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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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NRC AMENDS REGULATIONS TO ADD NAC INTERNATIONAL MULTI-PURPOSE CANISTER DESIGN TO APPROVED LIST

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations to add the NAC Universal Storage System (NAC-UMS) cask system to the list of approved cask designs that utilities may use -- under a general license and without site-specific approval -- to store spent fuel safely at their nuclear power plants.

Any nuclear power reactor licensee may use an NRC-approved cask design to store spent fuel if they notify the NRC in advance, store the fuel under certain conditions, and meet requirements of the general license. These requirements 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 NAC-UMS cask system certificate contains conditions for use that are similar to other NRC-approved casks. However, the certificate for each cask design may differ from other NRC-approved casks in some specific areas, such as operating procedures, training and spent fuel specifications.

The NRC staff issued a Safety Evaluation Report which finds that use of the cask will provide adequate protection of public health and safety. Slight modifications to the rule were made based on seven comments received after publication of the staff's proposal to add the NAC-UMS cask system to the list of approved casks was published.

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

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