ML21271A617

Direct Final Rule - Tn Americas LLC Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, Renewal of Initial Certificate and Amendment No. 1

ML21271A617
Person / Time
Site:	07201027
Issue date:	11/29/2021
From:	Dan Dorman NRC/EDO
To:	TN Americas LLC
Sahle S
Shared Package
ML21271A604	List: ML21271A617 ML21271A618
References
NRC-2021-0161, RIN 3150-AK69 86 FR 69978; 12/9/2021
Download: ML21271A617 (24)

Text

[7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

10 CFR Part 72

[NRC-2021-0161]

RIN 3150-AK69

List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: TN Americas LLC,

TN-68 Dry Storage Cask, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027,

Renewal of Initial Certificate and Amendment No. 1

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Direct final rule.

SUMMARY

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent

fuel storage regulations by revising the TN Americas LLC, TN-68 Dry Storage Cask

listing within the List of approved spent fuel storage casks to renew, for an additional

40 years, the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 of Certif icate of Compliance

No. 1027. The renewal of the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 revises the

certificate of compliances conditions and technical specificat ions to address aging

management activities related to the structures, systems, and c omponents (SSCs) of the

dry storage system to ensure that the SSCs will maintain their intended functions during

the period of extended storage operations.

DATES: T h i s d i r e c t f i n a l r u l e i s e f f e c t i v e February 22, 2022, u n l e s s significant adverse

comments are received by January 10, 2022. If this direct fina l rule is withdrawn as a

result of such comments, timely notice of the withdrawal will b e published in the Federal

Register. Comments received after this date will be considered if it i s practical to do so, but the NRC is able to ensure consideration only for comments r eceived on or before this

date. Comments received on this direct final rule will also be considered to be

comments on a companion proposed rule published in the Proposed Rules section of

this issue of the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID NRC-2021-0161, at

https://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be submitted using

https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate inst ructions.

For additional direction on obtaining information and submitti ng comments, see

Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments in the SUPPLEME NTARY

INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christian Jacobs, Office of Nuclear

Material Safety and Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-6825, email :

Christian.Jacobs@nrc.gov and Solomon Sahle, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards, telephone: 301-415-3781, email: Solomon.Sahle@nrc.gov. Both are staff

of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 -0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments II. Rulemaking Procedure III. Background IV. Discussion of Changes V. Voluntary Consensus Standards VI. Agreement State Compatibility VII. Plain Writing VIII. Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Im pact IX. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement X. Regulatory Flexibility Certification XI. Regulatory Analysis XII. Backfitting and Issue Finality 2

XIII. Congressional Review Act XIV. Availability of Documents

I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments

A. Obtaining Information

Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0161 when contacting the NR C about the

availability of information for this action. You may obtain pu blicly 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-2021-0161. Address questions about NR C dockets to Dawn

Forder, telephone: 301-415-3407, email: Dawn.Forder@nrc.gov. For technical

questions, contact the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER IN FORMATION

CONTACT section of this document.

• NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System

(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADA MS Public

Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the

search, select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems wi th ADAMS, please

contact the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209,

301-415-4737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. For the convenience of the reader,

instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this docum ent are provided in the

Availability of Documents section.

• NRCs PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public documents,

by appointment, at the NRCs Public Document Room (PDR), Room P 1 B35, One White

Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make an appointment

to visit the PDR, please send an email to PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call

3 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (ET), Monday

through Friday, except Federal holidays.

B. Submitting Comments

Please include Docket ID NRC-2021-0161 in your comment submission. The

NRC requests that you submit comments through the Federal rulemaking website at

https://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be submitt ed using

https://www.regulations.gov, call or email the individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate inst ructions.

The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact inf ormation 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 commen t submissions to

remove identifying or contact information.

If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other perso ns 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 dis closed in their comment

submission. Your request should state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment

submissions to remove such information before making the commen t submissions

available to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.

II. Rulemaking Procedure

This rule is limited to the renewal of the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 of

Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 and does not include other a spects of the TN

Americas LLC, TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system design. The NRC is using the direct

final rule procedure to issue this renewal because it represen ts a limited and routine

4 change to an existing certificate of compliance that is expecte d to be non-controversial.

Adequate protection of public health and safety continues to be reasonably assured.

