[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 159 (Tuesday, August 18, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44293-44294]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22190]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION


Notice of License Termination of the Cintichem, Inc. New York 
Facility

    This notice is to inform the public that the U. S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) is terminating Special Nuclear Materials 
License SNM-639 issued to Cintichem, Inc. for its Tuxedo, New York 
facility. NRC staff has completed its review of the information 
submitted by Cintichem, Inc., to support the decommissioning of its 
Tuxedo, New York facility including: Cintichem's Final Radiological 
Surveys and Dose Assessments, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and 
Education's Confirmatory Survey for the facility, the results of NRC 
inspections, and radiological evaluations by the New York State 
Department of Environmental Conservation. Based on this review, NRC 
staff has concluded that decommissioning actions at the Cintichem 
facility are complete and Cintichem's Tuxedo, New York facility meets 
the unrestricted release criteria prescribed in Cintichem's radioactive 
materials license.
    Based on these conclusions, no further remediation or actions with 
respect to NRC regulated material is required. NRC does not plan to 
take any further actions regarding this site and will not require any 
additional decontamination in response to future NRC criteria or 
standards, unless additional contamination is found, indicating a 
significant threat to public health.

Background

    Cintichem used radioactive materials at its Tuxedo, New York 
facility from 1961 through 1990 in the production of radioisotopes and 
services for a variety of research, production, medical, and 
educational institutions and groups. Cintichem currently holds two 
licenses issued by the NRC, SNM-639 issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70 
for operations involving special nuclear material and R-81, which was 
issued by the NRC pursuant to 10 CFR Part 50 for the operation of a 5-
megawatt (thermal) test reactor. In addition to the licenses issued by 
the NRC, Cintichem held a byproduct materials license issued by the 
State of New York, an NRC Agreement State.
    Six principal buildings were located at the facility including a 
reactor building, a hot laboratory building, a maintenance/engineering 
building, an administration building, a heating plant and a low-level 
waste storage building. On February 9, 1990, Cintichem reported the 
identification of an unmonitored release of radioactively contaminated 
water from the reactor building to an on-site retention pond. It was 
determined that this release resulted from the failure of a concrete 
wall in a water-filled pool that was used for the temporary storage of 
radioactive materials. Cintichem voluntarily ceased operations on 
February 9, 1990. On February 12, 1990, Cintichem informed NRC that 
another concrete vessel on site also had apparently developed a leak. 
On February 13, 1990, NRC issued an order requiring that the Cintichem 
facility remain shutdown until existing leaks at the facility were 
identified and repaired. On May 31, 1990, Cintichem informed the NRC 
that it had decided to decommission the reactor and radiochemical 
processing facilities and was preparing a decommissioning plan.
    On April 17, 1991, NRC received a request from Cintichem to amend 
SNM-639 to decommission the facilities and areas associated with the 
activities authorized under this license. On May 22, 1991, NRC noticed 
in the Federal Register (56 FR 23601, May 22, 1991) that it was 
considering amending Cintichem's license and offered the public the 
opportunity to request a hearing pursuant to 10 CFR Part 2. NRC did not 
receive any requests for a hearing pursuant to the Federal Register 
notice.
    On January 16, 1992, NRC amended SNM-639 to authorize 
decommissioning and required Cintichem to develop residual soil 
contamination criteria for use as unrestricted release criteria for the 
facility. These criteria were submitted on October 22, 1992, and 
approved on August 26, 1993. On February 1, 1994, Cintichem requested 
approval of residual contamination criteria for five additional 
radionuclides that were not included in the original submittal. NRC 
approved the criteria for the five additional radionuclides on October 
17, 1994. Unrestricted release criteria for surfaces are described in 
NRC Regulatory Guide 1.86. These criteria were modified in October 1994 
to increase the limits for tritium (H-3) and iron-55 (Fe-55) in 
accordance with NRC guidance. Cintichem was also required to 
demonstrate that the dose to a critical member of the public from all 
residual radioactive material on site did not exceed a few millirem per 
year. In addition, the dose via the water pathway alone could not 
exceed 4 millirem per year in conformance with EPA's Clean Water Act 
requirements.
    Since deciding to permanently cease operations, Cintichem has been 
decommissioning its facility under its existing license and the 
approved decommissioning plan for the facility. As Cintichem completed 
decommissioning portions of the facility, Cintichem performed final 
radiological surveys to demonstrate that the facility met the criteria 
for unrestricted use. In order to ensure that remediated areas were not 
re-contaminated, Cintichem instituted controls to prevent 
recontamination of the surveyed areas. Due to the large geographical 
size of the site and the considerable number of radiation survey data 
points recorded, the Final Radiation Surveys were divided into five 
sequential phases. For each phase, Cintichem conducted radiation 
surveys using techniques recommended in NUREG/CR-5849 ``Manual for 
Conducting Radiological Surveys in Support of License Termination'' to 
show that unconditional release criteria were satisfied. The Final 
Radiation Survey data was reviewed by NRC, and the Oak Ridge Institute 
for Science and Education (ORISE). After all questions or comments were 
resolved, confirmatory surveys were conducted to verify Cintichem's 
Final Radiation Survey results. Results of Cintichem's surveys and the 
ORISE confirmatory surveys demonstrate that the facility meets the 
criteria for unrestricted use prescribed in the approved 
decommissioning plan for the site. On May 27, 1998, Cintichem affirmed 
that all radioactive material had been removed from site. This was 
confirmed by inspection of the site by NRC and the State of New York on 
June 15, 1998.
    NRC staff has concluded that decommissioning actions at the 
Cintichem facility are complete and Cintichem's Tuxedo, New York 
facility meets the unrestricted release criteria prescribed in 
Cintichem's radioactive materials license. NRC does not plan to take 
any further actions regarding this site and will not require any 
additional decontamination in response to future NRC criteria or 
standards, unless additional contamination is found, indicating a 
significant threat to public health.
    For further details with respect to this action, documents are 
available for inspection at NRC's Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20555-0001.


[[Page 44294]]


    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 11th day of August 1998.

    For the U.S. 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. 98-22190 Filed 8-17-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P