[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 190 (Friday, September 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 58576]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-25035]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No.: 040-02253]


Army Research Laboratory, Watertown Mall Area Site

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of removal of the Watertown Mall Area Site from the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Site Decommissioning Management Plan in 
Watertown, Massachusetts.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has removed the 
Watertown Mall Area site in Watertown, Massachusetts, from the NRC Site 
Decommissioning Management Plan (SDMP). In 1990, NRC developed the SDMP 
program for approximately 50 sites that warranted additional NRC 
oversight to ensure the timely and safe decommissioning of sites with 
residual radioactive material in excess of NRC's criteria for release 
for unrestricted use and license termination. One of these sites was 
the Watertown Arsenal/Mall area site. In 1997, the Army Research 
Laboratory (ARL) portion of the Watertown Arsenal Mall site was removed 
from the SDMP, having met the SDMP Action Plan criteria (as specified 
in 57 FR 13389) for release for unrestricted use. At the time the 
Watertown Arsenal was removed from the SDMP, radiological assessments 
had been completed for a majority of the Mall Area, which indicated 
that it could be released for unrestricted use. However, these 
assessments also indicated that there was the potential for residual 
radioactive material in excess of NRC SDMP criteria to be present in 
buried drain/sewer lines on the site that had not yet been evaluated. 
The Watertown Mall Area is currently authorized under the Source 
Material License SUB-238 as a storage-only license. In a letter dated 
July 10, 2000, ARL, the licensee, requested removal of the Mall Area 
from the SDMP and provided a dose assessment and demonstration that 
residual radioactive material in the buried drain/sewer lines satisfy 
NRC's and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's criteria for release for 
unrestricted use.
    This administrative action removes the Watertown Mall site from the 
SDMP. There is no licensing action before NRC at this time. The SUB-238 
license will not be terminated, as the ARL, the U.S. General Services 
Administration (GSA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (hereafter, 
the Corps) are evaluating whether to request an amendment to SUB-238 to 
add another SDMP site, the GSA property in Watertown, rather than 
terminating the license with the removal of the Watertown Mall. The GSA 
property is currently not licensed by NRC, but the radiological 
assessment and remediation of the GSA property is managed by the Corps 
under the Formerly Utilized Defense Sites program. The GSA property had 
been part of the Watertown Arsenal/Mall before 1968.

Background

    In 1967-1968, the eastern half of the Watertown Arsenal (referred 
to as the Watertown Mall area site), encompassing 24 hectares (59 
acres) and 21 buildings, including three buildings involved in licensed 
material use (Buildings 34, 41, and 421), was declared excess 
government property, transferred to the GSA, and subsequently sold to 
the Watertown Redevelopment Authority. The area where two of the 
buildings involved in licensed material use were located are now 
parking lots for retail stores. The concrete pads for two of the 
buildings were broken up and left in place during redevelopment of the 
Watertown Mall Area. The concrete pad for the third building is a 
foundation for tennis courts. In 1990, the Watertown Mall was added to 
the SDMP, because records available to the U.S. Army and NRC did not 
clearly demonstrate that necessary decontamination occurred before the 
property was released for unrestricted use. During the past 10 years, 
ARL and the Corps have performed historical record reviews, surveys, 
and radiological assessments to address the concerns regarding residual 
radioactive material at the site. NRC staff has completed its review of 
these records and assessments, and has determined that no additional 
remediation is required. Radiation levels above ground are consistent 
with levels of natural background radiation, and residual radioactive 
material levels in the soil are generally consistent with natural 
background levels. A few areas have been identified that contain 
residual radioactive material in excess of background levels, but most 
are less than the SDMP Action Plan criteria.
    One sewer line, an inactive line from the former Building 41, has 
residual fixed contamination in excess of the SDMP Action Plan 
criteria. The dose assessment developed by the ARL and validated by NRC 
indicated that potential radiological doses to the public would not be 
in excess of the NRC criteria for release for unrestricted use. Also, 
an evaluation of the historical records indicated that doses from the 
relatively small spots of contamination identified on the concrete pads 
from Buildings 34 and 421 that are below the parking lot and tennis 
courts, respectively, were well below the current NRC dose-based 
release criteria at 10 CFR part 20, Subpart E.
    Accordingly, the staff has concluded that the Watertown Mall Area 
site is acceptable for unrestricted use.
    The ARL July 10, 2000, request is available for review in the NRC's 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at: http//NRC.GOV/
ADAMS/INDEX/HTML (ARL Letter dated July 10, 2000, ML003733963). Persons 
wishing to review this document at the Region I Office should call Ms. 
Sheryl Villar at (610) 337-5239 several days in advance, to assure that 
the document will be readily available for review. For questions 
regarding this administrative action to remove the Watertown Mall Area 
site from the SDMP, please contact Marie Miller, Decommissioning and 
Laboratory Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, at 
(610) 337-5205.

    Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 21st day of 
September 2000.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Francis M. Costello,
Deputy Director, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety Region I.
[FR Doc. 00-25035 Filed 9-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P