[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 244 (Thursday, December 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77078-77080]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30055]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-29462]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
no Significant Impact for License Amendment to Materials License No. 
45-23645-01na, to Incorporate the Decommissioning Plan for the Naval 
Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No

[[Page 77079]]

Significant Impact for License Amendment.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Orysia Masnyk Bailey, Health 
Physicist, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials 
Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 
19406; telephone (864) 427-1032; fax number (610) 680-3497; or by e-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the 
issuance of a license amendment to Materials License No. 45-23645-01NA. 
The license is held by the Department of the Navy (Navy). This is a 
Master Materials License and covers many sites around the country. The 
proposed action pertains to Building 200 and adjacent grounds (the 
Facility) at the Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division 
in Dahlgren, Virginia. Issuance of the amendment would incorporate the 
Decommissioning Plan into the license to allow completion of 
decommissioning activities at the site and eventual unrestricted 
release of the Facility. The NRC has evaluated and approved the Navy's 
Decommissioning Plan. The findings of this evaluation are documented in 
a Safety Evaluation Report which will be issued along with the license 
amendment. The Navy requested this action in a letter dated March 4, 
2008. The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment 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 Environmental Assessment, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of 
No Significant Impact is appropriate with respect to the proposed 
action. The license amendment will be issued to the Navy following the 
publication of this Finding of No Significant Impact and Environmental 
Assessment in the Federal Register.

II. Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

    The proposed action would approve the Navy's March 4, 2008, license 
amendment request to incorporate the Decommissioning Plan into the 
license, resulting in final decommissioning of the Facility and 
subsequent release of the Facility for unrestricted use. Test firing of 
depleted uranium rounds at the facility began in the early 1970s under 
NRC Materials License No. SMB-1145. The Navy issued Navy Radioactive 
Materials Permit No. 45-00178-S1NP authorizing the test firing of 
depleted uranium rounds at the Facility in 1987 when the Master 
Materials License was issued to the Navy. The Navy initiated 
decommissioning of the facility in 1993 and work is ongoing. In January 
2002, the permit was converted to decommissioning permit, NRMP No. 45-
00178-Y1NP. The Decommissioning Plan submitted by the Navy addresses 
the residual contamination in Bay 4 in Building 200 and adjacent soil 
outside of the building.
    The facility is the largest tenant at the Naval Support Facility 
Dahlgren, which is located in King George County, Virginia, 
approximately 40 miles south of Washington, DC, and 25 miles east of 
Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Naval Support Facility Dahlgren 
encompasses approximately 4,300 acres on the western bank of the 
Potomac River. The region surrounding Naval Support Facility Dahlgren 
is sparsely populated.
    Bay 4 in Building 200 consists of the target bay and gun bay. The 
target bay is 14.5 feet wide, 9 feet high, and 106 feet in length; and 
the gun bay is 14.5 feet wide, 9 feet high, and 138 feet in length. 
Building 200, Bay 4 is an indoor firing range where single shot tests 
on 20-40 millimeter depleted uranium and tungsten energy penetrators 
were fired. It is estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 depleted 
uranium rounds were fired in Bay 4.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to approve the Decommissioning Plan that the 
Navy may complete Facility decommissioning activities. Completion of 
the decommissioning activities will reduce residual radioactivity at 
the facility. The NRC's regulations require licensees to begin timely 
decommissioning of their sites, or any separate buildings that contain 
residual radioactivity, upon cessation of licensed activities, in 
accordance with 10 CFR 30.36(d). The proposed licensing action will 
support such a goal. The NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities under 
the Atomic Energy Act to make a decision on a proposed license 
amendment for decommissioning that ensures protection of the public 
health and safety.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The historical review of licensed activities conducted at the 
facility shows that such activities involved the test firing of 
depleted uranium rounds and the storage of contaminated targets and 
debris.
    The NRC staff has reviewed the Navy's amendment request for the 
Facility and examined the impacts of this license amendment request. 
Potential impacts include water resource impacts (e.g., water may be 
used for dust control), air quality impacts from dust emissions, 
temporary local traffic impacts resulting from transporting debris, 
human health impacts, noise impacts from equipment operations, scenic 
quality impacts, and waste management impacts.
    Based on its review, the staff has determined that no surface or 
ground water impacts are expected from the decommissioning activities. 
Additionally, the staff has determined that significant air quality, 
noise, land use, and off-site radiation exposure impacts are also not 
expected. No significant air quality impacts are anticipated because of 
the contamination controls that will be implemented by the Navy during 
decommissioning activities. The environmental impacts associated with 
the decommissioning activities are bounded by impacts evaluated by 
NUREG-1496, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support 
Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC 
Licensed Nuclear Facilities.'' Generic impacts for this type of 
decommissioning process were previously evaluated and described in the 
``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support Rulemaking on 
Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC Licensed Nuclear 
Facilities,'' which concludes that the environmental consequences are 
small. The risk to human health from the transportation of all 
radioactive material in the United States was evaluated in NUREG-0170, 
``Final Environmental Statement on the Transportation of Radioactive 
Materials by Air and Other Modes.'' The principal radiological 
environmental impact during normal transportation is direct radiation 
exposure to nearby persons from radioactive material in the package. 
The average annual individual dose from all radioactive material 
transportation in the United States was calculated to be approximately 
0.5 mrem, which is well below the 10 CFR 20.1301 limit of 100 mrem for 
a member of the public. Additionally, the Navy estimates that 
approximately 78 cubic yards of solid radioactive waste will be 
generated during decommissioning activities. This proposed action will 
not significantly increase the probability or consequences of 
accidents, no changes are being made in the types of effluents that may 
be released off site, and there

