[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 16, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2251-2254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-1089]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-27]


Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact of 
License Amendment for BWX Technologies, Inc., and Notice of Opportunity 
To Request a Hearing

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Amendment of BWX Technologies, Inc., Materials License SNM-42 
to authorize the installation and use of the Metal Dissolution 
Facility.

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    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering the amendment 
of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-42 to authorize the 
installation and use of the Metal Dissolution Facility at the BWX 
Technologies, Inc., facility located in Lynchburg, VA, and has prepared 
an Environmental Assessment in support of this action.

Environmental Assessment

1.0  Introduction

1.1  Background
    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has received a 
license request, dated August 7, 2001, and a revision to that submittal 
dated December 18, 2001. The request is to amend SNM-42 to authorize 
the installation and use of the Metal Dissolution Facility (MDF) for 
the dissolution of high enriched uranium (HEU) metal to support BWXT's 
downblending operations. The purpose of this document is to assess the

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environmental consequences of the proposed license amendment.
    The BWXT facility in Lynchburg, VA, is authorized under SNM-42 to 
possess nuclear materials for the fabrication and assembly of nuclear 
fuel components. The facility supports the U.S. naval reactor program, 
fabricates research and university reactor components, and manufactures 
compact reactor fuel elements. The facility also performs recovery of 
scrap uranium. Research and development activities related to the 
fabrication of nuclear fuel components are also conducted.
1.2  Review Scope
    This environmental assessment (EA) serves to present information 
and analysis for determining whether to issue a Finding of No 
Significant Impact (FONSI) or to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS). Should the NRC issue a FONSI, no EIS would be prepared 
and the license amendment would be granted.
1.3  Proposed Action
    The proposed action is to amend NRC Materials License SNM-42 to 
authorize the installation and use of the MDF for the dissolution of 
HEU metal to support BWXT's downblending operations. The MDF will be 
used to receive, store, dissolve HEU metal ranging from 20 to 97 
percent uranium-235 (U-235). The MDF will support other processing 
areas and will be located within the Bay 15A Material Access Area 
(MAA). The building is already in place, so there will be no new 
construction on the BWXT site. The building is approximately 37 feet 
long, 20 feet wide, and 18 feet high.
    The purpose of the MDF is to produce a homogeneous uranyl nitrate 
solution with a uranium concentration of approximately 400 grams/liter 
(g/l). The first step in the MDF is the weighing out of an appropriate 
amount of HEU in a charging basket in a ventilated glove box. The 
charging basket is then transferred via a lift to a dissolver digester. 
Measured quantities of nitric acid and deionized water are added in the 
dissolver to dissolve the HEU. The resulting mixture is then heated to 
approximately 180 degrees Fahrenheit and circulated until a homogeneous 
uranyl nitrate solution is made. This homogeneous uranyl nitrate 
solution is then pumped through filters into a process monitoring 
column where the solution is circulated, weighed, and sampled for U-235 
concentration. The solution is then transferred via a manually 
activated pump to one of five storage columns where it is retained 
until required for blending with depleted or low enriched uranium.
1.4  Purpose and Need for Proposed Action
    The proposed action would allow the licensee to install and operate 
the MDF. The operation of the MDF is needed to downblend HEU in support 
of HEU disposition for the Department of Energy. The MDF is expected to 
operate for many years.
1.5  Alternatives
    The alternatives available to the NRC are:
    1. Approve the license amendment request as submitted;
    2. Approve the license amendment with restrictions; or
    3. Deny the amendment request.

2.0  Affected Environment

    The affected environment for Alternatives 1 and 2 is the BWXT site. 
A full description of the site and its characteristics is given in the 
1995 Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Renewal of the NRC license 
for BWXT. The BWXT facility is located on a 525 acre (2 km\2\) site in 
the northeastern corner of Campbell County, approximately 5 miles (8 
km) east of Lynchburg, Virginia. This site is located in a generally 
rural area, consisting primarily of rolling hills with gentle slopes, 
farm land, and woodlands.

