[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26655-26656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12678]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Number 07003085; License Number SNM-2001]


Public Meeting To Discuss the Decommissioning of the Babcock and 
Wilcox Shallow Land Disposal Area in Parks Township, PA

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Public meeting.

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SUMMARY: This notice is to inform the public of a meeting to discuss 
the decommissioning of the Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) Shallow Land 
Disposal Area (SLDA) in Parks Township, PA. The meeting will be held on 
May 27, 1998, in the Leechburg High School Cafeteria on Siberian 
Avenue, in Leechburg, PA. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and will end 
at 9:30 p.m. The meeting will consist of a facilitated discussion, 
followed by an opportunity for comments by interested members of the 
public.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SLDA is located in Armstrong County, PA, 
approximately 23 miles east-northeast of Pittsburgh. The SLDA consists 
of ten waste disposal trenches comprising approximately 1.2 acres 
surrounded by a 40-acre fenced buffer area. The SLDA was formerly owned 
by Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) which also 
operated the nearby Apollo Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Facility. In the 
1960s and 1970s, the SLDA was used by NUMEC to dispose of radioactively 
contaminated (primarily uranium and thorium) and non-radioactive wastes 
in accordance with NRC regulations at 10 CFR 20.304. NRC rescinded 10 
CFR 20.304 in 1981. In 1967, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) 
purchased stock in NUMEC and then sold it to B&W in 1971.
    In September 1994, B&W submitted several remediation alternatives 
for the SLDA to NRC. B&W's preferred alternative was to stabilize the 
waste in place by covering the buried waste with a soil and synthetic 
cover and isolating

[[Page 26656]]

the waste from the groundwater with slurry walls, grout curtains and 
other engineered barriers. Based on B&W's proposed alternative for 
decommissioning the SLDA, NRC published a notice in the Federal 
Register announcing NRC's intent to develop an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the decommissioning of the site. NRC conducted an 
EIS scoping meeting in Leechburg, PA, on January 26, 1995, and released 
a scoping summary report on May 30, 1995. In August 1997, NRC completed 
development of a draft EIS (DEIS) and published a Notice of 
Availability in the Federal Register on September 4, 1997. NRC withdrew 
the DEIS on September 24, 1997, so that NRC staff could develop 
additional information regarding the alternatives presented in the 
DEIS.

CONDUCT OF MEETING: The meeting will be held on May 27, 1998, in the 
Leechburg High School Cafeteria on Siberian Avenue, in Leechburg, PA. 
The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will end at 9:30 p.m. The 
meeting will be facilitated by Mr. F. X. Cameron, NRC's Special Counsel 
for Public Liaison. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss, 
with representative stakeholders and the public, the status of the 
decommissioning of the SLDA. The meeting will involve representatives 
from the NRC, local government and citizen groups and the public. These 
representatives will participate in a facilitated discussion. In 
addition, the public will be afforded the opportunity to provide 
comments at specified points during the discussion.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dominick Orlando, Division of Waste 
Management, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop T-8F37, 
Washington, DC, telephone (301) 415-6749, e-mail [email protected]

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 5th day of May 1998.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John W.N. Hickey,
Chief, Low-Level Waste and Decommissioning Projects Branch, Division of 
Waste Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 98-12678 Filed 5-12-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P