The amendment to the rule will become effective on February 22, 2022. However, if the

NRC receives any significant adv erse comments on this direct final rule by January 10,

2022, then the NRC will publish a document that withdraws this action and will

subsequently address the comments received in a final rule as a response to the

companion proposed rule published in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the

Federal Register. Absent significant modifications to the proposed revisions r equiring

republication, the NRC will not initiate a second comment perio d on this action.

A significant adverse comment is a comment where the commenter explains why

the rule would be inappropriate, including challenges to the ru les underlying premise or

approach, or would be ineffective or unacceptable without a cha nge. A comment is

adverse and significant if:

1) The comment opposes the rule and provides a reason sufficie nt to require a

substantive response in a notice-and-comment process. For exam ple, a substantive

response is required when:

a) The comment causes the NRC to reevaluate (or reconsider) it s position or

conduct additional analysis;

b) The comment raises an issue serious enough to warrant a sub stantive

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, a nd it is apparent

that the rule would be ineffective or unacceptable without inco rporation of the change or

addition.

5

3) The comment causes the NRC to make a change (other than edi torial) to the

rule, certificate of compliance, or technical specifications.

III. Background

Section 218(a) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as ame nded, requires

that [t]he Secretary [of the Department of Energy] shall estab lish a demonstration

program, in cooperation with the private sector, for the dry st orage 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 r ule, approve for use at

the sites of civilian nuclear power reactors without, to the ma ximum extent practicable,

the need for additional site-specific approvals by the Commissi on. Section 133 of the

Nuclear Waste Policy Act states, in part, that [t]he Commissio n 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 civili an 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 p ublishing 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 April 28, 2000 (65 FR 24855), that

approved the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system design and added it to the list of

NRC-approved cask designs in § 72.214 as Certificate of Compliance No. 1027. The

NRC issued a direct final rule on August 16, 2007 (72 FR 45880), that approved

6 Amendment No. 1 to Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 for the T N-68 Dry Storage

Cask system design and added it to the list of NRC approved cas k designs in § 72.214.

IV. Discussion of Changes

On April 9, 2020, TN Americas LLC submitted a request to the NR C to renew, for

an additional 40 years, the initial certificate and Amendment N o. 1 of Certificate of

Compliance No. 1027 for the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system. TN Americas LLC

supplemented its request on July 29, 2020; February 9, 2021; an d March 24, 2021.

The renewal of the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 was conducted in

accordance with the renewal provisions in § 72.240. This secti on of the NRC spent fuel

storage regulations authorizes the NRC to include any additiona l certificate conditions it

deems necessary to ensure the safe operation of the cask during the certificates

renewal period. The NRC included three additional conditions t o the renewal of the

initial certificate of compliance and Amendment No. 1:

• The submittal of an updated final safety analysis report (UFSA R) to address

aging management activities result ing from the renewal of the certificate of

compliance. This condition ensures that the UFSAR changes are made in a

timely fashion to enable general licensees using the storage sy stem during

the period of extended operation to develop and implement neces sary

procedures.

• The requirement that general licensees initiating or using spe nt fuel dry

storage operations with the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system ensur e that their

evaluations are included in the reports required by § 72.212, Conditions of

general license issued under § 72.210. These reports will inc lude

appropriate considerations for the period of extended operation, a review of

7 the UFSAR changes resulting from the certificate of compliance renewal, and

a review of the NRC safety evaluation report (SER) related to t he certificate

of compliance renewal.

• The requirement that future amendments and revisions to this c ertificate of

compliance include evaluations of the impacts to aging manageme nt

activities to ensure that they remain adequate for any changes to the

structures, systems, and components (SSCs).

The NRC made one corresponding change to the technical specific ations for the

initial certificate of compliance and Amendment No. 1. The cha nge added a new

section, which ensures that gener al licensees using the storage system develop

procedures to address aging management activities required in t he period of extended

operation.

As documented in the preliminary SER, the NRC performed a safe ty evaluation

of the proposed certificate of compliance renewal request. The NRC determined that

this renewal does not change the cask design or fabrication req uirements in the

proposed certificate of compliance renewal request. The NRC de termined that the

design of the cask would continue to maintain confinement, shie lding, and criticality

control in the event of each evaluated accident condition. In addition, any resulting

occupational exposure or offsite dose rates from the renewal of the initial certificate of

compliance and Amendment No. 1 would remain well within the lim its specified by

10 CFR part 20, Standards for Protection Against Radiation. Thus, the NRC found

there will be no significant change in the types or amounts of any effluent released, no

significant increase in the individual or cumulative radiation exposure, and no significant

increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological accidents. In its SER for

the renewal of the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system, the NRC staff has determined that if

8 the conditions specified in the certificate of compliance to im plement these regulations

are met, adequate protection of public health and safety will c ontinue to be reasonably

assured.

