[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 141 (Wednesday, July 23, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 39555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-19338]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-356]


University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (University of 
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Low Power Reactor Assembly); Order 
Terminating Facility Operating License No. R-117

    By application dated February 10, 1995, as supplemented on April 
24, 1995, and October 2, 1996, the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign (the licensee or University) requested from the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) authorization to 
decommission the Low Power Reactor Assembly (LOPRA or the reactor) 
located on the licensee's campus in Urbana, Illinois. The letter of 
February 10, 1995, also contained a request for terminating Facility 
Operating License No. R-117. A ``Notice of Proposed Issuance of Orders 
Authorizing Disposition of Component Parts and Terminating Facility 
License'' was published in the Federal Register on May 15, 1995 (60 FR 
25931). No requests for a hearing were received. By license amendment 
dated January 21, 1997 (Amendment No. 6), the Commission approved the 
licensee's decommissioning plan. By letter dated April 15, 1997, the 
licensee informed the NRC that the University had completed 
decommissioning of the LOPRA in accordance with Amendment No. 6.
    The LOPRA was located in the bulk shielding tank of the Advanced 
TRIGA Research Reactor (TRIGA) (Docket No. 50-151, License R-115), 
which is located in the University's Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. No 
licensed material remains under the LOPRA license. The LOPRA fuel and 
components (special nuclear and byproduct material) were transferred to 
the TRIGA license. Some components containing byproduct material were 
subsequently transferred to a University of Illinois byproduct 
materials license (License IL-01271-01) issued by the State of Illinois 
to allow the components to be stored at a facility away from the 
Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. The transferred components and fuel will be 
maintained by the University with the capability to be assembled in the 
bulk shielding tank into a subcritical assembly that would be used 
under the existing authority of the TRIGA license.
    By separate action, the NRC has granted, in accordance with 10 CFR 
50.12, a specific exemption to the part of the requirements in 10 CFR 
50.82(b)(6)(ii) that requires as a condition of license termination a 
terminal radiation survey and associated documentation to demonstrate 
that the facility and site are suitable for release. Because the TRIGA 
will continue to operate, the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, the TRIGA, 
and the bulk shielding tank that was the site of the LOPRA are not 
being released for unrestricted use by this Order and will continue to 
be subject to the terms of Operating License No. R-115 for the TRIGA 
Research Reactor. Because the licensee wants to maintain the capability 
to construct and use a subcritical assembly made of components and fuel 
from the decommissioned LOPRA under the authority of the TRIGA license, 
no reactor components are being released for unrestricted use by this 
action. For these reasons, there is no facility or site to release as 
part of this license termination.
    Accordingly, the Commission has found that the decommissioning has 
been performed in accordance with the decommissioning plan approved by 
Amendment No. 6 to Facility Operating License No. R-117, dated January 
21, 1997. Satisfactory disposition has been made of the component parts 
and fuel in accordance with the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR 
Chapter I, and in a manner not inimical to the common defense and 
security, or to the health and safety of the public. Therefore, on the 
basis of the application filed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, and pursuant to Sections 104 and 161 b and i of the Atomic 
Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and in accordance with 10 CFR 
50.82(b)(6), Facility Operating License No. R-117 is terminated as of 
the date of this Order. In accordance with 10 CFR Part 51, the 
Commission has determined that the issuance of this termination Order 
will have no significant environmental impact. The Environmental 
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact was published in the 
Federal Register on July 16, 1997 (62 FR 38129).
    For further details with respect to this action, see (1) The 
application for termination of Facility Operating License No. R-117, 
dated February 10, 1995, as supplemented; (2) the Commission's safety 
evaluation related to the termination of the license; (3) the 
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; (4) the 
Commission's exemption to part of the requirements of 10 CFR 
50.82(b)(6); and (5) the ``Notice of Proposed Issuance of Orders 
Authorizing Disposition of Component Parts and Terminating Facility 
License,'' published in the Federal Register on May 15, 1995 (60 FR 
25931). Each of these items is available for public inspection at the 
Commission's Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20037.
    Copies of items 2, 3, 4, and 5 may be obtained upon receipt of a 
request addressed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Director, Division of Reactor 
Program Management.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 16th day of July 1997.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Seymour H. Weiss,
Acting Deputy Director, Division of Reactor Program Management, Office 
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 97-19338 Filed 7-22-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P