ML24109A167

FRN - Notice of Availability of EA-FONSI for Calvert Cliffs

ML24109A167
Person / Time
Site:	07200078, Calvert Cliffs
Issue date:	05/14/2024
From:	Bernie White Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch
To:	Constellation Energy Generation
Shared Package
ML24108A129	List: ML24108A131 ML24108A132 ML24108A133 ML24108A135 ML24109A167
References
89 FR 43878, NRC-2024-0085
Download: ML24109A167 (1)

Text

[7590- 01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 72-78, 50- 317, and 50- 318; NRC-2024- 0085]

Constellation Energy Generation, LLC.;

Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 and 2;

Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation;

Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice; issuance.

SUMMARY

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an

environmental assessment (EA) and a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for an

exemption request submitted by Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (Constellation)

that would permit Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) to maintain nine loaded

and to load six new 37 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with continuous basket shims

(CBS) in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System at its CCNPP Units 1

and 2 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) in a storage condition where

the terms, conditions, and specifications in the Certificate of Compliance (CoC) No.

1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, are not met.

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on May 20, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2024- 0085 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 Webs ite: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and

search for Docket ID NRC-2024- 0085. Address questions about D ocket 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.

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

301-415-4737, or by email to PDR. Resource@nrc.gov. For the convenience of the

reader, instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided

in the Availability of Documents section.

• NRCs 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: Yen-Ju Chen, Office of Nuclear Material

Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555;

telephone: 301-415-1018; email: Yen-Ju.Chen@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The NRC is reviewing an exemption request from Constellation, dated

March 22, 2024. Constellation is requesting an exemption pursuant to section 72.7 of

title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), in paragraphs 72.212(a)(2),

72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 that require Constellation to

comply with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the C oC No. 1032, Amendment

2 No. 1, Revision No. 1. If approved, the exemption would allow Constellation to maintain

nine loaded and to load six new MPC CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage

System at the CCNPP ISFSI in a storage condition where the terms, conditions, and

specifications in the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, are not met.

II. Environmental Assessment

=

Background===

CCNPP is located near Maryland Highway 2 -4 in Calvert County on the west

bank of the Chesapeake Bay, approximately halfway between the mouth of the

Chesapeake Bay and its headwaters at the Susquehanna River. Unit 1 began operating

in 1975 and Unit 2 began operating in 1977. Constellation has been storing spent fuel in

an ISFSI at CCNPP under a general license as authorized by 10 CFR p art 72, subpart

K, General License for Storage of Spent Fuel at Power Reactor Sites. Constellation

currently uses the HI -STORM FW MPC Storage System under CoC No. 1032,

Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in a specific

MPC (i.e., MPC-37) at the CCNPP ISFSI.

Description of the Proposed Action

The CoC is the NRC approved design for each dry cask storage system. The

proposed action would exempt the applicant from the requirements of

10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i), 72.212(b)(11), and 72.214 only as

these requirements pertain to the use of the MPC CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC

Storage System for the already loaded systems and the near-term planned loading of

the canisters. The exemption would allow Constellation to maintain nine loaded and to

load six new MPC CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the CCNPP

ISFSI, despite the MPC CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System not being

3 in compliance with the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1032,

Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1.

The HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System CoC provides the requirements,

conditions, and operating limits necessary for use of the system to store spent fuel.

Holtec International (Holtec), the designer and manufacturer of the HI -STORM FW MPC

Storage System, developed a variant of the design with CBS for the MPC-37, known as

MPC CBS. Holtec originally implemented the CBS variant design under the

provisions of 10 CFR 72.48, 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 was not

the type of change allowed without a CoC amendment. For this reason, the NRC issued

three Severity Level IV violations to Holtec. Prior to the issuance of the violations,

Constellation had already loaded nine MPC CBS in a HI -STORM FW MPC Storage

System, which are safely in storage on the CCNPP ISFSI pad. Additionally,

Constellation plans to load six new MPC-37-CBS in the HI -STORM FW MPC Storage

System beginning in July 2024. This exemption considers the loading of the nine already

loaded systems and the near-term planned loading of the six canisters with the CBS

variant basket design.

Need for the Proposed Action

Constellation requested this exemption because Constellation is currently out of

compliance with NRC requirements, resulting from the previous loading of spent fuel into

a storage system with the CBS variant basket design. This exemption would allow nine

already loaded MPC CBS in the HI -STORM FW MPC Storage System to remain in

storage at the CCNPP ISFSI. The applicant also requested the exemption in order to

4 allow CCNPP to load six new MPC-37-CBS in HI -STORM FW MPC Storage System at

the CCNPP ISFSI for the future loading campaign beginning in July 2024.

Approval of the exemption request would allow Constellation to effectively

manage the spent fuel pool margin and capacity to enable refueling and offloading fuel

from the reactor. It would also allow Constellation to effectively manage the availability of

the specialized workforce and equipment needed to support competing fuel loading and

operational activities at CCNPP and other Constellation sites.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

This EA evaluates the potential environmental impacts of granting an exemption

from the terms, conditions, and specifications in CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1,

Revision No. 1. The exemption would allow nine loaded MPC-37-CBS in the HI-STORM

FW MPC Storage System to remain loaded at the CCNPP ISFSI. The exemption also

would allow a near -term loading of six new MPC-37-CBS to be loaded in the HI -STORM

FW MPC Storage System and maintained in storage at the CCNPP ISFSI.