This direct final rule revises the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask list ing in § 72.214 by

renewing for 40 more years, the initial certificate and Amendme nt No. 1 of Certificate of

Compliance No. 1027. The renewal consists of the changes previ ously described, as

set forth in the renewed initial certificate and amendment and their revised technical

specifications. The revised technical specifications are ident ified in the SER.

V. Voluntary Consensus Standards

The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995

(Pub. L. 104-113) requires that Federal agencies use technical standards that are

developed or adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies un less the use of such

a standard is inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise imp ractical. In this direct final

rule, the NRC revises the TN Americas LLC, TN-68 Dry Storage Ca sk design listed in

§ 72.214, List of approved spent fuel storage casks. This ac tion does not constitute

the establishment of a standard that contains generally applica ble requirements.

VI. Agreement State Compatibility

Under the Agreement State Program Policy Statement approved by the

Commission on October 2, 2017, and published in the Federal Register on October 18,

2017 (82 FR 48535), this rule is classified as Compatibility Ca tegory NRC - Areas of

Exclusive NRC Regulatory Authority. The NRC program elements i n this category are

those that relate directly to areas of regulation reserved to t he NRC by the Atomic

Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or the provisions of 10 CFR cha pter I. Therefore,

compatibility is not required for program elements in this cate gory. Although an 9

Agreement State may not adopt program elements reserved to the NRC, and the

Category NRC does not confer regulatory authority on the Stat e, the State may wish to

inform its licensees of certain requirements by means consisten t with the particular

States administrative procedure laws.

VII. Plain Writing

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-274) requires Federa l 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 we ll as the Presidential

Memorandum, Plain Language in Government Writing, published J une 10, 1998

(63 FR 31885).

VIII. Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant I mpact

Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amende d, and the

NRCs regulations in 10 CFR part 51, Environmental Protection Regulations for

Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions, the NRC h as determined that

this direct final rule, if adopted, would not be a major Federa l action significantly affecting

the quality of the human environment and, therefore, an environ mental impact statement

is not required. The NRC has made a finding of no significant impact on the basis of this

environmental assessment.

A. The Action

The action is to amend § 72.214 to revise the TN-68 Dry Storag e Cask listing

within the List of approved spent fuel storage casks to renew, for an additional

10 40 years, the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 of Certif icate of Compliance

No. 1027.

B. The Need for the Action

This direct final rule renews the initial certificate and Amend ment No. 1 of

Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 for the TN Americas LLC, TN-68 Dry Storage Cask

system design within the list of approved spent fuel storage ca sks to allow power reactor

licensees to store spent fuel at reactor sites in casks with th e approved modifications

under a general license. Specifically, this rule extends the e xpiration date for the TN

Americas LLC, TN-68 Dry Storage Cask certificate for an additio nal 40 years, allowing a

reactor licensee to continue using it under general license pro visions in an independent

spent fuel storage installation to store spent fuel in dry cask s in accordance with

10 CFR part 72.

C. Environmental Impacts of the Action

On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC issued an amendment to

10 CFR part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel under a general license in cask

designs approved by the NRC. The potential environmental impac t of using

NRC-approved storage casks was analyzed in the environmental as sessment for the

1990 final rule. The environmental assessment for this renewal of the initial certificate

and Amendment No. 1 of Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 tiers off of the

environmental assessment for the July 18, 1990, final rule. Ti ering on past

environmental assessments is a standard process under the Natio nal Environmental

Policy Act of 1969, as amended. As required by § 72.240, appli cations for renewal of a

spent fuel storage certificate of compliance design are require d to demonstrate that

SSCs important to safety will continue to perform their intende d function for the

requested renewal term. As discussed in the NRCs SER for the renewal of the initial

11 certificate and Amendment No. 1, the NRC has approved condition s in the renewed

initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 requiring the general l icensee to implement the

aging management activities descr ibed in the renewal applicatio n and incorporated into

the UFSAR. These conditions ensure that the TN Americas LLC, T N-68 Dry Storage

Cask system will continue to perform its intended safety functi ons and provide

reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health an d safety throughout the

renewal period.

