[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 144 (Wednesday, July 28, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45089-45091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17142]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-157]


Notice of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant 
Impact for License Amendment for University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 
TX

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact 
for license amendment.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Don Stout, Fuel Cycle Facilities 
Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Mail Stop T8-A33, Washington DC 20555-0001. Telephone: (301) 415-5269; 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the 
issuance of an amendment to NRC Materials License SNM-180 (SNM-180), to 
allow the University of Texas at Austin (UT), to receive, possess and 
store 3.88 kilograms of special nuclear material (SNM) that is 
currently stored at Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York. The NRC 
has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action 
in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based upon the 
EA, the NRC has determined that a Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) is appropriate.

II. Environmental Assessment

Background

    The Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory (NETL) at the 
University of Texas (UT) uses special nuclear material to supplement 
training and instruction programs in the field of nuclear engineering. 
UT's license SNM-180, currently authorizes them to possess 470 grams of 
uranium-235 (U-235). Under SNM-180, UT is also authorized to possess 
128 grams of plutonium contained in sealed plutonium-beryllium neutron 
sources. Independent of license SNM-180, UT has a research reactor, 
which operates under NRC Reactor License R-129 and a charged particle 
accelerator which operates under a Certificate of Registration from the 
Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Radiation Control (License TDH 
L00485).
    The NRC staff has received an amendment request (Ref. 1), dated May 
3, 2004, to allow receipt, possession, and storage of 3.88 kilograms of 
SNM. The purpose of this document is to assess the environmental 
consequences of the proposed amendment.

Review Scope

    The purpose of this EA is to assess the environmental impacts of an 
amendment request that would allow UT to receive, possess and store an 
additional 3.88 kilograms of SNM under their existing Part 70 license. 
The scope of this EA is limited to the receipt, possession and storage 
of SNM at UT. The transportation of the SNM to UT is not part of this 
EA and is being handled separately by the U.S. Department of Energy or 
an approved alternate. This EA does not approve or deny the amendment 
request. A separate Safety Evaluation Report (SER) will be issued at a 
later date in support of approval or denial of the amendment request. 
The SER will document the safety review in the areas of radiation 
protection, nuclear criticality safety, material control and 
accountability, and security.
    The existing conditions and operations for UT were evaluated by NRC 
in March 1998, during renewal of the UT license (Ref. 2). At that time, 
the licensee was granted a categorical exclusion under 10 CFR 
51.22(c)(14)(v) because their license authorized the use

[[Page 45090]]

of radioactive materials for research and development and for 
educational purposes. This amendment requests receipt, possession, and 
storage of SNM. The use of this SNM for research and development is 
still being developed and is not part of this EA. This assessment will 
determine whether to issue or prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS). Should the NRC issue a FONSI, no EIS will be prepared.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to grant an amendment to SNM-180 to receive, 
possess and store SNM in accordance with 10 CFR Part 70 and 10 CFR Part 
20. There are no effluent releases associated with the SNM in this 
amendment request. The SNM is encased in aluminum. Initially, the 
material will be stored in U.S. Department of Transportation approved 
6M shipping containers in a secure location at UT. After completion of 
storage racks, the SNM will be moved to another area within the same 
secure location. The licensee has committed to maintaining doses as low 
as reasonably achievable (ALARA) and is required to review radiation 
dose data at least annually and report the findings of the assessment 
to the Radiation Safety Committee or the Reactor Committee.

Purpose and Need for Proposed Action

    UT currently possesses and uses 470 grams of U-235 for sub-critical 
research and development experiments at the NETL. UT is requesting 
permission to receive, possess, and store additional SNM that will be 
used in future research and development sub-critical experiments. 
Future research and development utilizing this SNM will require another 
license amendment. Allowing UT to possess and store this material will 
assist Manhattan College by removing the SNM from their site and permit 
them to complete decommissioning. UT will benefit from the receipt of 
this material by providing them with additional SNM to conduct future 
research and development for educational purposes.

Alternatives

    The alternatives available to the NRC are:
    1. Approve the amendment request as submitted; or
    2. No action (i.e., deny the amendment request).

Affected Environment and Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action

    The affected environment for Alternative 1 is the UT site. A full 
description of the UT site and its characteristics was given in the 
license application related to the March 1998 renewal of the UT license 
(Ref. 2). The NETL of the UT at Austin is located at the J.J. Pickle 
Research Campus. The proposed action will not result in the release of 
any chemical or radiological constituents to the environment because 
the SNM is a sealed source (metallic SNM encased in aluminum). 
Similarly, because the SNM is a sealed source and will remain in a 
secure location at UT, the proposed action will not cause any adverse 
impacts to local land use, biotic resources, or cultural resources.

Environmental Impacts of No Action Alternative

    As an alternative to granting the proposed license amendment, the 
staff considered denying the amendment (the no action alternative). 
Under the no action alternative, Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY 
would be the affected environment. The 3.88 kilograms of SNM would 
continue to be stored at a site that no longer has an active nuclear 
engineering program. While continued storage of the material at 
Manhattan College would not have any immediate environmental 
significance, the facility cannot complete decommissioning until the 
SNM has been removed. The no action alternative would not have any 
environmental impacts associated with the UT affected environment.

Conclusion

    Based on its review, the NRC staff has concluded that the 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action and no action 
alternative are insignificant. The preferred action would be to 
relocate this unused material to a facility that could utilize it. 
Thus, the staff considers that Alternative 1 is the appropriate 
alternative for selection.

Agencies and Persons Contacted

    On July 9, 2004, the NRC staff provided the Texas Department of 
Health (TDH), Bureau of Radiation Control (TDH) a copy of the EA. In an 
e-mail dated July 13, 2004, TDH indicated that they did not have any 
comments regarding the EA.
    The NRC staff has determined that consultation under Section 7 of 
the Endangered Species Act is not required because the proposed action 
will occur entirely within the existing facility and will not affect 
listed species or critical habitat.
    The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action is not a type 
of activity that has potential to cause effect on historic properties 
because it will occur entirely within the existing facility. Therefore, 
consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 
Act is not required.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    Pursuant to 10 CFR Part 51, the NRC staff has considered the 
environmental consequences of amending SNM-180 to allow UT to receive, 
possess and store 3.88 kilograms of SNM. On the basis of this 
assessment, the Commission has concluded that the environmental impacts 
associated with the proposed action would not be significant and the 
Commission is making a FONSI. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not 
to prepare an EIS for the proposed action.

IV. Further Information

    A copy of this document will be available electronically for public 
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly 
Available Records (PARS) component of the NRC's document system. From 
this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and 
Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's 
public documents. However, the documents related to this proposed 
licensing action will not be available electronically for public 
inspection in the NRC Public Document Room or from the PARS component 
of ADAMS due to the sensitive nature of the information regarding SNM 
specifics and detailed storage locations. The documents related to this 
notice are:
    1. University of Texas--Austin, Letter dated May 3, 2004. to U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Amendment Request for Special Nuclear 
Material License at The University of Texas at Austin.'' Accession 
Number ML041320555 (not publicly available).
    2. The NRC, March 4, 1998, ``Safety Evaluation Report: Renewal 
Application Dated October 24, 1997.''
    If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public 
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or 
by email to [email protected]. Documents may also be viewed electronically on 
the public computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), O 
1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 
20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, the 21st day of July 2004.


[[Page 45091]]


    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Gary S. Janosko,
Chief, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and 
Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 04-17142 Filed 7-27-04; 8:45 am]
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