[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 224 (Tuesday, November 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 70638]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-6414]



[[Page 70638]]

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 50-146, License No. DPR-4]


Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation and GPU Nuclear, Inc.; 
Notice of Termination of Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation 
Facility Amended Facility License No. DPR-4

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Termination of the Saxton Nuclear Experimental 
Corporation (SNEC) and GPU Nuclear, Inc., SNEC Facility Amended 
Facility License No. DPR-4.

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SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is noticing the 
termination of Amended Facility License No. DPR-4 (NRC Docket No. 50-
146) for the SNEC facility near Saxton, Pennsylvania.
    Background: The SNEC facility is in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. 
The SNEC facility operated from 1962 to 1972. It was mainly used for 
research in various aspects of power reactor technology and to train 
personnel. The reactor was licensed at 23.5 megawatts of thermal 
energy. Electric power was produced by sending steam produced by 
operation of the reactor to a nearby coal-fired power station (because 
the SNEC facility did not have its own turbine or generator). The 
nuclear steam supply system was a one-loop pressurized water reactor. 
After shutdown, the reactor fuel was removed from the facility and 
shipped to what is now the Department of Energy Savannah River Site in 
South Carolina. Some minor decommissioning activities were done from 
1972 to 1974. The facility was then placed in a monitored storage 
condition. Support structures and buildings were decontaminated and 
removed between 1987 and 1992. Full-scale decommissioning activities 
started in May 1998.
    In February 2000 the licensees submitted their license termination 
plan (LTP) for the SNEC facility. Under the provisions of 10 CFR 
50.82(a)(10), the NRC approved the LTP by a license amendment dated 
March 28, 2003. In accordance with the approved LTP, the licensees 
conducted final status surveys (FSSs) to demonstrate that the facility 
and site met the criteria in 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted release. 
The licensees presented the FSS results to the NRC in FSS reports 
(FSSRs).
    The licensees submitted an application for termination of SNEC 
Amended Facility License No. DPR-4 on September 15, 2005. The 
application states that GPU Nuclear, Inc., has completed the remaining 
radiological decommissioning activities and the final radiation surveys 
of the SNEC Facility and the associated PENELEC site in accordance with 
an NRC-approved LTP and the final radiation surveys demonstrate that 
the facility and site area meet the criteria in 10 CFR part 20, subpart 
E, for the decommissioning and release of the site for unrestricted 
use.
    The NRC did a number of performance-based in-process inspections of 
the licensee's FSS program during the decommissioning process. The 
purpose of the inspections was to verify that the FSSs were being done 
in accordance with the licensees' commitments in the LTP and to 
evaluate the quality of the FSSs by reviewing the FSS procedures, 
methodology, equipment, surveyor training and qualifications, document 
quality control, and survey data. The NRC also did independent 
confirmatory surveys to verify the licensees' FSS results. The 
confirmatory surveys consisted of surface scans for beta and gamma 
radiation, direct measurements for total beta activity, and smear 
sampling for determining removable-radioactivity levels.
    The NRC staff reviewed the FSSRs and concludes that (i) 
dismantlement and decontamination activities were performed in 
accordance with the approved LTP; and (ii) the FSSRs demonstrate that 
the facility and site have met the criteria for decommissioning in 10 
CFR part 20, subpart E. NRC is therefore terminating SNEC Facility 
Amended Facility License No. DPR-4.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: See the application for license 
termination dated September 15, 2005 (ML052640047) and NRC Inspection 
Report Nos. 50-146/2003-201, dated November 12, 2003 (ML033090608), 50-
146/2003-202, dated December 17, 2003 (ML033420687), 50-146/2004-201, 
dated February 10, 2005 (ML050380407), and 50-146/2005-201, dated 
October 31, 2005 (ML052730465). They are available for public 
inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR) at One White 
Flint North, Public File Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be 
accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System's (ADAMS's) Public Electronic Reading Room on the 
Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html 
(use the ADAMS ML numbers given above). Persons who do not have access 
to ADAMS or who have trouble accessing the documents in ADAMS should 
contact the NRC PDR reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 
301-415-4737 or by e-mail to [email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 7th day of November 2005.

    For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian E. Thomas,
Branch Chief, Research and Test Reactors Branch, Division of Policy and 
Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E5-6414 Filed 11-21-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P