[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 2, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61929-61931]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25084]


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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.

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Amendment of BWX Technologies, Inc., Materials License SNM-42 
To authorize elimination of LTC stack continuous monitoring.

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    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering the amendment 
of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-42 to authorize elimination of 
Lynchburg Technology Center (LTC) stack continuous monitoring and 
revise other air monitoring stack action levels at the BWX 
Technologies, Inc., facility located in Lynchburg, VA, and has prepared 
an Environmental Assessment in support of this action.

Environmental Assessment

    Docket: 70-27.
    Licensee: BWX Technologies (BWXT), Inc., Navy Nuclear Fuel 
Division, Lynchburg, Virginia.
    Subject: Environmental Assessment for license amendment request 
dated July 16, 2002.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has received a 
license request, dated July 16, 2002, to amend Special Nuclear Material 
License SNM-42 to eliminate the need for continuous air monitoring at 
the LTC on the BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) site in Lynchburg, 
Virginia. The purpose of this document is to assess the environmental 
consequences of the proposed license amendment.

[[Page 61930]]

    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. The LTC specifically conducts research and development 
activities related to the fabrication of nuclear fuel components.

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.
    This document serves to evaluate and document the impacts of the 
proposed action. Other activities on the site have previously been 
evaluated and documented in the 1991 Environmental Assessment (EA) for 
the renewal of the NRC license for BWXT. The 1991 document is 
referenced when no significant changes have occurred. Besides the 
proposed licensing action, operations will continue to remain limited 
to those authorized by the license.

1.3 Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to amend NRC Materials License SNM-42 to 
eliminate the need for continuous air monitoring at the LTC. The 
duration of the proposed activity is for as long as the facility holds 
a license with the NRC, or until BWXT requests and the NRC approves a 
license amendment.
    Activities, utilizing licensed material, are conducted at the LTC 
in support of operating divisions of Babcock and Wilcox and for other 
companies and government organizations. Some of these activities 
include: failure analysis, fatigue and fracture analysis, hot cell 
work, hot machine shop work, environmental chemistry analysis, and 
radiochemistry analysis. The hot cell is vented through the 50-meter 
stack, located on the roof of the facility. The hot cell facility 
consists of four independent beta-gamma type hot cells. Work in the hot 
cells consists of examinations to investigate extended burn-up 
commercial light water reactor fuel rods, examination of advanced 
spacer grid designs, failed in-core instrument detectors, and failed 
fuel rods. Because cutting and puncturing of irradiated fuel releases 
noble gases and other radioactive gases and particulates, the stack 
monitoring system for the hot cells needs to be capable of detecting 
noble gases and alpha and beta radiation. The hot cells are the only 
areas vented through the 50 meter stack which can release noble gases 
and other radioactive gases and particulates.
    The current license requires BWXT to continuously monitor the 50-
meter stack by a system capable of measuring alpha and beta 
particulates and noble gases. The licensee is proposing to perform 
continuous monitoring only when working with Post Accident Samples 
(PAS) or uncut or unpunctured irradiated fuel with significant volatile 
radioisotope inventories. During periods when this type of work is not 
being performed, and significant volatile radioisotope sources are 
absent, the licensee will monitor the stack daily for alpha and beta 
particulates. Daily monitoring of the LTC stack 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.
    This daily sampling of the 50-meter stack will be similar to the 
sampling protocol for other existing stacks at the site. The sampler 
will include a calibrated flow meter and a collection filter. The 
filter will be collected and analyzed on a daily basis for alpha and 
beta particulates.

1.4 Purpose and Need for Proposed Action

    BWXT indicates that maintaining the continuous alpha and beta 
particulate and noble gas monitoring is costly and not justified when 
work with PAS or unpunctured irradiated fuel is performed only 
sporadically. BWXT stated that the current inventory of irradiated fuel 
at the LTC has been cut and placed in storage and that limited future 
work with unpunctured irradiated fuel is anticipated.

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 
1991 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 (8km) 
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 1991 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.
    The proposed activity will change the sampling of the 50-meter 
stack, which exhausts effluents from the hot cells, from continuous to 
daily, except when work with PAS or uncut or unpunctured irradiated 
fuel is being performed. During those times, the licensee will monitor 
the stack continuously. The hot cells are provided with two stages of 
HEPA filtration, before the effluents are released through the stack.
    Continuous air samples are collected at the site boundaries by 
samplers which are nominally located at the four compass points. Other 
samples may be collected to ensure the plant operations are not 
adversely affecting the environment. The boundary air samples are 
compared to actions levels and if exceeded, appropriate investigative 
and corrective actions are taken.

4.0 Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action and Alternatives

4.1 Radiological Health Impacts

    Daily monitoring of the LTC stack 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. The impacts of normal operation of the site were evaluated in

[[Page 61931]]

the 1991 Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Renewal of the NRC 
license for BWXT, and accident scenarios were evaluated in the BWXT 
Emergency Plan. 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.
    Since the proposed amendment will not result in changes in the 
types or increases in the amounts of any effluents released, the dose 
to the worker and the public will remain the same if the amendment is 
approved.

4.2 Water Resources and Biota

    Monitoring the LTC air effluents daily, as opposed to continuously, 
will have no impact on water resources or biota. Effluent amounts will 
not be increased and there will be no change in the composition of 
material released.

4.3 Geology and Seismology

    Monitoring the LTC air effluents daily will have no impact on 
geology or seismology.

4.4 Soils

    Soils will not be impacted as a result of monitoring the LTC air 
effluents daily. There will be no new construction, no physical 
disturbance of soils, and there will not be any releases of process 
materials to soils as a result of this amendment application.

4.5 Air Quality

    The NRC staff has determined that the proposed amendment will have 
minimal impact on air quality. As discussed above, daily monitoring 
will be used to maintain radiological airborne releases within NRC 
limits.

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 1991 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 impacts due to the worst-case accident conditions were 
evaluated for the hot cells. The worst-case scenario is described in 
Chapter 5 of the BWXT Emergency Plan. The scenario involves the 
ignition of zircaloy grindings, resulting in a release of plutonium 
through the stack. This accident would result in a possible exposure to 
the public of less than one millionth of a maximum allowable lung 
burden for plutonium. Thus, off-site exposure due to the worst-case 
accident in the hot cells is negligible.

4.8 Cumulative Impacts

    The NRC has found no other activities in the areas that could 
result in cumulative impacts.

4.9 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 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) August, 2002 concerning this 
request. There were no comments, concerns or objections from the state.
    Because the proposed action is entirely within existing facilities, 
and does not involve new or increased effluents or accident scenarios, 
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 performed.

6.0 References

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), August 1991, 
``Environmental Assessment for Renewal of Special Nuclear Material 
License SNM-42.''
BWX Technologies, July 16, 2002, Letter from Carl Yates to Director 
of Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards, Amendment of 
License SNM-42.
BWX Technologies, November 28, 2001, ``Mt. Athos Site Emergency 
Plan'.

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 Special Nuclear Materials 
License SNM-42 to change the frequency of monitoring the stack from 
continuously to daily and have determined that the approval of the 
request will have no significant effect on public health and safety or 
the environment.

8.0 Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of this EA, the NRC has concluded that the 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action would not be 
significant and do not warrant the preparation of an Environmental 
Impact Statement. Accordingly, the NRC is making a Finding of No 
Significant Impact.
    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/reading-rm/adams.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).
    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 25th day of September, 2002.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Daniel M. Gillen,
Chief, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and 
Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-25084 Filed 10-1-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P