 11, 2020 (85 FR
14247). The issuance of the licenses was
also supported by an NRC Record of
Decision (ROD) (ADAMS Accession No.
ML20024G429).
The final SEIS (ADAMS Accession
No. ML20023A937) and the ROD
document the NRC staff’s environmental
review, including its recommendation
that the adverse environmental impacts
of SLR for Peach Bottom are not so great
that preserving the option of license
renewal for energy-planning
decisionmakers would be unreasonable.
As discussed in the final SEIS and the
ROD, the NRC staff considered the
reasonably foreseeable environmental
impacts of SLR for Peach Bottom, as
well as a range of reasonable
alternatives to SLR. As part of its
environmental review, the NRC staff
relied upon NUREG–1437, Revision 1,
‘‘Generic Environmental Impact
Statement for License Renewal of
Nuclear Plants,’’ dated June 2013
(ADAMS Package Accession No.
ML13107A023) (the 2013 LR GEIS), to
meet its obligations under the NRC’s
environmental protection regulations in
10 CFR part 51, ‘‘Environmental
Protection Regulations for Domestic
Licensing and Related Regulatory
Functions,’’ and the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended. Specifically, for issues
classified as Category 1 (generic to all or
a distinct subset of nuclear power
plants) in the 2013 LR GEIS, the NRC
staff did not identify new and
significant information and, therefore,
relied upon the conclusions of the 2013
E:\FR\FM\07JAN1.SGM
07JAN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 7, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1198-1201]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00116]
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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; Exemption
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an
exemption to Constellation Energy Generation, LLC, permitting LaSalle
County Station (LSCS) to maintain four loaded and to load four new 68M
multi-purpose canister with continuous basket shims in HI-STORM 100
Cask System at its LSCS Units 1 and 2 independent spent fuel storage
installation in a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and
specifications in the Certificate of Compliance No. 1014, Amendment No.
8, Revision No. 1, are not met.
DATES: The exemption was issued 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]. The ADAMS accession number for
each document 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: 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: The text of the exemption is attached.
Dated: January 2, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Yen-Ju Chen,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of
Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
Attachment--Exemption
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Docket Nos. 72-70, 50-373, and 50-374
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; LaSalle County Station Units 1
and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation
I. Background
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (CEG), is the holder of
Renewed Facility Operating Licenses Nos. NPF-11 and NPF-18, which
authorize operation of the LaSalle County Station, (LSCS) Units 1 and 2
in Marseilles, Illinois, 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,''
[[Page 1199]]
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. CEG 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 LSCS ISFSI. Under the terms of
the general license, CEG stores spent fuel at its LSCS ISFSI using the
HI-STORM 100 Cask System in accordance with Certificate of Compliance
(CoC) No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1.
II. Request/Action
By a letter dated September 19, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML24263A206), CEG 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
LSCS to comply with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the
CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1 (ML16041A233). If
approved, CEG's exemption request would accordingly allow LSCS to
maintain four loaded and to load, in the future loading campaign
beginning in June 2025, four 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 the CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8,
Revision No. 1, are not met.
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 MPC-68M at the LSCS 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, CEG had loaded four MPC-
68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System, which are safely in storage at
the LSCS ISFSI. CEG's future loading campaign for the LSCS ISFSI
includes loading four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System
beginning in June 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
future loading campaign. Therefore, CEG submitted this exemption
request in order to allow for the continued storage of the four already
loaded MPC-68-CBS, and future loading of four MPC-68M-CBS, beginning in
June 2025, at the LSCS ISFSI. This exemption is limited to the use of
MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System only for the four already
loaded canisters and the specific planned loading of four new canisters
beginning in June 2025.
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 CEG to maintain four loaded and to load
four MPC-68M-CBS in the future loading campaign beginning in June 2025,
in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at its 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. CEG 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 CEG to maintain four loaded and to load
four MPC-68M-CBS in the future loading campaign beginning in June 2025,
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. In support of
its exemption request, CEG 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. CEG
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.
CEG 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 LSCS ISFSI. Specifically, CEG 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 8, Revision No. 1, that is used at the
LSCS site. CEG also described its administrative controls for handling
of the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the LSCS ISFSI to prevent a tip-over
or handling event. Those controls include operational procedures that
demonstrate the system is handled with a single failure proof device in
accordance with NUREG-0554 (ML110450636), ``Single-Failure-Proof Cranes
for Nuclear Power Plants, NUREG-0612, ``Control of Heavy Loads
[[Page 1200]]
at Nuclear Power Plants'' (ML070250180), and ANSI N14.6, ``for
Radioactive Materials--Special Lifting Devices for Shipping Containers
Weighing 10 000 Pounds (4500 kg) or More,'' and employing redundant
drop protection features which comply with CoC No. 1014, Amendment 8,
Revision No. 1, Appendix A.
Additionally, CEG provided specific information from LSCS's 72.212
Evaluation Report, Revision 9, indicating that during the design basis
event of a non-mechanistic tip-over, LSCS'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 10 CFR
72.106, ``Controlled area of an ISFSI or MRS.'' Specifically, CEG
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. Coupled with the distance of
the LSCS ISFSI to the site area boundary, CEG 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 CEG and
concludes that issuance of the exemption would not endanger life or
property because the administrative controls that CEG has in place at
the LSCS 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. 8, Revision
No. 1, that is used at the LSCS site. In addition, the staff confirmed
that the information provided by CEG regarding LSCS's 72.212 Evaluation
Report, Revision 9, 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 LSCS 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 four already loaded MPC-68M-
CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System to remain in storage at the LSCS
ISFSI, and allow CEG to load four MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask
System in the future loading campaign beginning in June 2025, at the
LSCS ISFSI, even though the CBS variant basket design is not part of
the approved CoC No. 1014, Amendment No. 8, Revision No. 1. According
to CEG, the exemption is in the public interest because being unable to
load fuel into dry storage in the future loading campaign would impact
CEG's ability to offload fuel from the LSCS reactor units, consequently
impacting continued safe reactor operation.
CEG stated that further delaying the future loading campaign would
impact its ability to effectively manage the margin to full core
discharge capability in the LSCS 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, CEG loading campaigns
are scheduled based on availability of the specialized work force and
equipment that is shared throughout the CEG fleet. These specialty
resources support multiple competing priorities, including refueling
outages, loading campaigns, fuel pool cleanouts, fuel inspections, fuel
handling equipment upgrades and maintenance, fuel sipping, new fuel
receipt, and crane maintenance and upgrades. Therefore, the available
windows to complete cask loading campaigns are limited, and any delays
would have a cascading impact on other scheduled specialized
activities. CEG also considered requesting that Holtec provide eight
(8) 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 19 of the HISTORM 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.
For the reasons described by CEG 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, CEG would
have to unload MPC-68M-CBS from the HI-STORM 100 Cask System at the
LSCS 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 CEG, this scenario
would affect CEG's ability to effectively manage the margin to full
core discharge capacity and present a potential reactivity management
risk to fuel handling operations during pre- and post-refueling outages
at LSCS. In addition, the rescheduling of the specialized resources for
the future loading campaign would impact the operations of LSCS.
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 December 20, 2024 (89 FR 104234).
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 CEG an
exemption from the
[[Page 1201]]
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 four
MPC-68M-CBS in the HI-STORM 100 Cask System and a future loading in the
HI-STORM 100 Cask System of four new MPC-68M-CBS beginning in June
2025.
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated: December 20, 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. 2025-00116 Filed 1-6-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
