ML23055A131

Federal Register Notice for HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility Record of Decision and Issuance of 10 CFR Part 72 Materials License SNM-2516

ML23055A131
Person / Time
Site:	HI-STORE
Issue date:	05/09/2023
From:	Shana Helton Division of Fuel Management
To:	Holtec
References
NRC-2018-0052
Download: ML23055A131 (8)

Text

[7590-01-P]

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 72-1051; NRC-2018-0052]

Holtec International

HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: License; issuance.

SUMMARY

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued Materia ls

License No. SNM-2516 to Holtec International (Holtec) to constr uct and operate the HI-

STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) as proposed in its license

application, as amended, and to receive, possess, store, and tr ansfer spent nuclear fuel

at the HI-STORE CISF in Lea County, New Mexico. Holtec will be required to operate

under the conditions listed in Materials License No. SNM-2516. The NRC staff has

published a record of decision (ROD) that supports the NRCs de cision to approve

Holtecs license application for the HI-STORE CIS Facility and to issue the license.

DATE: May 12, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0052 when contacting the NRC

about the availability of information regarding this document. You may access 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-2018-0052. Address questions about Docket IDs in

Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann; telephone: 301-415-0624; em ail:

Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the i ndividual listed in the

For Further Information Contact section of this document.

• NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System

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

Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.ht ml. 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. The ADAMS a ccession number

for each document referenced (if it is available in ADAMS) is p rovided the first time that it

is mentioned in this document. In addition, for the convenienc e of the reader, the

ADAMS accession numbers are provided in a table in the Availab ility of Documents

section of this document.

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

by appointment, at the NRCs PDR, Room P1 B35, One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. To make an appointm ent 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 throu gh Friday, except

Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jose Cuadrado, Office of Nuclear Material

Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Wash ington, DC 20555-

0001; telephone: 301-415-0606; email: Jose.Cuadrado-Caraballo @nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion

The NRC has issued a license to Holtec for its HI-STORE CISF in Lea County,

New Mexico (ADAMS Package Accession No. ML23075A179). Material s License No.

SNM-2516 authorizes Holtec to construct and operate its facilit y as proposed in its

license application, as amended, and to receive, possess, store, and transfer spent

2 nuclear fuel at the HI-STORE CISF. The license authorizes Holt ec to store up to 8,680

metric tons of uranium [9,568 short tons] of spent nuclear fuel for a license period of 40

years. Holtec will be required to operate under the conditions listed in Materials License

No. SNM-2516.

The NRC staffs ROD that supports the NRCs decision to approve Holtecs

license application for the HI-STORE CIS Facility and to issue Materials License No.

SNM-2516 is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML23061A129. The ROD

satisfies the regulatory requirement in section 51.102 paragrap h (a) of title 10 of the

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), which requires that a Commission decision on

any action for which a final environmental impact statement (EI S) has been prepared be

accompanied by or include a concise public ROD. As discussed i n the ROD, the final

EIS for Holtecs license application for a CISF for spent nucle ar fuel in Lea County, New

Mexico (ADAMS Accession No. ML22181B094), and Supplement 1 (ADA MS Accession

No. ML22299A238), the NRC staff considered a range of reasonabl e alternatives that

included the No-Action alternative, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act

of 1969, as amended; storage at a government-owned CISF; altern ative design and

storage technologies; and alternative locations. The final EIS documents the

environmental review, including the NRC staffs recommendation to issue an NRC

license to Holtec to construct and operate a CISF for spent nuc lear fuel at the proposed

location, subject to the determinations in the NRC staffs safe ty review of the application.

The final EIS conclusion is based on the NRC staffs independen t environmental review,

as well as (i) the license application, which includes the envi ronmental report and

supplemental documents and Holtecs responses to the NRC staff s requests for

additional information; (ii) consultation with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies and

3 input from other stakeholders, including members of the public; and (iii) the assessments

provided in the final EIS.

The NRC staff prepared a final safety evaluation report that d ocuments the staffs

safety and security review of the application (ADAMS Accession No. ML23075A183).

The staffs safety and security review found that the applicati on met applicable NRC

regulations in 10 CFR part 72, Licensing Requirements for the Independent Storage of

Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level Radioactive Waste, and Reactor-R elated Greater than

Class C Waste.

Documents related to the application carry Docket ID NRC-2018-0052 and NRC-

2018-0055. These documents for the Holtec license include the license a pplication, the

applicants safety analysis report, emergency plan, physical se curity plan, environmental

report, updates to these documents, and applicant supplements a nd responses to NRC

staff requests for additional information, and the NRC staffs final safety evaluation

report, final EIS, and ROD.

Holtecs request for a materials license was previously notice d in the Federal

Register on March 19, 2018 (83 FR 12034). A notice with an opportunity to request a

hearing and to petition for leave to intervene was published in the Federal Register on

July 16, 2018 (83 FR 32919). Six groups of petitioners filed p etitions to intervene. An

Atomic Safety and Licensing Board considered the petitions and its corresponding

contentions. The Board determined that none of the petitions m et the criteria for

admissibility and terminated the adjudicatory proceeding. Inte rvenors appealed the

decisions to the Commission, and the Commission, in several ord ers, affirmed all of the

Board decisions.

