[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 249 (Monday, December 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79520-79522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30775]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-10716]


Notice of Consideration of Amendment Request for Decommissioning 
of the Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company's Fort Mims Facility, Maryland 
Heights, MO and Opportunity To Request a Hearing

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of amendment request and opportunity to request a 
hearing.

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DATES: A request for a hearing must be filed by February 27, 2009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George M. McCann, Senior Health 
Physicist, Materials Control, ISFSI, and Decommissioning Branch, 
Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region III, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, 2443 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois 60532; 
Telephone: (630) 829-9856; fax number: (630) 515-1259; or e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of 
a license amendment to Byproduct Material License No. 24-16273-01 
issued to the Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company (the Licensee) pursuant to 
10 CFR Part 30. By application dated October 22, 2008, the Licensee 
requested authorization to decommission its Fort Mims Facility, (the 
Facility) at 11452 Fort Mims Drive, Maryland Heights, Missouri, under 
its proposed Decommissioning Plan (DP) submitted as part of the 
application (see ADAMS ML083010187).
    The two-story Facility consists of approximately 20,000 square feet 
of laboratory and office space. The Facility is located on a 1 acre 
parcel in a commercial/light industrial park. Radioactive materials 
were used in specific areas within this Facility since 1975. Actual 
production activities were suspended at the facility on September 30, 
2008. Radioactive materials usage at the site consisted of research and 
development activities as defined in 10 CFR 30.4 and storage, 
processing and use in the production of labeled compounds for 
distribution to authorized recipients. The radioactive materials used 
at the Fort Mims facility consisted of carbon-14 and hydrogen-3.
    An NRC administrative review, documented in a letter to the Sigma-
Aldrich Chemical Company dated November 25, 2008, found the DP 
acceptable to begin a technical review.
    If the NRC approves the DP, the approval will be documented in an 
amendment to NRC License No. 24-16273-01. However, before approving the 
proposed amendment, the NRC will need to make the findings required by 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and NRC's regulations. These 
findings will be documented in a Safety Evaluation Report and an 
Environmental Assessment and/or an Environmental Impact Statement. 
After the Commission verifies that the release criteria have been met, 
the Facility Operating License No. 24-16273-01 will be terminated.

II. Opportunity To Request a Hearing

    The NRC hereby provides notice that this is a proceeding on an 
application for a license amendment regarding the decommissioning of 
the Licensee's Fort Mims Facility. Any person whose interest may be 
affected by this proceeding, and who desires to participate as a party, 
must file a request for a hearing and a specification of the 
contentions which the person seeks to have litigated in the hearing, in 
accordance with the NRC E-Filing rule, which the NRC promulgated in 
August 2007 (72 FR 49139, Aug. 28, 2007). The E-Filing rule requires 
participants to submit and serve documents over the internet or in some 
cases to mail copies on electronic storage media. Participants may not 
submit paper copies of their filings unless they seek a waiver in 
accordance with the procedures described below.
    To comply with the procedural requirements of E-Filing, at least 
ten (10) days prior to the filing deadline, the petitioner/requester 
must contact the Office of the Secretary by e-mail at 
[email protected], or by calling (301) 415-1677, to request (1) a 
digital ID certificate, which allows the participant (or its counsel or 
representative) to digitally sign documents and access the E-Submittal 
server for any proceeding in which it is participating; and/or (2) 
creation of an electronic docket for the proceeding (even in instances 
in which the

