90 FR 46 pgs. 11756-11758 - Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2; Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
Type: NOTICEVolume: 90Number: 46Pages: 11756 - 11758
Pages: 11756, 11757, 11758Docket number: [Docket Nos. 72-1036, 50-220, and 50-410; CEQ ID EAXX-429-00-000-1740728217; NRC-2025-0037]
FR document: [FR Doc. 2025-03816 Filed 3-10-25; 8:45 am]
Agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket Nos. 72-1036, 50-220, and 50-410; CEQ ID EAXX-429-00-000-1740728217; NRC-2025-0037]
Constellation Energy Generation, LLC; Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, 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 Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station (NMP) to maintain nine loaded and to load six new 89 multi-purpose canisters (MPC) with continuous basket shims (CBS) in the HI-STORM Flood/Wind (FW) MPC Storage System at its NMP 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. 3, Revision No. 0 are not met.
DATES:
The EA and FONSI referenced in this document are available on March 11, 2025.
ADDRESSES:
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2025-0037 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-2025-0037. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Bridget Curran; telephone: 301-415-1003; email: Bridget.Curran@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 . For the convenience of the reader, instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided in the "Availability of Documents" section.
• 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:
John-Chau Nguyen, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555; telephone: 301-415-0262; email: John-Chau.Nguyen@nrc.gov .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
[top] The NRC is reviewing an exemption request from Constellation, dated January 30, 2025, as supplemented on February 6, 2025. Constellation is requesting an exemption, pursuant to §?72.7 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), in §§?72.212(a)(2), (b)(3), (b)(5)(i), (b)(11) and 72.214 that require Constellation to comply with the terms, conditions, and specifications of the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3,
II. Environmental Assessment
Background
NMP is located in in the town of Scriba, approximately five miles northeast of Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario. The 900-acre site is also occupied by the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant. NMP Unit 1 began operating in 1969 and Unit 2 began operating in 1988. Constellation has been storing spent fuel in an ISFSI at NMP under a general license as authorized by 10 CFR part 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. 3, Revision No. 0 for dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in a specific MPC ( i.e., MPC-89) at the NMP 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), (b)(3), (b)(5)(i), (b)(11), and 72.214 only as these requirements pertain to the use of the MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System for the nine already loaded systems and the near-term planned loading of six new canisters. The exemption would allow Constellation to maintain loaded and to load MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the NMP ISFSI, despite the MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System not being in compliance with the terms, conditions, and specifications in the CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0.
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 continuous basket shims (CBS) for the MPC-89, known as MPC-89-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.
Holtec subsequently submitted Amendment 7 to the HI-STORM FW CoC to address the issues; however, NMP was not able to take advantage of the final NRC approved methodology in Amendment 7 for performing the non-mechanistic tip-over analysis because NMP's site-specific parameters were not bounded by that analysis.
Prior to the issuance of the violations, Constellation had already loaded nine MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System, which are in storage on the NMP ISFSI pad. Additionally, Constellation plans to load six new MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System beginning in May 2025. This exemption considers the storage 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-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System to remain in storage at the NMP ISFSI. The applicant also requested the exemption in order to allow NMP to load six new MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System at the NMP ISFSI for the future loading campaign beginning in May 2025.
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 NMP 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. 3, Revision No. 0. The exemption would allow nine loaded MPC-89-CBS in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System to remain loaded at the NMP ISFSI. The exemption also would allow a near-term loading of six new MPC-89-CBS to be loaded in the HI-STORM FW MPC Storage System and maintained in storage at the NMP 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 (55 FR 29181), 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 100 Cask 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 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.
[top] The exemptions requested by Constellation at the NMP site as they relate to CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0, 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 environmental assessment supporting the issuance of CoC No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, Revision No. 0. 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
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-89-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. 3, Revision No. 0. Unloading the cask would subject station personnel to additional radiation exposure, generate additional contaminated waste, increase the risk of a 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 it could be loaded into an approved storage cask. Delay in the loading of this spent fuel into other casks could affect Constellation's ability to effectively manage the spent fuel pool capacity and reactor fuel offloading. Not allowing the planned future loading campaign could also affect Constellation's ability to manage 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 NMP 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 NRC's Safety Determination Memorandum, issued with respect to the enforcement action against Holtec regarding these violations, that fuel can be stored safely in the MPC-89-CBS canisters.
Agencies Consulted
The NRC provided the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) a copy of this draft EA for review by an email dated February 24, 2025. On February 28, 2025, NYSERDA 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 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 one or more of the following methods, as indicated.
| Document description | ADAMS Accession No. or Federal Register notice |
|---|---|
| Constellation's request for exemption, dated January 30, 2025 | ML25031A016. |
| Constellation's request for exemption, supplemented, dated February 6, 2025 | ML25042A159. |
| Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment 3, Revision 0, dated August 9, 2017 | ML17214A039 (Package). |
| Holtec International, Inc.-Notice of Violation; The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspection Report No. 07201014/2022-201, EA-23-044, dated January 30, 2024 | ML24016A190. |
| 10 CFR part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel storage in NRC-approved casks, published July 18, 1990 | 55 FR 29181. |
| EA for 10 CFR part 72 amendment to allow spent fuel storage in NRC-approved casks, dated March 8, 1989 | ML051230231. |
| Final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec HI-STORM Flood/Wind System; Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment No. 1, Revision 1, published March 19, 2015 | 80 FR 14291. |
| Final rule for List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: Holtec International HI-STORM Flood/Wind Multipurpose Canister Storage System, Certificate of Compliance No. 1032, Amendment No. 3, published June 28, 2017 | 82 FR 29225. |
| Safety Determination of a Potential Structural Failure of the Fuel Basket During Accident Conditions for the HI-STORM 100 and HI-STORM Flood/Wind Dry Cask Storage Systems, dated January 31, 2024 | ML24018A085. |
| NRC email to NYSERDA requesting review of EA/FONSI for NMP Exemption, dated February 24, 2025 | ML25059A175. |
| Email response from NYSERDA regarding EA/FONSI for NMP Exemption, dated February 28, 2025 | ML25059A179. |
Dated: March 5, 2025.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Thomas Boyce,
Acting Chief, Storage and Transportation Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2025-03816 Filed 3-10-25; 8:45 am]
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