[[Page 77080]]

is no significant increase in occupational or public radiation 
exposure. Thus, waste management and transportation impacts from the 
decommissioning will not be significant.
    Occupational health was also considered in NUREG-0170, ``Final 
Environmental Impact Statement of the Transportation of Radioactive 
Material by Air and Other Modes.'' Shipment of these materials would 
not affect the assessment of environmental impacts or the conclusions 
in NUREG-0170.
    The staff also finds that the proposed license amendment will meet 
the radiological criteria for unrestricted release as specified in 10 
CFR 20.1402. The Navy demonstrated this through the development of 
building surface derived concentration guideline limits for its 
Facility. The Navy conducted site specific dose modeling using 
parameters specific to the Facility that adequately bounded the 
potential dose. The release limits for soil at the Facility will be 
those published in the Federal Register on December 7, 1999 (Volume 64, 
Number 234, Pages 68395-68396).
    The Navy will maintain an appropriate level of radiation protection 
staff, procedures, and capabilities; and will implement an acceptable 
program to keep exposure to radioactive materials as low as reasonably 
achievable (ALARA). Work activities are not anticipated to result in 
radiation exposures to the public in excess of 10 percent of the 10 CFR 
20.1301 limits.
    The NRC also evaluated whether cumulative environmental impacts 
could result from an incremental impact of the proposed action when 
added to other past, present, or reasonably foreseeable future actions 
in the area. The proposed NRC approval of the license amendment 
request, when combined with known effects on resource areas at the 
site, including further site remediation, are not anticipated to result 
in any cumulative impacts at the site.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    Due to the largely administrative nature of the proposed action, 
its environmental impacts are small. 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 no action alternative would keep 
radioactive material on-site without disposal. 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 
Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health for review on August 1, 2008. On 
October 30, 2008, the Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health responded 
by email. The Commonwealth agreed with the conclusions of the 
Environmental Assessment, 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 Environmental Assessment in support 
of the proposed action. On the basis of this Environmental Assessment, 
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 the NRC's public documents. The 
documents related to this action are listed below, along with their 
ADAMS accession numbers.
    1. NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning Guidance;''
    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-1720, ``Re-evaluation of the Indoor Resuspension Factor 
for the Screening Analysis of the Building Occupancy Scenario for NRC's 
License Termination Rule--Draft Report;''
    6. NRC License No. 45-23645-01NA inspection and licensing records;
    7. Department of the Navy, Decommissioning Building 200, Bay 4 
Depleted Uranium (DU) Indoor Test Range at Naval Surface Warfare Center 
Dahlgren Division (NAVSURFWARCEN), dated November 15, 2006 
(ML063340558);
    8. Department of the Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren 
Division Building 200 Decommissioning Plan, dated March 4, 2008 
(ML080980180); and
    9. New World Technology, Final Decommissioning Plan Building 200, 
Bay 4, Dahlgren Laboratory, Dahlgren, Virginia, dated January 10, 2008.
    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 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 Public Document Room, O 1 
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 
The Public Document Room reproduction contractor will copy documents 
for a fee.

    Dated at Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA this 
11th day of December 2008.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eugene Cobey,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
 [FR Doc. E8-30055 Filed 12-17-08; 8:45 am]
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