The potential environmental impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel in

NRC-approved storage systems have been documented in previous assessments. On

July 18, 1990, the NRC amended 10 CFR part 72 to provide for the storage of spent fuel

under a general license in cask designs approved by the NRC. The EA for the 1990 final

rule analyzed the potential environmental impacts of using NRC-approved storage

casks. The EA for the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, CoC No. 1032,

Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1,, published in 2015, tiers off of the EA issued for the

July 18, 1990, final rule. Tiering off earlier EAs is a standard process encouraged by

the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) that

entails the use of impact analyses of previous EAs to bound the impacts of a proposed

action where appropriate. The Holtec HI -STORM FW MPC Storage System is designed

5 to mitigate the effects of design basis accidents that could occur during storage.

Considering the specific design requirements for the accident conditions, the design of

the cask would prevent loss of containment, shielding, and criticality control. If there is

no loss of containment, shielding, or criticality control, the environmental impacts would

not be significant.

The exemptions requested by Constellation at the CCNPP site as they relate to

CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, for the HI -STORM FW MPC Storage

System are limited to the use of the CBS variant basket design only for the already

loaded nine canisters and near-term planned loading of six canisters utilizing the CBS

variant basket design. The staff has determined that this change in the basket will not

result in either radiological or non-radiological environmental impacts that significantly

differ from the environmental impacts evaluated in the EA supporting the issuance of

CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1. If the exemption is granted, there will

be no significant change in the types or amounts of any effluents released, no significant

increase in individual or cumulative public or occupational radiation exposure, and no

significant increase in the potential for or consequences from radiological accidents.

Accordingly, the Commission concludes that there would be no significant environmental

impacts associated with the proposed action.

Alternative to the Proposed Action

The staff considered the no-action alternative. The no -action alternative (denial of

the exemption request) would require Constellation to unload spent fuel from the MPC-

37-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System to bring it in compliance with the

CoC terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 1,

Revision No. 1. Unloading the cask would subject station personnel to additional

radiation exposure, generate additional contaminated waste, increase the risk of a

6 possible fuel handling accident, and increase the risk of a possible heavy load handling

accident. Furthermore, the removed spent fuel would need to be placed in the spent fuel

pool, where it would remain until approved storage casks can be fabricated and

delivered to site for loading. Delay in the loading of this spent fuel into other casks, as

well as not allowing the planned future loading campaign, could affect Constellations

ability to effectively manage the spent fuel pool capacity, reactor fuel offloading, and

refueling. It could also pose challenges to spent fuel heat removal and impact the

availability of the specialized workforce and equipment needed to support competing fuel

loading and operational activities at CCNPP and other Constellation sites. The NRC has

determined that the no-action alternative would result in undue potential human health

and safety impacts that could be avoided by proceeding with the proposed exemption,

especially given that the staff has concluded in NRCs Safety Determination

Memorandum, issued with respect to the enforcement action against Holtec regarding

these violations, that fuel can be stored safety in the MPC CBS canisters.

Agencies Consulted

The NRC provided the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) a

copy of this draft EA for review by an email dated April 29, 2024. On May 9, 2024,

MDNR provided its concurrence by email.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

The environmental impacts of the proposed action have been reviewed in

accordance with the requirements in 10 CFR part 51, which implement NEPA. Based

upon the foregoing EA, the NRC finds that the proposed action of granting the

exemption from the regulations in 10 CFR 72.212(a)(2), 72.212(b)(3), 72.212(b)(5)(i),

72.212(b)(11) and 72.214, which require the licensee to comply with the terms,

conditions, and specifications of the CoC, in this case limited to past and specific future

7 loadings of baskets with the CBS variant design, would not significantly impact the

quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a FONSI is

appropriate, and an environmental impact statement is not warranted.

IV. Availability of Documents

The documents identified in the following table are available to interested

persons through ADAMS, as indicated.

Document Description ADAMS Accession No. or Federal Register notice Constellations request for exemption, dated ML24082A008 March 22, 2024.

Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment 1, ML15152A358 (Package)

Revision 1, dated May 29, 2015.

Holtec International, Inc. - Notice of Violation; The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspection ML24016A190 Report No. 07201014/2022-201, EA-23- 044, dated January 30, 2024.

10 CFR part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel storage in NRC-approved casks, dated 55 FR 29181 July 18, 1990.

EA for part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel ML051230231 storage in NRC-approved casks, March 8, 1989.

Final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec HI-STORM FW System CoC No. 80 FR 14291 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision No. 1, dated March 19, 2015.

Safety Determination of a Potential Structural Failure of the Fuel Basket During Accident Conditions for the HI-STORM 100 and HI-STORM ML24018A085 Flood/Wind Dry Cask Storage Systems, dated January 31, 2024.

NRC email to MDNR regarding the review of EA/FONSI for CCNPP Exemption, dated ML24131A121 April 29, 2024.

8 MDNRs email response regarding EA/FONSI for ML24131A120 CCNPP Exemption, dated May 9, 2024.

Dated: May 14, 2024.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Bernard H. White, Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch,

Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

9