[Federal Register: September 16, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 179)]
[Notices]
[Page 54779-54780]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16se05-164]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 040-07455]
Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Fining of
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Whittaker Corporation's
Facility in Greenville, PA
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marjorie McLaughlin, Decommissioning
Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale
Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone (610) 337-5240,
fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: mmm3@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license renewal and amendment to Whittaker Corporation
for Materials License No. SMA-1018. The proposed action would allow for
the continued decontamination and decommissioning of the Whittaker
waste storage facility in the Reynolds Industrial Park near Greenville,
Pennsylvania. The proposed action also includes NRC approval of site-
specific dose concentration guideline levels (DCGLs) for use in
developing the Decommissioning Plan for the site. NRC has prepared an
Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in accordance
with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has
concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is
appropriate.
II. EA Summary
The purpose of the action is to renew and amend the NRC license for
decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of the Whittaker waste
storage facility in Greenville, Pennsylvania. This action allows for
the continued characterization and other decommissioning activities at
this site, and approves site-specific DCGLs which will define the
cleanup criteria for radioactive contaminants. Whittaker Corporation
was authorized by NRC from December 15, 1969, to use radioactive
materials for minerals processing purposes at the site. Some of the raw
materials used in these processes contained licensable quantities of
natural thorium or uranium which were concentrated in the waste
byproduct. Processing operations utilizing licensable materials ceased
in 1975, and decommissioning activities began. A portion of the site
was released for unconditional use in 1985. Whittaker Corporation has
been maintaining control over the radioactive materials at the
remaining site, while developing a plan for remediation. On May 28,
2004, Whittaker Corporation requested renewal of NRC License No. SMA-
1018 to allow for the continued D&D of the site. On August 10, 2004,
Whittaker Corporation submitted a Dose Assessment of the site to
support the use of proposed DCGLs for site contaminants. The dose
assessment shows that the site will meet the dose-based License
Termination Rule criteria in 10 CFR 20 Subpart E if the contaminants
are remediated to the proposed DCGLs. The DCGLs will be incorporated
into the Decommissioning Plan being developed by Whittaker Corporation
to describe final site remediation activities. The Decommissioning Plan
will also be submitted for approval by the NRC, and will be noticed in
the Federal Register separately.
The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license
amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed the dose assessment and the
procedures and controls submitted by Whittaker Corporation. Based on
its review, the staff has determined that the affected environment
associated with D&D at the
[[Page 54780]]
Whittaker Corporation's facility will have no significant environmental
impact, and that a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the
license renewal and amendment to authorize continued D&D of the
Whittaker waste storage facility in Greenville, Pennsylvania. On the
basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that there are no significant
environmental impacts from the proposed action, and has determined not
to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action, including the application for the
license amendment and supporting documentation, are available
electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
From this site, you can access the
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which
provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS
accession numbers for the documents related to this Notice are: The
Environmental Assessment [ML052440421], Telephone Log Dated 2/17/05 Re.
Questions in Support of License Renewal [ML050490050], Deficiency
Response Letter [ML050680314], Revision I of Scientech Document No.
82A9534, ``Dose Assessment in Support of Establishing Derived
Concentration Guideline Levels for the Whittaker Decommissioning
Site'', dated August 10, 2004 [ML042310154]. Persons who do not have
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents
located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by
telephone at (800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to
pdr@nrc.gov.
Documents related to operations conducted under this license not
specifically referenced in this Notice may not be electronically
available and/or may not be publicly available. Persons who have an
interest in reviewing these documents should submit a request to the
NRC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Instructions for
submitting a FOIA request can be found on the NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia-privacy.html
.
Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 9th day of
September, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marie Miller,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety,
Region I.
[FR Doc. E5-5084 Filed 9-15-05; 8:45 am]
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