ML24087A069
| ML24087A069 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Susquehanna  |
| Issue date: | 04/22/2024 |
| From: | Yoira Diaz-Sanabria Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch |
| To: | Susquehanna |
| Shared Package | |
| ML24087A066 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML24087A069 (1) | |
Text
Attachment - Exemption
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Docket Nos. 72-0 028, 50-387, and 50 -388
Susquehanna Nuclear, LLC
Susquehanna Steam Electric Station Units 1 and 2
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation;
I. Background
Susquehanna Nuclear, LLC (Susquehanna) is the holder of Renewed Facility Operating
License Nos. NPF -14 and NPF-22, which authorize operation of the Susquehanna Steam
Electric Station (SSES), Units 1 and 2 in Salem Township, Luzerne County, PA (70 miles
northeast of Harrisburg, PA), 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, 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 p art 50. Susquehanna
is authorized to operate nuclear power reactors under 10 CFR p art 50 and holds a 10 CFR part
72 general license for storage of spent fuel at the SSES ISFSI. Under the terms of the general
license, Susquehanna stores spent fuel at its SSES ISFSI using the HI -STORM Flood/Wind
(FW) Multi-Purpose Canister (MPC) Storage System in accordance with Certificate of
Compliance (CoC) No. 1032, Amendment No. 5.
II. Request/Action
By a letter dated March 19, 2024 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System [ADAMS] Accession No. ML24079A070) and supplemented on March 21, 2024
(ML24081A335), Susquehanna 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 requires SSES to
comply with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 5
(ML20163A701). If approved, Susquehannas exemption request would accordingly allow SSES
to load MPCs with continuous basket shims (CBS) (i.e., MPC-89-CBS), an unapproved variant
basket design, in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, and thus, to load the systems in a
storage condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1032,
Amendment No. 5, are not met.
Susquehanna currently uses the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System under CoC No.
1032, Amendment No. 5, for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel at the SSES ISFSI. Holtec
International (Holtec), the designer and manufacturer of the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage
System, developed a variant of the MPC-89 design with CBS, known as MPC 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).
Susquehannas near -term loading campaign for the SSES ISFSI includes plans to load
six MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System beginning in August 2024. While
Holtec was required to submit a CoC amendment to the NRC to seek approval of the CBS
2 variant design, such a process will not be completed in time to inform decisions for this near-
term loading campaign. Therefore, Susquehanna submitted this exemption request to allow for
future loading of six MPC CBS beginning in August 2024 at the SSES ISFSI. This exemption
is limited to the use of MPC CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System only for the
specific near-term planned loading of six new canisters using the MPC-89-CBS variant basket
design.
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 Susquehanna to load six new MPC-89-CBS in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System, beginning in August 2024, at its SSES ISFSI in a storage
condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 10 32, Amendment No.
5, are not met. Susquehanna is requesting an exemption from the provisions in 10 CFR p art 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 NRCs regulations or
other applicable laws. Additionally, no other law proh ibits 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.
3 B. The Exemption Will Not Endanger Life or Property or the Common Defense and
Security
This exemption would allow Susquehanna to load six new MPC-89-CBS in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System, beginning in August 2024, at the SSES ISFSI in a storage
condition where the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No.
5, are not met. In support of its exemption request, Susquehanna asserts that issuance of the
exemption would not endanger life or property because a tip-over or handling event is
administratively controlled, and that the containment boundary would be maintained in such an
event. Susquehanna relies, in part, on the approach in the NRCs 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-89-CBS remains in a subcritical condition.
Susquehanna also provided site-specific technical information, as supplemented,
including information explaining why the use of the approach in the NRCs Safety Determination
Memorandum is appropriate for determining the safe use of the CBS variant baskets at the
SSES ISFSI. Specifically, Susquehanna described that the analysis of the tip-over design basis
event that is relied upon in the NRCs 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 FW MPC Storage System CoC No. 1032,
Amendment 5, that is used at the SSES site. In addition, the handling procedures utilized by
Susquehanna comply with the requirements of Appendix A of CoC No. 1032, Amendment No.
4 5, including a single failure proof lifting system and redundant drop protection features in
accordance with applicable codes and standards.