Incremental impacts from continued use of the TN-68 Dry Storag e Cask system

under a general license for an additional 40 years are not cons idered significant. When

the general licensee follows all procedures and administrative controls, including the

conditions established because of this renewal, no effluents ar e expected from the

sealed dry cask systems. Activities associated with cask loadi ng and decontamination

may result in some small incremental liquid and gaseous effluen ts, but these activities

will be conducted under 10 CFR parts 50 and 52 reactor operatin g licenses, and

effluents will be controlled within existing reactor site techn ical specifications. Because

reactor sites are relatively large, any incremental offsite dos es due to direct radiation

exposure from the spent fuel storage casks are expected to be s mall, and when

combined with the contribution from reactor operations, well wi thin the annual dose

equivalent of 0.25 mSv (25 mrem) limit to the whole body specif ied in § 72.104.

Incremental impacts on collective occupational exposures due to dry cask spent fuel

storage are expected to be only a small fraction of the exposur es from operation of the

nuclear power station.

The TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system is designed to mitigate the effects of

design-basis accidents that could occur during storage. Design -basis accidents account

for human-induced events and the most severe natural phenomena reported for the site

12 and surrounding area. Postulated accidents analyzed for an ind ependent spent fuel

storage installation, the type of facility at which a holder of a power reactor operating

license would store spent fuel in casks in accordance with 10 C FR part 72, can include

tornado winds and tornado-generated missiles, a design-basis ea rthquake, a

design-basis flood, an accidental cask drop, lightning effects, fire, explosions, and other

incidents.

During the promulgation of the amendments that added subpart K to

10 CFR part 72 (55 FR 29181; July 18, 1990), the NRC staff asse ssed the public health

consequences of dry cask storage accidents and sabotage events. In the supporting

analyses for these amendments, the NRC determined that a releas e from a dry cask

storage system would be comparable in magnitude to a release fr om the same quantity

of fuel in a spent fuel storage pool. As a result of these eva luations, the NRC

determined that, because of the physical characteristics of the storage casks and

conditions of storage that include specific security provisions, the potential risk to public

health and safety due to accidents or sabotage is very small.

Considering the specific design requirements for each accident or sabotage

condition, the design of the cask would maintain confinement, s hielding, and criticality

control. If confinement, shielding, or criticality control are maintained, the environmental

impacts from an accident would be insignificant.

There are no changes to cask design or fabrication requirements in the renewed

initial certificate or Amendment No. 1. Because there are no s ignificant design or

process changes, any resulting occupational exposure or offsite dose rates from the

implementation of the renewal of the initial certificate and Am endment No. 1 would

remain well within the 10 CFR part 20 limits.

13 Decommissioning of dry cask spent fuel storage systems under a general license

would be carried out as part of a power reactors site decommis sioning plan. In general,

decommissioning would consist of removing the spent fuel from t he site,

decontaminating cask surfaces, and decontaminating and dismantl ing the independent

spent fuel storage installation where the casks were deployed. Under normal and

off-normal operating conditions, no residual contamination is e xpected to be left behind

on supporting structures. The incremental impacts associated w ith decommissioning dry

cask storage installations are expected to represent a small fr action of the impacts of

decommissioning an entire nuclear power station.

In summary, the proposed changes will not result in any radiolo gical or

nonradiological environmental impac ts that significantly differ from the environmental

impacts evaluated in the environmental assessment supporting th e July 18, 1990, final

rule. Compliance with the requirements of 10 CFR parts 20 and 72 would provide

reasonable assurance that adequate protection of public health and safety will continue.

The NRC, in its SER for the renewal of the TN-68 Dry Storage Ca sk system, has

determined if the conditions specified in the certificate of co mpliance to implement these

regulations are met, adequate protection of public health and s afety will continue to be

reasonably assured.

Based on the previously stated assessments and its SER for the requested

renewal of the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask certificates, the NRC has determined that the

expiration date of this system in 10 CFR 72.214 can be safely e xtended for an additional

40 years, and that commercial nuclear power reactor licensees c an continue using the

system during this period under a general license without signi ficant impacts on the

human environment.

