[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 232 (Monday, December 5, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72475-72476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-6829]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 040-09011]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for the Department of the 
Army, Watervliet Arsenal's Facility in Watervliet, NY

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Betsy Ullrich, Commercial and R&D 
Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale 
Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone (610) 337-5040, 
fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to the Department of the Army, Watervliet Arsenal for 
Materials License No. STB-1554, to authorize release of Building 120 at 
its facility in Watervliet, New York, 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 Building 
120 at the licensee's Watervliet, New York, facility for unrestricted 
use. The Department of the Army, Watervliet Arsenal was authorized by 
NRC from 1972 to use radioactive materials for research and development 
purposes at the site. On March 7, 2005, the Department of the Army, 
Watervliet Arsenal, requested that NRC release Building 120 at the 
facility for unrestricted use. The Department of the Army has conducted 
surveys of the facility and provided information to the NRC to 
demonstrate that Building 120 meets the license termination criteria in 
subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted use.
    The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license 
amendment. The facility was surveyed prior to the licensee requesting 
the license amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed the information and 
final

[[Page 72476]]

status survey submitted by the Department of the Army. Based on its 
review, the staff has determined that there are no additional 
remediation activities necessary to complete the proposed action. 
Therefore, the staff considered the impact of 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. Additionally, no non-radiological or 
cumulative impacts were identified.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the 
license amendment to release Building 120 for unrestricted use. The NRC 
staff has evaluated the Department of the Army, Watervliet Arsenal's 
request and the results of the surveys 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 radiological 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). 
Additionally, no non-radiological or cumulative impacts were 
identified. 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 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 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: The 
Environmental Assessment [ML053290136] and the Final Survey Report for 
Room 255, Building 120, Watervliet Arsenal, dated March 2005 [ADAMS 
Accession No. ML051080464]. 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 25th day of 
November, 2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. E5-6829 Filed 12-2-05; 8:45 am]
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