[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 179 (Friday, September 16, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54779-54780]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-5084]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 040-07455]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Fining of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Whittaker Corporation's 
Facility in Greenville, PA

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marjorie McLaughlin, Decommissioning 
Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale 
Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone (610) 337-5240, 
fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the 
issuance of a license renewal and amendment to Whittaker Corporation 
for Materials License No. SMA-1018. The proposed action would allow for 
the continued decontamination and decommissioning of the Whittaker 
waste storage facility in the Reynolds Industrial Park near Greenville, 
Pennsylvania. The proposed action also includes NRC approval of site-
specific dose concentration guideline levels (DCGLs) for use in 
developing the Decommissioning Plan for the site. 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.

II. EA Summary

    The purpose of the action is to renew and amend the NRC license for 
decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of the Whittaker waste 
storage facility in Greenville, Pennsylvania. This action allows for 
the continued characterization and other decommissioning activities at 
this site, and approves site-specific DCGLs which will define the 
cleanup criteria for radioactive contaminants. Whittaker Corporation 
was authorized by NRC from December 15, 1969, to use radioactive 
materials for minerals processing purposes at the site. Some of the raw 
materials used in these processes contained licensable quantities of 
natural thorium or uranium which were concentrated in the waste 
byproduct. Processing operations utilizing licensable materials ceased 
in 1975, and decommissioning activities began. A portion of the site 
was released for unconditional use in 1985. Whittaker Corporation has 
been maintaining control over the radioactive materials at the 
remaining site, while developing a plan for remediation. On May 28, 
2004, Whittaker Corporation requested renewal of NRC License No. SMA-
1018 to allow for the continued D&D of the site. On August 10, 2004, 
Whittaker Corporation submitted a Dose Assessment of the site to 
support the use of proposed DCGLs for site contaminants. The dose 
assessment shows that the site will meet the dose-based License 
Termination Rule criteria in 10 CFR 20 Subpart E if the contaminants 
are remediated to the proposed DCGLs. The DCGLs will be incorporated 
into the Decommissioning Plan being developed by Whittaker Corporation 
to describe final site remediation activities. The Decommissioning Plan 
will also be submitted for approval by the NRC, and will be noticed in 
the Federal Register separately.
    The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license 
amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed the dose assessment and the 
procedures and controls submitted by Whittaker Corporation. Based on 
its review, the staff has determined that the affected environment 
associated with D&D at the

[[Page 54780]]

Whittaker Corporation's facility will have no significant environmental 
impact, and that 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 renewal and amendment to authorize continued D&D of the 
Whittaker waste storage facility in Greenville, Pennsylvania. On the 
basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that there are no significant 
environmental impacts from the proposed action, and has determined not 
to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for the 
license 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 can access the 
NRC's Agencywide Documents 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: The 
Environmental Assessment [ML052440421], Telephone Log Dated 2/17/05 Re. 
Questions in Support of License Renewal [ML050490050], Deficiency 
Response Letter [ML050680314], Revision I of Scientech Document No. 
82A9534, ``Dose Assessment in Support of Establishing Derived 
Concentration Guideline Levels for the Whittaker Decommissioning 
Site'', dated August 10, 2004 [ML042310154]. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents 
located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by 
telephone at (800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to 
[email protected].
    Documents related to operations conducted under this license not 
specifically referenced in this Notice may not be electronically 
available and/or may not be publicly available. Persons who have an 
interest in reviewing these documents should submit a request to the 
NRC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Instructions for 
submitting a FOIA request can be found on the NRC's Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia-privacy.html.

    Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 9th day of 
September, 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Marie Miller,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. E5-5084 Filed 9-15-05; 8:45 am]
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