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petitioner/requester (or its counsel or representative) already holds 
an NRC-issued digital ID certificate). Each petitioner/requester will 
need to download the Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ to access the 
Electronic Information Exchange (EIE), a component of the E-Filing 
system. The Workplace Forms Viewer\TM\ is free and is available at 
http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/install-viewer.html. 
Information about applying for a digital ID certificate is available on 
NRC's public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals/apply-certificates.html.
    Once a petitioner/requester has obtained a digital ID certificate, 
had a docket created, and downloaded the EIE viewer, it can then submit 
a request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene. Submissions 
should be in Portable Document Format (PDF) in accordance with NRC 
guidance available on the NRC public Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html. A filing is considered complete at the 
time the filer submits its documents through EIE. To be timely, an 
electronic filing must be submitted to the EIE system no later than 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. Upon receipt of a 
transmission, the E-Filing system time-stamps the document and sends 
the submitter an e-mail notice confirming receipt of the document. The 
EIE system also distributes an e-mail notice that provides access to 
the document to the NRC Office of the General Counsel and any others 
who have advised the Office of the Secretary that they wish to 
participate in the proceeding, so that the filer need not serve the 
documents on those participants separately. Therefore, applicants and 
other participants (or their counsel or representative) must apply for 
and receive a digital ID certificate before a hearing request/petition 
to intervene is filed so that they can obtain access to the document 
via the E-Filing system.
    A person filing electronically may seek assistance through the 
``Contact Us'' link located on the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/e-submittals.html or by calling the NRC technical help line, 
which is available between 8:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday. The help line number is (800) 397-4209 or 
locally, (301) 415-4737.
    Participants who believe that they have a good cause for not 
submitting documents electronically must file a motion, in accordance 
with 10 CFR 2.302(g), with their initial paper filing requesting 
authorization to continue to submit documents in paper format. Such 
filings must be submitted by: (1) First class mail addressed to the 
Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff; or (2) courier, express mail, or expedited 
delivery service to the Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, 
Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Participants filing a 
document in this manner are responsible for serving the document on all 
other participants. Filing is considered complete by first-class mail 
as of the time of deposit in the mail, or by courier, express mail, or 
expedited delivery service upon depositing the document with the 
provider of the service.
    Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding 
officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition 
and/or request should be granted and/or the contentions should be 
admitted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(c)(1)(viii). To be timely, filings must be submitted no 
later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date.
    Documents submitted in adjudicatory proceedings will appear in 
NRC's electronic hearing docket which is available to the public at 
http://ehd.nrc.gov/EHD_Proceeding/home.asp, unless excluded pursuant 
to an order of the Commission, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or 
a Presiding Officer. Participants are requested not to include social 
security numbers in their filings. With respect to copyrighted works, 
except for limited excerpts that serve the purpose of the adjudicatory 
filings and would constitute a Fair Use application, participants are 
requested not to include copyrighted materials in their submission.
    The formal requirements for documents contained in 10 CFR 2.304(c)-
(e) must be met. If the NRC grants an electronic document exemption in 
accordance with 10 CFR 2.302(g)(3), then the requirements for paper 
documents, set forth in 10 CFR 2.304(b) must be met.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b), a request for a hearing must be 
filed by February 27, 2009.
    In addition to meeting other applicable requirements of 10 CFR 
2.309, the general requirements involving a request for a hearing filed 
by a person other than an applicant must state:
    1. The name, address, and telephone number of the requester;
    2. The nature of the requester's right under the Act to be made a 
party to the proceeding;
    3. The nature and extent of the requester's property, financial, or 
other interest in the proceeding;
    4. The possible effect of any decision or order that may be issued 
in the proceeding on the requester's interest; and
    5. The circumstances establishing that the request for a hearing is 
timely in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(b).
    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(1), a request for hearing or 
petitions for leave to intervene must set forth with particularity the 
contentions sought to be raised. For each contention, the request or 
petition must:
    1. Provide a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be 
raised or controverted;
    2. Provide a brief explanation of the basis for the contention;
    3. Demonstrate that the issue raised in the contention is within 
the scope of the proceeding;
    4. Demonstrate that the issue raised in the contention is material 
to the findings that the NRC must make to support the action that is 
involved in the proceeding;
    5. Provide a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert 
opinions which support the requester's/petitioner's position on the 
issue and on which the requester/petitioner intends to rely to support 
its position on the issue; and
    6. Provide sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute 
exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. This 
information must include references to specific portions of the DP that 
the requester/petitioner disputes and the supporting reasons for each 
dispute, or, if the requester/petitioner believes the application fails 
to contain information on a relevant matter as required by law, the 
identification of each failure and the supporting reasons for the 
requester's/petitioner's belief.
    Requesters/petitioners should, when possible, consult with each 
other in preparing contentions and combine similar subject matter 
concerns into a joint contention, for which one of the co-sponsoring 
requesters/petitioners is designated the lead representative. Further, 
in accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(f)(3), any requester/petitioner that 
wishes to adopt a contention proposed by another requester/petitioner 
must do so, in accordance with the E-Filing rule, within ten days of 
the date the contention is filed, and designate a representative who 
shall have the

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authority to act for the requester/petitioner.
    In accordance with 10 CFR 2.309(g), a request for hearing and/or 
petition for leave to intervene may also address the selection of the 
hearing procedures, taking into account the provisions of 10 CFR 2.310.

III. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
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:
    Submittal Letter dated October 22, 2008: ML083010187.
    Sigma-Aldrich Fort Mims Facility Decontamination and 
Decommissioning Plan: ML083010187.
    Sigma-Aldrich Fort Mims Facility Soil Sampling and Analysis Plan: 
ML083010187.
    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 8th day of December 2008.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Christine A. Lipa,
Chief, Materials Control, ISFSI and Decommissioning Branch, Division of 
Nuclear Materials Safety, Region III.
 [FR Doc. E8-30775 Filed 12-24-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P