[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 26, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61846-61847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-5949]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-62 and 50-396]


Notice of License Terminations for University of Virginia 
Research Reactor (UVAR) and University of Virginia Cooperatively 
Assembled Virginia Low Intensity Educational Reactor (CAVALIER)

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is noticing the 
termination of Facility Operating License No. R-66 for the UVAR and 
Facility Operating License No. R-123 for the CAVALIER.
    The NRC has terminated the license of the decommissioned UVAR, in 
the reactor facility on the UVA campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, 
and has released the site for unrestricted use. The licensee requested 
termination of the license in a letter to NRC dated June 18, 2004. The 
UVAR was a 2-MW-thermal, light-water-moderated, -cooled, and -reflected 
reactor fueled with plate-type fuel. It was licensed and first operated 
in June 1960. The reactor was permanently shut down on June 30, 1998. 
The licensee submitted a decommissioning plan to NRC for review and 
approval in a letter dated February 9, 2000, updated by letter dated 
April 26, 2000, and supplemented by letters on December 19, 2000, and 
May 4 and May 11, 2001. The NRC approved the UVAR decommissioning plan 
by Amendment No. 26 to the Facility Operating License No. R-66 on March 
26, 2002.
    The NRC has also terminated the license of the decommissioned 
CAVALIER, which was in the same reactor facility on the UVA campus in 
Charlottesville, Virginia, and has released the site for unrestricted 
use. The licensee requested termination of the license in an April 4, 
2003 letter to NRC. The request for termination was affirmed by letter 
dated September 26, 2005. The CAVALIER was a 100-MW-thermal, light-
water-moderated, -cooled, and -reflected reactor fueled with plate-type 
fuel. It was licensed and first operated in October 1974. The licensee 
submitted a decommissioning plan by letter February 26, 1990, and 
supplemented the plan on June 17, 1991. The NRC Commission issued an 
Order Authorizing Dismantling of Facility and Disposition of Component 
Parts for the CAVALIER, Facility Operating License No. R-123, on 
February 3, 1992.
    A Notice and Solicitation of Comments Pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1405 
and 10 CFR 50.82(b)(5) Concerning Proposed Action To Decommission the 
University of Virginia, University of Virginia Research Reactor 
appeared in the Federal Register on December 6, 2001 (65 FR 17684). All 
comments received were considered by the staff during the review of the 
UVAR decommissioning plan for Facility Operating License No. R-66.
    A Notice of Proposed Issuance of Orders Disposition of Component 
Parts and Terminating Facility License appeared in the Federal Register 
on April 22, 1991 (56 FR 16350). No request for a hearing or petition 
for leave to intervene was filed following notice of the proposed 
action concerning Facility Operating License No. R-123.
    The NRC completed its review of the April 2004 UVAR Final Status 
Survey Report submitted to NRC by letter dated June 18, 2004, and the 
March 2003 Evaluation of Radiological Characterization Results Relative 
to the Termination of NRC License No. R-123 dated, March 2003, 
submitted by letter dated April 4, 2003. Both reports documented the 
level of residual radioactivity remaining at the facility and stated 
that compliance with the criteria in the NRC-approved decommissioning 
plan for both reactors has been demonstrated.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(b)(6), the NRC staff has concluded that 
both reactors have been decommissioned in accordance with the approved 
decommissioning plans and that the terminal radiation surveys and

[[Page 61847]]

associated documentation demonstrate that the facilities and sites may 
be released in accordance with the criteria in the NRC-approved 
decommissioning plans. Further, on the basis of the decommissioning 
activities carried out by UVA, the NRC's review of the licensee's final 
status survey report, the results of NRC inspections conducted at the 
UVAR and CAVALIER, and the results of NRC confirmatory surveys, the NRC 
has concluded that the decommissioning process is complete and the 
facilities and sites may be released for unrestricted use. Therefore 
Facility Operating License Nos. R-66 and R-123 are terminated.
    For further details concerning UVAR see the licensee's application 
for decommissioning dated February 9, 2000, updated by letter April 26, 
2000 and supplemented by letters on December 19, 2000, May 4, and May 
11, 2001; the NRC approval of the UVAR decommissioning plan by 
Amendment No. 26 to Facility Operating License No. R-66 on March 26, 
2002; the licensee's request for license termination by letter to NRC 
dated June 18, 2004; the April 2004 UVAR Final Status Survey Report 
submitted to NRC by letter dated June 18, 2004; and NRC Inspection 
Report No. 50-62/2002-202, dated September 2, 2005. For further details 
about CAVALIER, see the licensee's February 26, 1990 application for 
decommissioning, supplemented on June 17, 1991; the February 3, 1992, 
Order Authorizing Dismantling of Facility and Disposition of Component 
Parts for the CAVALIER, Facility Operating License No. R-123; 
licensee's April 4, 2003, request for termination of the license; the 
March 2003 Evaluation of Radiological Characterization Results Relative 
to the Termination of NRC License No. R-123, submitted by letter dated 
April 4, 2003; and NRC Inspection Report No. 50-62/2002-202, dated 
September 2, 2005. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, 
at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) at One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available 
records for UVA dated after January 30, 2000, will be accessible 
electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the 
NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who have problems in accessing the 
documents in ADAMS should call the NRC PDR reference staff at 1-800-
397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or e-mail [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of October, 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian E. Thomas,
Section Chief, Research and Test Reactors Section, New, Research and 
Test Reactors Program, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 [FR Doc. E5-5949 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P