14 D. Alternative to the Action

The alternative to this action is to deny approval of the rene wal and not issue the

direct final rule. Under this alternative, the NRC would eithe r 1) require general

licensees using the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask to unload the spent fuel from these

systems and either return it to a spent fuel pool or re-load it into a different dry storage

cask system listed in § 72.214; or 2) require that users of the existing TN-68 Dry Storage

Cask request site-specific licensing proceedings to continue st orage in these systems.

The environmental impacts of requiring the licensee to unload the spent fuel and

either return it to the spent fuel pool or re-load it into anot her NRC-approved cask

system would result in increased radiological doses to workers. These increased doses

would be due primarily to direct r adiation from the casks while the workers unloaded,

transferred, and re-loaded the spent fuel. These activities wo uld consist of transferring

the dry storage canisters to a cask-handling building, opening the canister lid welds,

returning the canister to a spent fuel pool or dry transfer fac ility, removing the fuel

assemblies, and re-loading them, either into a spent fuel pool storage rack or another

NRC-approved dry storage system. In addition to the increased occupational doses to

workers, these activities may also result in additional liquid or gaseous effluents.

Alternatively, users of the dry cask storage system would need to apply for a

site-specific license. Under this option for implementing the no-action alternative,

interested licensees would have to prepare, and the NRC would h ave to review, each

separate license application, ther eby increasing the administrative burden upon the NRC

and the costs to each licensee.

In summary, the no-action alternative would entail either 1) m ore environmental

impacts than the preferred action from transferring the spent f uel now in the TN-68 Dry

Storage Cask; or 2) cost and administrative impacts from multip le licensing actions that,

15 in aggregate, are likely to be the same as, or more likely grea ter than, the preferred

action.

E. Alternative Use of Resources

Renewal of the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 to Cert ificate of

Compliance No. 1027 would result in no irreversible commitment of resources.

F. Agencies and Persons Contacted

No agencies or persons outside the NRC were contacted in conne ction with the

preparation of this environmental assessment.

G. Finding of No Significant Impact

The environmental impacts of the action have been reviewed und er the

requirements in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the

NRCs regulations in subpart A of 10 CFR part 51, Environmenta l Protection

Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Funct ions. Based on the

foregoing environmental assessment, the NRC concludes that this direct final rule, List

of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: TN Americas LLC, TN-68 D ry Storage Cask,

Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, Renewal of Initial Certific ate and Amendment

No. 1, will not have a significant effect on the human environ ment. Therefore, the NRC

has determined that an environmental impact statement is not ne cessary for this direct

final rule.

IX. Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

This direct final rule does not contain any new or amended coll ections of

information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

16 Existing collections of informat ion were approved by the Office of Management and

Budget, approval number 3150-0132.

Public Protection Notification

The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not requir ed to respond

to, a request for information or an information collection requ irement unless the

requesting document displays a currently valid Office of Manage ment and Budget

control number.

X. Regulatory Flexibility Certification

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), the NRC certifies

that this direct final rule will not, if issued, have a signifi cant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities. This direct final rule a ffects only nuclear power

plant licensees and TN Americas LLC. These entities do not fal l within the scope of the

definition of small entities set forth in the Regulatory Flexib ility Act or the size standards

established by the NRC (§ 2.810).

XI. Regulatory Analysis

On July 18, 1990 (55 FR 29181), the NRC issued an amendment to

10 CFR part 72 to provide for the storage of spent nuclear fuel under a general license in

cask designs approved by the NRC. Any nuclear power reactor li censee can use

NRC-approved cask designs to store spent nuclear fuel if 1) it notifies the NRC in

advance; 2) the spent fuel is stored under the conditions speci fied in the casks

certificate of compliance; and 3) the conditions of the general license are met. A list of

NRC-approved cask designs is contained in § 72.214. On April 28, 2000 (65 FR 24855),

17 the NRC issued an amendment to 10 CFR part 72 that approved the TN Americas LLC,

TN-68 Dry Storage Cask by adding it to the list of NRC-approved cask designs in

§ 72.214 as Certificate of Compliance No. 1027.

On April 9, 2020, and as supplemented on July 29, 2020; Februar y 9; 2021; and

March 24, 2021, TN Americas LLC requested a renewal of the init ial certificate and

Amendment No. 1 of the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system for an add itional 40 years

beyond the initial certificate term as discussed in Section IV, Discussion of Changes, of

this document. Because TN Americas LLC filed its renewal appli cation at least 30 days

before the certificate expiration date of May 20, 2020, pursuan t to the timely renewal

provisions in § 72.240(b), the initial issuance of the certific ate and Amendment No. 1 of

Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 did not expire during the pe ndency of the NRCs

review.