Additionally, Susquehanna referenced specific information from SSESs 72.212
Evaluation Report, Revision 0, that demonstrated the combined dose produced by the storage
systems on the SSES ISFSI will not result in annual doses at the ISFSI controlled area
boundary in excess of the limits specified in 10 CFR 72.104(a), Criteria for radioactive materials
in effluents and direct radiation from an ISFSI or MRS, during normal and anticipated
operational occurrences, or in excess of the limits specified in 72.106, Controlled area of an
ISFSI or MRS, during design bases accidents. Specifically, Susquehanna 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. Susquehanna concluded that there is no adverse effect on the
shielding or confinement functions since there is no effect on occupational or public exposures
as a result of this accident condition.
The NRC staff reviewed the information provided by Susquehanna and concludes that
issuance of the exemption would not endanger life or property because the administrative
controls Susquehanna has in place at the SSES 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 comply with the technical
specifications and UFSAR for the HI -STORM FW MPC Storage System CoC No. 1032,
Amendment No. 5, that is used at the SSES site. In addition, the staff confirmed that the
information provided by Susquehanna regarding SSESs 72.212 Evaluation Report, Revision 0,
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
5 SSES ISFSI; therefore, granting the exemption would not result in any potential impacts to
common defense and security.
For these reasons, the NRC staff 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 Susquehanna to load six new MPC CBS in the HI-
STORM FW MPC Storage System beginning in August 2024, at the SSES ISFSI, even though
the CBS variant basket design is not part of the approved CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 5.
According to Susquehanna, the exemption is in the public interest because not being able to
load fuel into dry storage in the future loading campaign would adversely impact Susquehannas
ability to maintain full core offload capability, consequently increasing risk and challenges to
continued safe reactor operation.
Susquehanna stated that to delay the future loading would impact the ability to maintain
a healthy margin in the spent fuel pools in support of a full core discharge for one reactor unit
with a goal of providing a full core discharge for both reactor units. Susquehanna also stated
that the inability to utilize the MPC-89 canister containing the CBS basket in the 2024 Spent
Fuel Storage campaign significantly impacts the ability to effectively manage margin for full core
discharge capability, because margin reduction results in increased inventory in the spent fuel
pool that would likely require additional fuel moves and an increased reactivity management risk
due to increased fuel handling operations. Additionally, Susquehanna notes that there are
logistical concerns that the availability of the specialized equipment and personnel resources,
which are secured years in advance of scheduled campaigns, would have a cascading impact
on all other scheduled activities that utilize these specialized resources. Any delay would lead to
6 a reduction in the margin to capacity in the spent fuel pool. Once the spent fuel pool capacity is
reached, the ability to refuel the operating reactor is limited, thus affecting continued reactor
operations.
For the reasons described by Susquehanna in the exemption request, the NRC agrees
that it is in the public interest to grant the exemption. If the exemption is not granted, to comply
with the CoC, SSES would have to keep spent fuel in the spent fuel pool if it is not permitted to
be loaded into casks in a future loading, thus impacting Susquehannas ability to effectively
manage the margin for full core discharge capacity. As explained by Susquehanna, increased
inventory of fuel in the spent fuel pool could result in the need for additional fuel moves and,
therefore, an increase in worker doses and the potential for fuel handling accidents that
accompany increased fuel handling operations. Moreover, should spent fuel pool capacity be
reached, the ability to refuel an operating reactor unit is challenged, thus potentially impacting
continued reactor operations.
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 f inding of no significant
impact was published on April 22, 2024 ( 89 FR 29369).
7 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 grant s Susquehanna an
exemption from the 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 future loading in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage
System of six new MPC CBS beginning in August 2024.
This exemption is effective upon issuance.
Dated: April 22, 2024.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
/RA/
Yoira Diaz-Sanabria, Chief, Storage and Transportation Branch, Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety, and Safeguards.
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SUBJECT:
ISSUANCE OF EXEMPTION FOR SUSQUEHANNA STEAM ELECTRIC STATION UNITS 1 AND 2 INDEPENDENT SPENT FUEL STORAGE INSTALLATION EXEMPTION REQUEST
DOCUMENT DATE: April 22, 2024
ADAMS Accession No.: ML24087A069 OFFICE NMSS/DFM NMSS/DFM NMSS/DFM NMSS/DFM NAME CJacobs JGoodridge TBoyce HRodriguez
DATE 3/27/2024 3/27/2024 3/27/2024 3/27/2024
OFFICE NMSS/REF OGC/NLO NMSS/DFM NAME RSun ACoggins YDiaz-Sanabria DATE 3/27/2024 4/9/2024 4/22/2024 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
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