10 CFR § 72.44 - License conditions.

§ 72.44 License conditions.

(a) Each license issued under this part shall include license conditions. The license conditions may be derived from the analyses and evaluations included in the Safety Analysis Report and amendments thereto submitted pursuant to § 72.24. License conditions pertain to design, construction and operation. The Commission may also include additional license conditions as it finds appropriate.

(b) Each license issued under this part shall be subject to the following conditions, even if they are not explicitly stated therein;

(1) Neither the license nor any right thereunder shall be transferred, assigned, or disposed of in any manner, either voluntarily or involuntarily, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control of the license to any person, unless the Commission shall, after securing full information, find that the transfer is in accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and give its consent in writing.

(2) The license shall be subject to revocation, suspension, modification, or amendment in accordance with the procedures provided by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and Commission regulations.

(3) Upon request of the Commission, the licensee shall, at any time before expiration of the license, submit written statements, signed under oath or affirmation if appropriate, to enable the Commission to determine whether or not the license should be modified, suspended, or revoked.

(4) The licensee shall have an NRC-approved program in effect that covers the training and certification of personnel that meets the requirements of subpart I before the licensee may receive spent fuel and/or reactor-related GTCC waste for storage at an ISFSI or the receipt of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or reactor-related GTCC waste for storage at an MRS.

(5) The license shall permit the operation of the equipment and controls that are important to safety of the ISFSI or the MRS only by personnel whom the licensee has certified as being adequately trained to perform such operations, or by uncertified personnel who are under the direct visual supervision of a certified individual.

(6)

(i) Each licensee shall notify the appropriate NRC Regional Administrator, in writing, immediately following the filing of a voluntary or involuntary petition for bankruptcy under any Chapter of Title II (Bankruptcy) of the United States Code by or against:

(A) The licensee;

(B) An entity (as that term is defined in 11 U.S.C. 101(14)) controlling the licensee or listing the license or licensee as property of the estate; or

(C) An affiliate (as that term is defined in 11 U.S.C. 101(2)) of the licensee.

(ii) This notification must indicate:

(A) The bankruptcy court in which the petition for bankruptcy was filed; and

(B) The date of the filing of the petition.

(c) Each license issued under this part must include technical specifications. Technical specifications must include requirements in the following categories:

(1) Functional and operating limits and monitoring instruments and limiting control settings.

(i) Functional and operating limits for an ISFSI or MRS are limits on fuel or waste handling and storage conditions that are found to be necessary to protect the integrity of the stored fuel or waste container, to protect employees against occupational exposures and to guard against the uncontrolled release of radioactive materials; and

(ii) Monitoring instruments and limiting control settings for an ISFSI or MRS are those related to fuel or waste handling and storage conditions having significant safety functions.

(2) Limiting conditions. Limiting conditions are the lowest functional capability or performance levels of equipment required for safe operation.

(3) Surveillance requirements. Surveillance requirements include:

(i) Inspection and monitoring of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, or reactor-related GTCC waste in storage;

(ii) Inspection, test and calibration activities to ensure that the necessary integrity of required systems and components is maintained;

(iii) Confirmation that operation of the ISFSI or MRS is within the required functional and operating limits; and

(iv) Confirmation that the limiting conditions required for safe storage are met.

(4) Design features. Design features include items that would have a significant effect on safety if altered or modified, such as materials of construction and geometric arrangements.

(5) Administrative controls. Administrative controls include the organization and management procedures, recordkeeping, review and audit, and reporting requirements necessary to assure that the operations involved in the storage of spent fuel and reactor-related GTCC waste in an ISFSI and the storage of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and reactor-related GTCC waste in an MRS are performed in a safe manner.

(d) Each license authorizing the receipt, handling, and storage of spent fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or reactor-related GTCC waste under this part must include technical specifications that, in addition to stating the limits on the release of radioactive materials for compliance with limits of part 20 of this chapter and the “as low as is reasonably achievable” objectives for effluents, require that:

(1) Operating procedures for control of effluents be established and followed, and equipment in the radioactive waste treatment systems be maintained and used, to meet the requirements of § 72.104;

(2) An environmental monitoring program be established to ensure compliance with the technical specifications for effluents; and

(3) An annual report be submitted to the Commission in accordance with § 72.4, specifying the quantity of each of the principal radionuclides released to the environment in liquid and in gaseous effluents during the previous 12 months of operation and such other information as may be required by the Commission to estimate maximum potential radiation dose commitment to the public resulting from effluent releases. On the basis of this report and any additional information that the Commission may obtain from the licensee or others, the Commission may from time to time require the licensee to take such action as the Commission deems appropriate. The report must be submitted within 60 days after the end of the 12-month monitoring period.

(e) The licensee shall make no change that would decrease the effectiveness of the physical security plan prepared pursuant to § 72.180 without the prior approval of the Commission. A licensee desiring to make such a change shall submit an application for an amendment to the license pursuant to § 72.56. A licensee may make changes to the physical security plan without prior Commission approval, provided that such changes do not decrease the effectiveness of the plan. The licensee shall furnish to the Commission a report containing a description of each change within two months after the change is made, and shall maintain records of changes to the plan made without prior Commission approval for a period of 3 years from the date of the change.

(f) A licensee shall follow and maintain in effect an emergency plan that is approved by the Commission. The licensee may make changes to the approved plan without Commission approval only if such changes do not decrease the effectiveness of the plan. Within six months after any change is made, the licensee shall submit, in accordance with § 72.4, a report containing a description of any changes made in the plan addressed to Director, Division of Fuel Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with a copy to the appropriate NRC Regional Office shown in appendix D to part 20 of this chapter. Proposed changes that decrease the effectiveness of the approved emergency plan must not be implemented unless the licensee has received prior approval of such changes from the Commission.

(g) A license issued to DOE under this part for an MRS authorized by section 142(b) of NWPA (101 Stat. 1330–232, 42 U.S.C. 10162(b)) must include the following conditions:

(1) Construction of the MRS may not begin until the Commission has authorized the construction of a repository under section 114(d) of NWPA (96 Stat. 2215, as amended by 101 Stat. 1330–230, 42 U.S.C. 10134 (d)) and part 60 or 63 of this chapter;

(2) Construction of the MRS or acceptance of spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or reactor-related GTCC waste at the MRS is prohibited during such time as the repository license is revoked by the Commission or construction of the repository ceases.

(3) The quantity of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste at the site of the MRS at any one time may not exceed 10,000 metric tons of heavy metal until a repository authorized under NWPA and part 60 or 63 of this chapter first accepts spent nuclear fuel or solidified high-level radioactive waste; and

(4) The quantity of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste at the site of the MRS at any one time may not exceed 15,000 metric tons of heavy metal.

(h) Each licensee shall protect Safeguards Information against unauthorized disclosure in accordance with the requirements of § 73.21 and the requirements of § 73.22 or § 73.23, as applicable.

[53 FR 31658, Aug. 19, 1988, as amended at 64 FR 33183, June 22, 1999; 66 FR 51840, Oct. 11, 2001; 66 FR 55815, Nov. 2, 2001; 67 FR 3586, Jan. 25, 2002; 68 FR 58819, Oct. 10, 2003; 73 FR 63573, Oct. 24, 2008; 75 FR 73945, Nov. 30, 2010; 79 FR 75741, Dec. 19, 2014; 84 FR 65646, Nov. 29, 2019]