ML24109A167
| 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: |
| 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