3.0  Effluent Releases and Monitoring

    A full description of the effluent monitoring program at the site 
is provided in the 1995 Environmental Assessment for the Renewal of the 
NRC license for BWXT. Monitoring programs at the BWXT facility comprise 
effluent monitoring of air and water and environmental monitoring of 
various media (air, soil, vegetation, and groundwater). This program 
provides a basis for evaluation of public health and safety impacts, 
for establishing compliance with environmental regulations, and for 
development of mitigation measures if necessary. The monitoring program 
is not expected to change as a result of the proposed action. The NRC 
has reviewed the location of the environmental monitoring program 
sampling points, the frequency of sample collection, and the trends of 
the sampling program results in conjunction with the environmental 
pathway and exposure analysis and concluded that the monitoring program 
provides adequate protection of public health and safety.
    Gaseous, liquid, and solid wastes are produced at the BWXT site. 
These wastes are categorized as low-level radioactive, nonradioactive, 
hazardous, or mixed wastes. A description of each of these waste 
categories, control strategies, and an estimate of release quantities 
is provided in the 1995 Environmental Assessment for the Renewal of the 
NRC license for BWXT.
    The amendment request is expected to have no impact on the liquid 
and solid wastes released from the site. Routine liquid radiological 
and chemical releases from the MDF are not planned.
    A new exhaust scrubber will be used to maintain airborne releases 
from the MDF within NRC limits. The dissolvers will be vented to a 
scrubber that will provide removal of uranium and NOX from 
the exhaust gases using a two-stage oxidation/absorption system. Local 
warning indicators and controls will be provided in the U-Metal 
Dissolution area for monitoring and control of the scrubber operation. 
BWXT has conservatively estimated that the offsite exposure from 
operation of the new exhaust scrubber will be less than 0.005 millirem 
per year. The NRC staff has reviewed the exposure estimate and has 
determined that it is acceptable.

4.0  Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action and Alternatives

4.1  Occupational and Public Health
    Use of the MDF will not include any change in the type or form of 
special nuclear material (SNM) or any new or different operations from 
those currently authorized under BWXT's license. However, the amounts 
of HEU metal that will be processed will be higher but within BWXT's 
license limits. A new exhaust scrubber will be used to maintain 
airborne releases within NRC limits. The impacts of normal operation of 
the site were evaluated in 1995 Environmental Assessment (EA) for the 
Renewal of the NRC license for BWXT. The total effective dose 
equivalent (TEDE) for members of the public from the normal operations 
at the BWXT site was calculated to be 0.024 mrem per year. BWXT has 
conservatively estimated that the offsite exposure from operation of 
the new exhaust scrubber will be less than 0.005 millirem per year. The 
increase in offsite exposure due to operation of the MDF is considered 
insignificant because the new predicted TEDE (0.029 mrem/yr) remains 
well below the 10 CFR 20 limit of 100 mrem for a member of the public.
    Three employees will be working in the MDF. BWXT has conservatively 
estimated that the three employees will increase the sites cumulative 
exposure by about 6.0 person-rem based on the

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highest individual exposure in 2000 of 2.0 person-rem. Comparing this 
to the sites 2000 cumulative exposure of 204.9 person-rem, results in 
an insignificant increase of only 2.9 percent.
4.2  Water Resources and Biota
    No liquid process effluents will be released by operation of the 
facility and there will be no withdrawals from waterways to operate 
this process. Thus there will be no impacts to water resources 
(including groundwater) or biota from the operation of the MDF, under 
normal conditions.
4.3  Geology and Seismology
    The operation of the MDF will have no impact on geology or 
seismology. The process will be performed in an existing facility on 
the site, therefore there will be no new construction as part of this 
amendment application. For example, no deep well injection of 
wastewater would occur that could modify seismic activity or alter 
geology.
4.4  Soils
    Soils will not be impacted as a result of the operation of the MDF. 
There will be no physical disturbance of soils, and there will not be 
any releases of process materials to soils as a result of normal 
operations.
4.5  Air Quality
    The NRC staff has determined that the proposed amendment will have 
minimal impact on air quality. As discussed above, a scrubber system 
will be used to maintain radiological airborne releases within NRC 
limits. The scrubber system will also be permitted by the State of 
Virginia to control non-radiological releases.
4.6  Demography, Cultural and Historic Resources
    The NRC staff has determined that the proposed amendment will not 
impact demography, or cultural or historic resources. A full 
description of these parameters is given in the 1995 Environmental 
Assessment for Renewal.
4.7  Impacts Due to Accident Conditions
    In accordance with 10 CFR 70.61, BWXT is required to limit the risk 
of each credible high or intermediate consequence event through the 
application of engineered and/or administrative controls. Also nuclear 
criticality events must be limited through assurance that all processes 
are maintained at subcritical levels. The analyses for these events 
were provided by BWXT in the amendment request submittals dated August 
7, and December 18, 2001.
    The impacts due to accident conditions will be evaluated and 
discussed in the Safety Evaluation Report which will be prepared by the 
NRC in conjunction with this document. Therefore, impacts due to 
accident conditions were not evaluated in this document.
4.8  Alternatives
    The action that the NRC is considering is approval of an amendment 
request to Materials license SNM-42 issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70. 
The proposed action is to amend NRC Materials License SNM-42 to 
authorize the use of the MDF. The alternatives available to the NRC 
are:
    1. Approve the license amendment request as submitted;
    2. Approve the license amendment request with restrictions; or
    3. Deny the amendment request.
    Based on its review, the NRC staff has concluded that the 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action are 
insignificant. Thus, the staff considers that Alternative 1 is the 
appropriate alternative for selection.

