[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 196 (Tuesday, October 12, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60671-60672]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-22787]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-03258]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Brooke Army Medical 
Center, Sam Houston, TX

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel S. Browder, M.S., Health 
Physicist, Nuclear Materials Licensing Branch, Division of Nuclear 
Materials Safety, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region IV, 
Arlington Texas 76011. Telephone: (817) 276-6552; fax number: (817) 
860-8263; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 42-01368-01 issued to 
Department of the Army, Brooke Army Medical Center, to authorize 
release of its Building 2630, ``Department of Pathology and Laboratory 
Services,'' except for rooms 120 and 156, for unrestricted use. 
Building 2630 is located at 2473 Schofield Road, Fort Sam Houston, 
Texas, and is surrounded by veterinary facilities and recreational/
dinner amenities. The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
in support of this amendment in accordance with the requirements of 10 
CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of 
No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be 
issued following the publication of this Notice.

II. EA Summary

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to allow for the release 
of Building 2630, ``Department of Pathology and Laboratory Services,'' 
except for rooms 120 and 156, located on the Brooke Army Medical Center 
campus in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, for unrestricted use. Brooke Army 
Medical Center is authorized by the NRC in License Number 42-01368-01 
to use radioactive materials for medical research, diagnosis, therapy, 
in vitro studies, in addition to studies in laboratory animals. Brooke 
Army Medical Center obtained Building 2630 in 1968. The building 
originally housed the chemistry section of the Army Medical Lab. In 
1975, the Army Medical Lab was consolidated with the Department of 
Pathology to form the Department of Pathology and Area Laboratory 
Services. This consolidation also consisted of Army Medical Lab's NRC 
license being combined with Brooke Army Medical Center's NRC License. 
Currently, Building 2630 is partially occupied and controlled by the 
Veterinary Clinic staff. On February 10, 2004, Brooke Army Medical 
Center requested that NRC release the facility for unrestricted use, 
except for rooms 120 and 156. Brooke Army Medical Center has conducted 
surveys of the building and submitted the Final Status Survey Report to 
the NRC to demonstrate that the building meets the license termination 
criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted use. There is 
no radiological contamination above the U.S. Army criteria for release 
or distinguishable from background as reflected by the survey results. 
No radiological remediation activities are required to complete the 
proposed action.
    The staff has prepared an EA in support of the proposed license 
amendment to the NRC Byproduct Materials License No. 42-01368-01 issued 
to Department of the Army, Brooke Army Medical Center, to release 
Building 2630, except for rooms 120 and 156, for unrestricted use. The 
NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities under the Atomic Energy Act to 
make a decision on the proposed action for decommissioning which 
ensures residual radioactivity is reduced to a level that is protective 
of the pubic health and safety and the environment, and allows Brooke 
Army Medical Center to release Building 2630, except for rooms 120 and 
156, for unrestricted use.

[[Page 60672]]

The NRC staff has reviewed the information and final status surveys 
submitted by Brooke Army Medical Center. Based on its review, the staff 
determined there were no radiological or non-radiological remediation 
activities required to complete the proposed action. Additionally, 
there are no outdoor areas affected by the use of licensed materials. 
The staff has therefore concluded that the release of Brooke Army 
Medical Center's Building 2630, except for rooms 120 and 156, for 
unrestricted use is acceptable. The only alternative to the proposed 
action of releasing the facility for unrestricted use is no action. The 
no-action alternative is not acceptable because it is inconsistent with 
the NRC's Timeliness Rule (10 CFR 30.36), which requires licensees to 
decommission their facilities when licensed activities cease in any 
separate building or outdoor area, and subsequently request release of 
the respective building or outdoor area. Denial of the license 
amendment request would result in no change to current conditions at 
the facility.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The staff has prepared an EA in support of the proposed license 
amendment to release Building 2630, except for rooms 120 and 156 for 
unrestricted use. The staff has found that the environmental impacts 
from the proposed amendment are bounded by the impacts evaluated by 
NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in 
Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination 
of NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and 
ML042330385). The staff has also found that the non-radiological 
impacts are not significant. On the basis of the EA, NRC has concluded 
that there are no significant environmental impacts from the proposed 
amendment and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact 
statement.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at 
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you may access the NRC's Agencywide 
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and 
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for 
the documents related to this notice are: Licensee's Amendment Request 
(ML040570755), NRC's Request for Additional Information (ML040960238), 
Licensee's Response to Request (ML041600167), and Environmental 
Assessment (ML042670059). 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 e-mail to [email protected].
    These 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 Arlington, Texas this 4th day of October, 2004.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jack E. Whitten,
Chief, Nuclear Materials Licensing Branch, Division of Nuclear 
Materials Safety, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 04-22787 Filed 10-8-04; 9:45 am]
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