[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 222 (Thursday, November 18, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 67613]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-25589]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-17845]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Ponce School of 
Medicine's Facility in Ponce, PR

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Orysia Masnyk Bailey, Materials 
Security & Industrial Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406, 
telephone (404) 562-4739, fax (404) 562-4955; or by e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to the Ponce School of Medicine for Materials License No. 52-
19547-01, to authorize release of its facility in Ponce, Puerto Rico 
for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
in support of this action 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 action is to authorize the release of the 
licensee's Ponce, Puerto Rico facility for unrestricted use. The Ponce 
School of Medicine was authorized by the NRC from October 15, 1981 to 
use radioactive materials for research and development purposes at the 
site. On February 4, 2003, the Ponce School of Medicine requested that 
the NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. The Ponce School of 
Medicine has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information 
to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination 
criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted release.
    The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license 
amendment. The facility was remediated and surveyed prior to the 
licensee requesting the license amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed 
the information and final status survey submitted by the Ponce School 
of Medicine. Based on its reviews, the staff has determined that there 
are no additional remediation activities necessary to complete the 
proposed action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of the 
residual radioactivity at the facility and concluded that since the 
residual radioactivity meets the requirements in subpart E of 10 CFR 
part 20, a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the 
license amendment to release the facility for unrestricted use. The NRC 
staff has evaluated the Ponce School of Medicine's request and the 
results of the survey and has concluded that the completed action 
complies with the criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. The staff 
has found that the environmental impacts from the action 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). On the basis of the EA, 
the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the action 
are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an 
environmental impact statement for the action.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for the 
license amendment and supporting documentation, are available 
electronically in the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management 
System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's documents. 
The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this Notice 
are: The Environmental Assessment (ML042720062), and Letter dated 
February 4, 2003 transmitting the Final Status Survey Report 
(ML030430358). On October 25, 2004, the NRC terminated public access to 
ADAMS and initiated an additional security review of publicly available 
documents to ensure that potentially sensitive information is removed 
from the ADAMS database accessible through the NRC's web site. 
Interested members of the public may obtain copies of the referenced 
documents for review and/or copying by contacting the Public Document 
Room pending resumption of public access to ADAMS. The NRC Public 
Documents Room is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, MD, and can 
be contacted at (800) 397-4209, (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail at 
[email protected].
    These documents may be viewed electronically at the NRC 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. The PDR is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.

    Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 10th day of 
November, 2004.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John D. Kinneman,
Chief, Materials Security & Industrial Branch, Division of Nuclear 
Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. 04-25589 Filed 11-17-04; 8:45 am]
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