[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 196 (Thursday, October 11, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57969-57970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-20050]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-04794]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment To Byproduct Materials 
License No. 21-01443-06, for Unrestricted Release of the Parke-Davis 
Warner-Lambert Facility in Plymouth, MI

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No 
Significant Impact for License Amendment.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Snell, Senior Health 
Physicist, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials 
Safety, Region III, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2443 
Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois 60532; telephone: (630) 829-9871; fax 
number: (630) 515-1259; or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the 
issuance of a license amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 21-
01443-06. This license is held by Warner-Lambert, LLC (the Licensee), 
which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc., for its Parke-Davis 
Plymouth Township facility (the Facility) located at 46701 Commerce 
Center Drive in Plymouth, Michigan. Issuance of the amendment would 
authorize release of the Facility for unrestricted use. The Licensee 
requested this action in a letter dated June 14, 2007 (ADAMS Accession 
No. ML071700495). The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
in support of this proposed action in accordance with the requirements 
of Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 51 (10 CFR Part 
51). Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No 
Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate with respect to the proposed 
action. The amendment will be issued to the Licensee following the 
publication of this FONSI and EA in the Federal Register.

II. Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

    The proposed action would approve the Licensee's June 14, 2007, 
license amendment request, resulting in release of the Facility for 
unrestricted use. License No. 21-01443-06 was issued on April 20, 1959, 
pursuant to 10 CFR Part 30, and has been amended periodically since 
that time. Warner-Lambert was first licensed to use byproduct materials 
at its Parke-Davis facility on August 9, 1999. This license authorized 
the Licensee to use byproduct materials for purposes of conducting 
research and development.
    The Facility is approximately a 60,000 ft\2\, one-story steel frame 
building with concrete, glass and metal exterior walls; and consists of 
office space and laboratories. The Facility is located in a mixed 
residential/commercial area. Within the Facility, use of licensed 
materials was primarily confined to laboratories 1311, 1325, 1402, 1406 
and 1442. On May 11, 2007, the Licensee ceased licensed activities and 
initiated a survey and decontamination of the Facility on May 14, 2007. 
On May 23, 2007, the Licensee completed removal of licensed radioactive 
material from the Facility. Based on the Licensee's historical 
knowledge of the site and the conditions of the Facility, the Licensee 
determined that only routine decontamination activities, in accordance 
with their radiation safety procedures, were required. The Licensee was 
not required to submit a decommissioning plan to the NRC. The Licensee 
conducted surveys of the Facility and provided information to the NRC 
to demonstrate that it meets the criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 
20 for unrestricted release.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The licensee has ceased conducting licensed activities at the 
Facility, and it seeks the unrestricted use of its Facility.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The historical review of licensed activities conducted at the 
Facility shows that such activities involved use of the following 
radionuclides with half-lives greater than 120 days: Hydrogen-3 and 
carbon-14. Prior to performing the final status survey, the Licensee 
conducted decontamination activities, as necessary, in the areas of the 
Facility affected by these radionuclides.
    The Licensee conducted a final status survey on May 24, 2007. This 
survey covered 21,600 square feet of surface area considered to have a 
low potential for delivering a dose above the release criteria, and 
included the drain system, ventilation exhaust system, and vacuum 
system. No areas were considered to have a potential for delivering a 
dose above the release criteria. The final status survey report was 
attached to the Licensee's amendment request dated June 14, 2007. The 
Licensee elected to demonstrate compliance with the radiological 
criteria for unrestricted release as specified in 10 CFR 20.1402 by 
using the screening approach described in NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated 
NMSS Decommissioning Guidance,'' Volume 2. The Licensee used the 
radionuclide-specific derived concentration guideline levels (DCGLs), 
developed there by the NRC, which comply with the dose criterion in 10 
CFR 20.1402. These DCGLs define the maximum amount of residual 
radioactivity on building surfaces, equipment, and materials, and in 
soils, that will satisfy the NRC requirements in Subpart E of 10 CFR 
Part 20 for unrestricted release. The Licensee's final status survey 
results were below these DCGLs and are in compliance with the As Low As 
Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) requirement of 10 CFR 20.1402. The NRC 
thus finds that the Licensee's final status survey results are 
acceptable.
    Based on its review, the staff determined that the affected 
environment and any environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by the ``Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological 
Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities'' 
(NUREG-1496) Volumes 1-3 (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). 
The staff finds there were no significant environmental impacts from 
the use of radioactive material at the Facility. The NRC staff reviewed 
the docket file records and the final status survey report to identify 
any non-radiological hazards that may have impacted the environment 
surrounding the Facility. No such hazards or impacts to the environment 
were identified. The NRC has identified no other radiological or non-
radiological activities in the area that could result in cumulative 
environmental impacts.
    The NRC staff finds that the proposed release of the Facility for 
unrestricted use is in compliance with 10 CFR 20.1402. The NRC has 
found no other activities in the area that could result in cumulative 
environmental impacts. Based on its review, the staff considered the 
impact of the residual radioactivity at the Facility and concluded that 
the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the quality 
of the human environment.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    Due to the largely administrative nature of the proposed action, 
its environmental impacts are small.

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Therefore, the only alternative the staff considered is the no-action 
alternative, under which the staff would leave things as they are by 
simply denying the amendment request. This no-action alternative is not 
feasible because it conflicts with 10 CFR 30.36(d) requiring that 
decommissioning of byproduct material facilities be completed and 
approved by the NRC after licensed activities cease. The NRC's analysis 
of the Licensee's final status survey data confirmed that the Facility 
meets the requirements of 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted release. 
Additionally, denying the amendment request would result in no change 
in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the 
proposed action and the no-action alternative are therefore similar, 
and the no-action alternative is accordingly not further considered.

Conclusion

    The NRC staff has concluded that the proposed action is consistent 
with the NRC's unrestricted release criteria specified in 10 CFR 
20.1402. Because the proposed action will not significantly impact the 
quality of the human environment, the NRC staff concludes that the 
proposed action is the preferred alternative.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    NRC provided a draft of this Environmental Assessment to the 
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for review on August 
23, 2007. On August 24, 2007, Mr. Bob Skowronek, Chief, Radioactive 
Material and Medical Waste Unit, with the Michigan DEQ, responded by 
email. The State agreed with the conclusions of the EA, and otherwise 
had no comments.
    The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action is of a 
procedural nature, and will not affect listed species or critical 
habitat. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 7 
of the Endangered Species Act. The NRC staff has also determined that 
the proposed action is not the type of activity that has the potential 
to cause effects on historic properties. Therefore, no further 
consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The NRC staff has prepared this EA in support of the proposed 
action. On the basis of this EA, the NRC finds that there are no 
significant environmental impacts from the proposed action, and that 
preparation of an environmental impact statement is not warranted. 
Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a Finding of No Significant 
Impact is appropriate.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
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 documents 
related to this action are listed below, along with their ADAMS 
accession numbers.
    1. Carol Lentz, Pfizer, Inc., letter to Patricia Pelke, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, June 14, 2007 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML071700495);
    2. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, part 20, subpart E, 
``Radiological Criteria for License Termination;''
    3. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, part 51, ``Environmental 
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory 
Functions;''
    4. NUREG-1496, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support 
of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-
Licensed Nuclear Facilities;''
    5. NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning Guidance.''
    If you do not have access to ADAMS, or if there are problems in 
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public 
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by e-mail to [email protected]. These documents may also be viewed 
electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 
The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Lisle, Illinois, this 27th day of September 2007.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Patrick Louden,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region III.
[FR Doc. E7-20050 Filed 10-10-07; 8:45 am]
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