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NRC Adds Holtec HI-STORM 100 Fuel Storage Cask Design to Approved List

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations to add the Holtec HI-STORM 100 cask system to the list of approved designs that utilities may use -- under a general license and without site-specific approval -- to store spent fuel at their nuclear power plants.

Under the terms of an NRC general license, any nuclear power reactor licensee can use a pre-approved cask if the company notifies the NRC in advance, meets the conditions of the cask's NRC certificate of compliance, and complies with the NRC's regulations. These regulations include a requirement to ensure that the reactor site characteristics and potential site-boundary radiation doses are within the scope of the cask's safety analysis report and the reactor license.

The HI-STORM 100 certificate contains conditions for use that are similar to other NRC-approved casks. However, the certificate for each cask design may differ in some specifics, such as operating procedures, training exercises and spent fuel specifications.

The NRC staff issued a safety evaluation report that finds that, if the conditions specified in the certificate of compliance are met, adequate protection of public health and safety will be maintained. The staff's environmental assessment determined that use of the HI-STORM 100 cask design on reactor sites would have no significant incremental impacts on the environment.

The rule will become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, expected shortly.

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