[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 80 (Tuesday, April 28, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19240-19241]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-9624]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 040-8027; NRC-2008-0300]


Notice of License Amendment for the Sequoyah Fuels Corporation's 
Facility at Gore, OK

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Action.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Kalman, Project Manager, 
Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing Directorate, Division of 
Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and 
State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; Telephone: (301) 415-
6664; fax number: (301) 415-5369; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The NRC is considering issuance of a license amendment to Sequoyah 
Fuels Corporation (SFC or licensee) for License No. SUB-1010. This 
action will approve the licensee's Reclamation Plan for its Gore, 
Oklahoma site, thereby authorizing (1) the excavation of contaminated 
soil and buried waste located there; and (2) the construction of an 
onsite disposal cell to isolate these wastes from the environment. In 
cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency, the NRC in May 
2008 published NUREG-1888, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 
support of this site reclamation action.

II. Proposed Action

    Approval of the Reclamation Plan will facilitate decommissioning 
and the eventual termination of License No. SUB-1010. Remediation of 
existing ground water contamination is not part of the proposed action. 
SFC has submitted a ground water corrective action plan that is still 
under NRC staff review. However, implementation of the Reclamation Plan 
will facilitate the subsequent clean-up of the site's ground water.
    As identified by SFC, the proposed reclamation consists of the 
following elements:
     Construction of an above-grade, engineered disposal cell 
on the SFC site for permanent disposition of the SFC decommissioning 
and reclamation wastes;
     Removal of sludges and sediments from the ponds and 
lagoons, excavation of buried low-level wastes, removal of stored soils 
and debris, and placement of these materials into the disposal cell;
     Dismantlement of process equipment, followed by recovery 
of gross quantities of contained uranium;
     Size reduction/compaction of process equipment, piping, 
and structural materials (including scrap metal, empty drums, and 
packaged wastes that will accumulate before decommissioning) to satisfy 
disposal requirements for maximum void volume;
     Dismantlement/demolition of structures except for the new 
SFC administrative office building and the storm water impoundment;
     Demolition of concrete floors, foundations, and storage 
pads and asphalt or concrete paved roadways outside the footprint of 
the cell;
     Removal of clay liners and/or contaminated soils from 
under impoundments;
     Excavation of underground utilities, contaminated sand 
backfill from utility trenches and building foundation areas, and more 
highly contaminated soils under the cell footprint;
     Excavation of contaminated soils lying outside the 
footprint of the disposal cell that exceed site-specific radiological 
cleanup criteria;
     Handling and treatment of produced ground water and storm 
water during cell construction;
     Placement of all SFC decommissioning wastes into the 
onsite disposal cell, followed by capping and closure of the cell; and
     Regrading of the site, backfilling of excavations to the 
finished grade, and revegetation.

III. NRC Review

    The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's reclamation plan in 
accordance with NUREG-1620, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of a 
Reclamation Plan for Mill Tailings Sites Under Title II of the Uranium 
Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978,'' Final Revision 1, issued 
June 2003. The review is a comprehensive assessment of SFC's 
reclamation plan. Most of the contaminated material is classified under 
Appendix A to 10 CFR part 40 as Section 11e.(2) byproduct material. 
Appendix A to 10 CFR part 40 contains the technical requirements for 
disposition of Section 11e.(2) byproduct material. Following the 
guidance provided in NUREG-1620, the NRC staff's review of SFC's 
reclamation plan was organized by the technical disciplines involved in 
the assessment of the reclamation plan to ensure compliance with 
Appendix A. The staff's review covered such considerations as geologic, 
seismic, geotechnical, and surface erosional aspects of long-term 
stability, the compliance with ground water standards, radiation 
protection including radon emanation controls, and SFC's proposal to 
include placing the onsite radioactive waste that cannot be classified 
as 11e.(2) byproduct material in the disposal cell.
    SFC's request for the proposed amendment was previously noticed in 
the Federal Register on May 28, 2008 (73 FR 30646-30647) with a Notice 
of an Opportunity to Request a Hearing. No comments or request for a 
hearing were received.
    The EIS documented the NRC staff's determination that all steps in 
the proposed reclamation could be accomplished in compliance with the 
NRC public and occupational dose limits, effluent release limits, and 
residual radioactive material limits. In addition, the EIS concluded 
that approval of the proposed action, in accordance with the 
commitments in NRC License SUB-1010 and the final reclamation plan, 
would not result in a significant adverse impact on the environment.
    The safety findings (required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 
amended) necessary to support the approval of the Reclamation Plan are 
documented in a Safety Evaluation Report (SER) that will be issued in 
connection with this license amendment.

IV. 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 
Documents 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: SFC's letter to NRC dated 
January 4, 2008, ML080220345; Final EIS prepared for this action, 
ML081300103; Federal Register Notice

[[Page 19241]]

for this license amendment, ML090780157, and Safety Evaluation Report, 
ML090260323. 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].
    Any questions should be referred to Kenneth Kalman, Division of 
Waste Management and Environmental Protection, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington DC 20555, Mailstop T-8F5, telephone (301) 415-
6664, fax (301) 415-5369.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of April 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Keith I. McConnell,
Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management 
Programs.
[FR Doc. E9-9624 Filed 4-27-09; 8:45 am]
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