In issuing a materials license to Holtec for the HI-STORE CISF, the NRC has

determined based on its review of this application that there i s reasonable assurance

4 that: (i) the activities authorized by the license can be cond ucted without endangering

the health and safety of the public; and (ii) these activities will be conducted in

compliance with the applicable regulations of 10 CFR part 72. The NRC has further

determined that the issuance of the license will not be inimica l to the common defense

and security.

In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRCs Rules of Practic e, the details

with respect to this action, including the final safety evaluat ion report and accompanying

documentation and license, are available electronically in the ADAMS Public Documents

collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access

ADAMS, which provides text and image files of the NRC public do cuments.

II. Availability of Documents

The documents identified in the following table are available t o interested

persons through one or more of the following methods, as indica ted.

Document Description ADAMS Accession No.

1 Initial license application, dated March 30, 2017 ML17115A431 (package) 2 Applicant response to request for supplemental ML17310A218 information, dated October 6, 2017 (package) 3 Applicant response to request for supplemental ML17362A097 information, dated December 21, 2017 (package) 4 Applicant response to request for supplemental information, dated December 22, 2017 ML18011A158

5 License application, dated February 23, 2018 ML18058A617 (package) 6 Applicant response to first round request for ML18150A319 additional information, part 1, dated May 24, 2018 (package) 7 Applicant response to first round request for ML18213A206 additional information, part 1, dated July 27, 2018 (package)

Applicant supplemental response to first round ML21131A199 8 request for additional information, part 1, dated (package)

May 11, 2021 Applicant response to first round request for ML18345A153 9 additional information, part 2, dated (package)

November 30, 2018

5 Applicant response to first round request for ML19037A280 10 additional information, part 2, dated (package)

January 31, 2019 Applicant response to first round request for 11 additional information, part 3, dated ML19094A271 March 30, 2019 Applicant response to first round request for ML19106A183 12 additional information, part 3, dated (package)

March 30, 2019 Applicant safeguards information, supplemental 13 response to request for additional information, ML20065H155 dated March 2, 2020 Applicant response to first round request for ML19081A083 14 additional information, part 4, dated (package)

March 15, 2019 Applicant response to first round request for ML19248C140 15 additional information, part 4, July 19, 2019, (package) follow-up, dated August 26, 2019 Applicant response to December 26, 2019, ML20153A783 16 emergency response plan clarification request for (package) additional information, dated June 1, 2020 17 Applicant response to first round request for ML20153A777 additional information, part 5, dated June 1, 2020 (package)

Applicant response to first round request for ML20260H139 18 additional information, part 5, dated (package)

September 16, 2020 Applicant response to first round request for ML20283A789 19 additional information, part 6, dated (package)

October 9, 2020 Applicant response, supporting information, to first 20 round request for additional information, part 6, ML20290A465 dated October 9, 2020 Applicant response to first round request for ML20326A005 21 additional information, part 6, dated (package)

November 20, 2020 Applicant response to first round request for ML21004A241 22 additional information, part 6, dated (package)

January 4, 2021 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory 23 Program, Approved Jurisdictional Determination ML21155A229 Form (Interim), Navigable Waters Protection Rule, dated April 1, 2021 24 Applicant response to second round request for ML21224A105 additional information, part 1, dated June 30, 2021 (package)

Applicant response to second round request for ML21228A201 25 additional information, part 2, dated (package)

August 16, 2021

6 Applicant response to second round request for ML21243A525 26 additional information, part 2, dated (package)

August 31, 2021 Applicant supplemental response to second round ML21304A003 27 request for additional information, dated (package)

October 29, 2021 28 Applicant response to third round request for ML22108A114 additional information, dated April 15, 2022 (package) 29 Applicant response to third round request for ML22227A156 additional information, dated August 15, 2022 (package)

Applicant supplemental response to third round ML22331A002 30 request for additional information, dated (package)

November 23, 2022 Applicant supplemental response to third round ML22357A117 31 request for additional information, dated (package)

December 23, 2022 Applicant supplemental response to third round ML23020A128 32 request for additional information, dated (package)

January 20, 2023 NUREG-2237, Environmental Impact Statement for the Holtec Internationals License Application 33 for a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility for ML20069G420 Spent Nuclear Fuel and High Level Waste Draft Report for Comment, dated March 2020 34 Overview of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, dated March 2020 ML20073P254 Overview of the Draft Environmental Impact 35 Statement (Spanish language version), dated ML20120A522 April 2020 NUREG-2237 "Environmental Impact Statement for the Holtec International's License Application 36 for a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility for ML22181B094 Spent Nuclear Fuel in Lea County, New Mexico" Final Report, dated July 2022 NUREG-2237, Supplement 1, Environmental Impact Statement for Holtec Internationals 37 License Application for a Consolidated Interim ML22299A238 Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel in Lea County, New Mexico, dated October 2022 Final Safety Evaluation Report for the HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility 38 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation ML23075A183 Specific Materials License No. SNM-2516, dated May 2023 39 NRC Staffs Record of Decision, dated May 9, 2023 ML23061A129

7 40 Materials License for Holtec International, dated ML23075A179 May 9, 2023 (package)

Dated: May 9, 2023.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

/RA/

Shana R. Helton, Director, Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

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