The alternative to this action is to deny approval of the rene wal of the initial

certificate and Amendment No. 1 of Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 and end this

direct final rule. Under this alternative, the NRC would eithe r 1) require general

licensees using the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system to unload spe nt fuel from these

systems and return it to a spent fuel pool or re-load it into a different dry storage cask

system listed in § 72.214, or 2) require that users of the exis ting TN-68 Dry Storage

Cask system request site-specific licensing proceedings to cont inue storage in these

systems. Therefore, the no-action alternative would result in a significant burden on

licensees and an additional inspection or licensing caseload on the NRC. In addition,

the no action alternative would entail either 1) more environme ntal impacts than the

preferred action from transferring the spent fuel now in the TN -68 Dry Storage Cask

system, or 2) cost and administrative impacts from multiple lic ensing actions that, in

aggregate, are likely to be the same as, or more likely greater than, the preferred action.

18 Approval of this direct final rule is consistent with previous NRC actions. Further,

as documented in the preliminar y SER and environmental assessme nt, this direct final

rule will have no adverse effect on public health and safety or the environment. This

direct final rule has no significant identifiable impact or ben efit on other government

agencies. Based on this regulatory analysis, the NRC concludes that the requirements

of this direct final rule are commensurate with the NRCs respo nsibilities for public health

and safety and the common defense and security. No other avail able alternative is

believed to be as satisfactory; therefore, this action is recom mended.

XII. Backfitting and Issue Finality

The NRC has determined that the backfit rule (§ 72.62) does no t apply to this

direct final rule. Therefore, a backfit analysis is not requir ed. This direct final rule

renews Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 for the TN Americas L LC, TN-68 Dry Storage

Cask system, as currently listed in § 72.214, to extend the exp iration date of the initial

certificate and Amendment No. 1 by 40 years. The renewed initi al certificate and

Amendment No. 1 consist of the changes previously described, as set forth in the

revised certificate of compliance and technical specifications.

Extending the effective date of the initial certificate and Am endment No. 1 for

40 more years and requiring the implementation of aging managem ent activities does

not impose any modification or addition to the design of a cask systems SSCs, or to the

procedures or organization required to operate the system durin g the initial 20-year

storage period of the system, as authorized by the current cert ificate. General licensees

that have loaded these casks, or that load these casks in the f uture under the

specifications of the applicable certificate, may continue to s tore spent fuel in these

systems for the initial 20-year storage period consistent with the original certificate. The

19 aging management activities required to be implemented by this renewal are only

required after the storage cask systems initial 20-year servic e period ends. As

explained in the 2011 final rule that amended 10 CFR part 72 (7 6 FR 8872, Question I),

the general licensees authority to use a particular storage ca sk design under an

approved certificate of compliance terminates 20 years after th e date that the general

licensee first loads the particular cask with spent fuel, unles s the casks certificate of

compliance is renewed. Because this rulemaking renews the init ial certificate and

Amendment No. 1, and renewal is a separate licensing action voluntarily implemented

by vendors, the renewal of the initial certificate and Amendmen t No. 1 is not an

imposition of new or changed requirements from which these lice nsees would otherwise

be protected by the backfitting provisions in § 72.62.

Even if renewal of the initial certificate and Amendment No. 1 of Certificate of

Compliance No. 1027 could be considered a backfit, TN Americas LLC, as the holder of

the certificate of compliance and vendor of the casks, is not p rotected by the backfitting

provisions in § 72.62.

Unlike a vendor, general licensee s using the existing systems subject to this

renewal would be protected by the backfitting provisions in § 7 2.62 if the renewal

constituted new or changed requirements applicable during the i nitial 20-year storage

period. But, as previously explained, renewal of the initial c ertificate and Amendment

No. 1 of Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 does not impose suc h requirements. The

general licensee using the initial certificate or Amendment No. 1 of Certificate of

Compliance No. 1027 may continue storing material in its respec tive cask systems for

the initial 20-year storage period identified in the applicable certificate or amendment

with no changes. If general licensees choose to continue to st ore spent fuel in the

TN-68 Dry Storage Cask system after the initial 20-year period, these general licensees

20 will be required to implement aging management activities for a ny cask systems subject

to a renewed certificate of compliance, but such continued use is voluntary.

