Assessment Report - Docket 72-1024, U.S. Department of Energy, Dry Transfer System

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) the Dry Transfer System (DTS) Topical Safety Analysis Report (TSAR) on
September 30, 1996 (U.S. Department of Energy, 1996). The proposed DTS is intended to be used at multiple reactor sites and at several DOE nonreactor sites. In the management of spent nuclear fuel, there is a need to perform certain fuel transfer and packaging operations apart from the conventional pool. Facilities with weight or dimensional access limitations find the pool loading of large multi-element storage or transportation canisters not feasible. The DTS design was developed whereby a large canister can be loaded in a dry facility external to the reactor or fuel building through the repeated use of a small transfer cask carrying a small number of spent fuel assemblies. DOE is seeking NRC's evaluation of the DTS TSAR and the NRC issuance of a Safety Evaluation Report (SER) that can be used and referenced by an applicant seeking a site-specific license for the construction and operation of a DTS at a given site. However, because the TSAR has inherent limitations such as no site-specific parameters, limited to one B&W fuel assembly design, no damaged fuel handling capabilities, and limitations on the types of transfer casks and receiver casks that can be used, the NRC staff
decided there was not enough information provided to allow a user to implement the DTS without a significant supplemental application. Therefore, the staff decided to issue an Assessment Report (AR) instead of a SER.

This AR documents the NRC staff review of those generic design, testing, operations, and maintenance activities described in the TSAR for the proposed DTS. The NRC staff assessment is based on the DTS meeting the applicable requirements of 10 CFR Part 72 for spent fuel storage and handling and 10 CFR Part 20 for radiation protection.

The scope of the review is limited to the information provided in the TSAR, the DOE responses to the NRC request for additional information (Stewart, 1999 a,b,c), and the references cited. Because this TSAR is not site-specific, a complete review addressing all the requirements of 10 CFR Parts 20 and 72 is not possible. Additional information that must be included in the site-specific Safety Analysis Report (SAR) of the DTS is identified. The format of this AR has been arranged according to the Standard Review Plan for Spent Fuel Dry Storage Facilities, NUREG-1567 (Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1996). In addition, an appendix has been added to this AR documenting all the information that must be included in the site-specific SAR.