[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 14, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74035-74036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-7298]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 040-07354]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Department of the 
Army's Bomb Throwing Device (BTD) Area in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Ullrich, Commerical 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 considering issuing a 
license amendment to the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Aberdeen 
Test Center, for Materials License No. SUB-834, to authorize release of 
its Bomb Throwing Device (BTD) area in Aberdeen Proving Ground, 
Maryland, 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.

II. EA Summary

    The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize the release of 
the licensee's BTD area located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, 
Maryland, for unrestricted use. The Department of the Army was 
authorized by AEC/NRC from June 4, 1965, to use radioactive materials 
for munitions testing and research and development purposes in the BTD 
area. On January 13, 2005, the Department of the Army requested that 
NRC release 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 the site 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 BTD area 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 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 the residual 
radioactivity in the BTD area 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 BTD area for unrestricted use. The NRC 
staff has evaluated the Department of the Army'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: 
``Environmental Assessment Related to Issuance of a License Amendment 
of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Materials License No. SUB-834, 
Department of the Army, Aberdeen, Maryland'' [ML053410059], 
``Radiological Final Status Survey Report, Bomb Throwing Device Site--
Soils'' [ML052770370], and Remediation and Final Status Survey, Bomb 
Throwing Device Site--Structures'' [ML052770376]. Persons who do not 
have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS,

[[Page 74036]]

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 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/foia-privacy.html.

    Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 7th day of December, 
2005.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. E5-7298 Filed 12-13-05; 8:45 am]
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