For these reasons, renewing the initial certificate and Amendme nt No. 1 of

Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, and imposing the additional conditions previously

discussed, does not constitute backfitting under § 72.62 or §5 0.109(a)(1), or otherwise

represent an inconsistency with the issue finality provisions a pplicable to combined

licenses in 10 CFR part 52. Accordingly, the NRC has not prepa red a backfit analysis

for this rulemaking.

XIII. Congressional Review Act

This direct final rule is not a rule as defined in the Congress ional Review Act.

XIV. Availability of Documents

The documents identified in the following table are available to interested

persons, as indicated.

DOCUMENT ADAMS ACCESSION NO.

TN Americas LLC Renewal Application for ML20100F295 the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, dated April 9, 2020 Supplemental Response to Request for ML20211L707 Additional Information for the TN Americas LLC Application for Renewal of the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, dated July 29, 2020 Supplemental Response to Request for ML21040A406 Additional Information for the TN Americas LLC Application for Renewal of the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, dated February 9, 2021

21 DOCUMENT ADAMS ACCESSION NO.

Supplemental Response to Request for ML21083A029 Additional Information for the TN Americas LLC Application for Renewal of the TN-68 Dry Storage Cask, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, dated March 24, 2021 User Need Memorandum for Rulemaking for ML21174A125 Certificate of Compliance Renewal, Initial Issue (Amendment Number 0), Amendment Number 1 to TN-68 Dry Storage Cask, dated September 20, 2021 Preliminary Safety Evaluation Report for the ML21174A128 TN-32 Dry Storage Cask Certificate of Compliance Renewal Proposed Certificate of Compliance ML21174A126 No. 1027, Renewed Initial Certificate Proposed Technical Specifications, Appendix ML21174A129 A, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, Renewed Initial Certificate Proposed Certificate of Compliance ML21174A127 No. 1027, Renewed Amendment No. 1 Proposed Technical Specifications, Appendix ML21174A131 A, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027, Renewed Amendment No. 1

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-2021-0161.

List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 72

Administrative practice and procedure, Hazardous waste, Indian s,

Intergovernmental relations, Nuc lear energy, Penalties, Radiation protection, Reporting

and recordkeeping requirements, Security measures, Spent fuel, Whistleblowing.

For the reasons set out in the preamble and under the authorit y of the Atomic

Energy Act of 1954, as amended; the Energy Reorganization Act o f 1974, as amended; 22 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended; and 5 U.S.C. 552 and 553, the NRC

is adopting the following amendments to 10 CFR part 72:

PART 72 - LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INDEPENDENT STORAGE OF

SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL, HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE, AND

REACTOR-RELATED GREATER THAN CLASS C WASTE

1. The authority citation for part 72 continues to read as fol lows:

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, secs. 51, 53, 57, 62, 63, 65, 69, 8 1, 161, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 189, 223, 234, 274 (42 U.S.C. 2071, 20 73, 2077, 2092, 2093, 2095, 2099, 2111, 2201, 2210e, 2232, 2233, 2234, 2236, 2237, 22 38, 2273, 2282, 2021); Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, secs. 201, 202, 206, 211 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 5842, 5846, 5851); National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (4 2 U.S.C. 4332); Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, secs. 117(a), 132, 133, 134, 135, 137, 141, 145(g), 148, 218(a) (42 U.S.C. 10137(a), 10152, 10153, 10154, 10155, 10157, 10161, 10165(g),

10168, 10198(a)); 44 U.S.C. 3504 note.

2. In § 72.214, Certificate of Compliance No. 1027 is revised to read as follows:

§ 72.214 List of approved spent fuel storage casks.

Certificate Number: 1027.

Initial Certificate Effective Date: May 30, 2000, superseded by Renewed Initial Certificate

on February 22, 2022.

Amendment Number 1 Effective Date: October 30, 2007, superseded by Renewed

Amendment Number 1 on February 22, 2022.

SAR Submitted by: Transnuclear, Inc., now TN Americas LLC.

Renewal SAR Submitted by: TN Americas LLC.

SAR

Title:

Final Safety Analysis Report for the TN-68 Dry Stor age Cask.

23 Docket Number: 72-1027.

Certificate Expiration Date: May 28, 2020.

Renewed Certificate Expiration Date: May 28, 2060.

Model Number: TN-68.

Dated: November 29, 2021.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Daniel H. Dorman, Executive Director for Operations.

24