5.0  Agencies and Persons Contacted

    The NRC contacted the Director of Radiological Health at the 
Virginia Department of Health (VDH) January 2, 2002 concerning this 
request. The Director reviewed the draft document and concluded that 
the Environmental Assessment does not contain any issues that may be 
objectionable to VDH.
    Because the proposed action is entirely within existing facilities, 
the NRC has concluded that there is no potential to affect endangered 
species or historic resources, and therefore consultation with the 
State Historic Preservation Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service was not necessary.

6.0  References

    U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), August 1995, 
``Environmental Assessment for Renewal of Special Nuclear Material 
License SNM-42.''
    BWX Technologies, August 7, 2001, Letter from Arne Olson to 
Director of Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards, 
Amendment of License SNM-42.

7.0  Conclusions

    Based on an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the 
amendment request, the NRC has determined that the proper action is to 
issue a FONSI in the Federal Register. The NRC staff considered the 
environmental consequences of amending NRC Materials License SNM-42 to 
authorize the operation of the MDF and have determined that the 
approval of the request will have no significant effect on public 
health and safety or the environment.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    The Commission has prepared the above Environmental Assessment 
related to the amendment of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-42. On 
the basis of the assessment, the Commission has concluded that 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action would not be 
significant and do not warrant the preparation of an Environmental 
Impact Statement. Accordingly, it has been determined that a Finding of 
No Significant Impact is appropriate.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's ``Rules of Practice,'' 
the Environmental Assessment and the documents related to this proposed 
action will be available electronically for public inspection from the 
Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system 
(ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).

Opportunity for a Hearing

    Based on the EA and accompanying safety evaluation, NRC is 
preparing to amend License SNM-42. The NRC hereby provides that this is 
a proceeding on an application for amendment of a license falling 
within the scope of Subpart L, ``Informal Hearing Procedures for 
Adjudication in Materials Licensing Proceedings,'' of NRC's rules and 
practice for domestic licensing proceedings in 10 CFR part 2. Pursuant 
to Section 2.1205(a), any person whose interest may be affected by this 
proceeding may file a request for a hearing in accordance with Section 
2.1205(d). A request for a hearing must be filed within thirty (30) 
days of the date of publication of this Federal Register notice.
    A request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene must be 
filed with the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission either:
    1. By delivery to the Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff of the 
Secretary at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 
20852-2738; or
    2. By mail or telegram addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Attention: 
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
    In addition to meeting other applicable requirements of 10 CFR part

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2 of the NRC's regulations, a request for a hearing filed by a person 
other than an applicant must describe in detail:
    1. The interest of the requester in the proceeding;
    2. How that interest may be affected by the results of the 
proceeding, including the reasons why the requestor should be permitted 
a hearing, with particular reference to the factors set out in Section 
2.1205(h).
    3. The requester's areas of concern about the licensing activity 
that is the subject matter of the proceeding; and
    4. The circumstances establishing that the request for a hearing is 
timely in accordance with Section 2.1205(d).
    In accordance with 10 CFR Section 2.1205(f), each request for a 
hearing must also be served, by delivering it personally or by mail to:
    1. The applicant, BWX Technologies, Inc., P.O. Box 785, Lynchburg, 
VA 24505-0785; and
    2. The NRC staff, by delivering to the Executive Director for 
Operations, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 
20852, or by mail, addressed to the Executive Director for Operations, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555.
    The NRC contact for this licensing action is Edwin Flack, who may 
be contacted at (301) 415-8115 or by e-mail at [email protected] for more 
information about the licensing action.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of January 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lidia Roche,
 Acting Chief, Fuel Cycle Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle 
Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-1089 Filed 1-15-02; 8:45 am]
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