[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 126 (Thursday, July 2, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31770-31772]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-15619]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0272; Docket No. 03003754]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment to Materials License No. 
06-00217-06, for Remediation of Portions of a Site in Windsor, CT

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: James Schmidt, (610) 337-5276; or John 
Nicholson, (610) 337-5236; Health Physicist, Decommissioning Branch, 
Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, 
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406; fax number (610) 337-5269; or by 
e-mail: [email protected]; [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. 06-00217-06 
issued to ABB Inc. (ABB or the Licensee). ABB submitted the amendment 
request by letter dated December 31, 2008. The proposed action would 
authorize ABB to conduct remediation in place of the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers (USACE), at portions of the ABB site designated as Formally 
Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) areas. The ABB site, a 
612-acre parcel located at 2000 Day Hill Road, in Windsor, Connecticut 
(the Facility), is currently undergoing site-wide decommissioning. The 
Facility's FUSRAP areas will be cleaned up by the Licensee with NRC 
oversight, in accordance with an agreement between the NRC and USACE 
dated August 15, 2007. Under this agreement, USACE will suspend its 
FUSRAP activities at the Facility after the Licensee modifies its 
previously-approved site decommissioning plan (DP) by bringing within 
its scope cleanup of the FUSRAP areas. To accomplish this, the Licensee 
submitted a revised DP for NRC review and approval as part of its 
December 31, 2008, application.
    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 December 31, 2008, 
license amendment request. The scope of the DP (initially approved on 
June 1, 2004) will be expanded to authorize ABB to conduct remediation 
activities for select FUSRAP areas at its Facility.
    Changes in the revised DP were generally limited to an update to 
reflect the successful remediation of the non-FUSRAP Facility areas, 
and a description of the remaining Facility areas to be remediated. 
However, the revised DP does include new derived concentration 
guideline levels (DCGLs) for uranium and cobalt-60, to be used for one 
structure: The south portion of Building 3, that will remain in place 
following completion of the remediation activities. Areas to be 
remediated under the revised DP include all FUSRAP areas except the 
Debris Pile area and Site Brook area. These areas are located in 
wetlands and will be the subject of a future DP amendment. The specific 
FUSRAP areas to be remediated included the removal of part of the five 
acre Building 3 Complex; removal of the one acre Building 6 Complex; 
removal of the industrial, waste, and sanitary lines associated with 
the Building Complexes; excavation of the seven acre Woods Area; and 
excavation of the one acre Drum Burial Pit area. Additionally, the 
revised DP provided for the Licensee's remediation of a two acre area 
termed the Burning Grounds which is contaminated with small quantities 
of radium-226 and thorium-232. This area was previously remediated to 
existing NRC standards and approved for unrestricted use by the NRC on 
August 10, 1989.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would allow ABB to complete the remaining 
Facility remediation and decommissioning activities, thereby reducing 
residual radioactivity at the Facility to a level that permits release 
of the entire property for unrestricted use and termination of the 
license. The Licensee has been successfully remediating and 
decommissioning the Facility since 2004 under the previously-approved 
DP. In order to complete remediation of the entire Facility, the FUSRAP 
areas must be remediated. NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities under 
the Atomic Energy Act to make a decision on a proposed license 
amendment for decommissioning that ensures safety and protection of the 
public and the environment.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In preparing this EA, the NRC staff reviewed the 2004 EA issued in 
connection with the initial DP; the Licensee's Environmental Report 
submitted on February 28, 2008; and the revised DP submitted on 
December 31, 2008. Additionally, the staff reviewed the performance of 
the decommissioning activities completed by the Licensee to date. The 
staff concluded that the bases for the findings of the 2004 EA remain 
valid, and are applicable to the revised DP. Regarding remediation of 
the FUSRAP areas, decommissioning methodologies are unchanged from the 
initial approved DP and are appropriate for the contaminant 
concentrations found in the FUSRAP area structures and soils. The same 
isotopes that were present in the Facility's non-FUSRAP areas (namely, 
those associated with enriched uranium and cobalt-60) exist in the 
FUSRAP areas as well. The FUSRAP buildings and areas requiring 
remediation are similar to those already successfully remediated and 
decommissioned at the Facility. The amount of waste in FUSRAP areas 
which will need to be packaged and shipped to a licensed disposal 
facility is similar to the amounts evaluated in the 2004 EA, and this 
waste will be packaged and transported to the same disposal facility 
previously used for non-FUSRAP area remediation activities.
    As stated above, the revised DP includes a new site specific 
building DCGL, to support the unrestricted release of the southern 
portion, or High Bay, of Building 3. The staff's technical review 
confirmed that the licensee's requested site specific total uranium and 
cobalt-60 building DCGLs of 20,148,

[[Page 31771]]

and 6,980 disintegrations per 100 square centimeters, respectively, 
would result in a maximum annual dose of less than 19 millirem of total 
effective dose equivalent to an average member of a critical group 
occupying the remaining structure. Since this dose is less than 25 
millrem per year, use of these DCGLs will meet the radiological 
criteria for unrestricted release specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. The 
conclusions of the 2004 EA thus remain valid here for the proposed 
action.
    The revised decommissioning plan included additional remediation 
for the Burning Grounds which was previously cleaned up to NRC 
standards and approved for unrestricted use in 1989. The licensee is 
performing this additional remediation because the existing 
contaminates remaining in this area are slightly above decommissioning 
screening values presently being used by the NRC staff. The staff 
reviewed the licensee's proposal to use post-remediation soil DCGLs of 
1.1 and 0.6 picocuries per gram of soil for the isotopes of thorium-232 
and radium-226, respectively, which are the screening values listed in 
Table B.2 of NUREG 1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning 
Guidance,'' Volume 1, Revision 2. These values correspond to surface 
soil concentrations that the NRC staff has deemed are in compliance 
with the unrestricted release requirements of 10 CFR 20.1402, and are 
thus consistent with the 2004 EA findings.
    In summary, NRC staff has reviewed the revised decommissioning plan 
for the Facility, and examined the impact of the proposed additional 
decommissioning activities. Based upon its review, the staff has 
determined that environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
action are no greater than the impacts found in the 2004 EA, and are 
bounded by the impacts discussed in NUREG 1496, ``Generic Environmental 
Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for 
License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities,'' Volumes 1-3. 
The staff finds there have been no significant environmental impacts to 
date from the use and cleanup of radioactive material at the Facility. 
The NRC staff reviewed the docket file records to identify any non-
radiological hazards that may impact 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 staff has considered the impact of the proposed FUSRAP area 
remediation at the Facility, and finds that the proposed action will 
not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    The Facility is in the process of being decommissioned under an 
approved DP, and the NRC has agreed to allow ABB to conduct the 
remediation of the FUSRAP areas as part of a formal agreement with the 
USACE. Therefore, the only alternative to the proposed action to 
continue the decommissioning process at the Facility is no action. The 
no-action alternative is not acceptable because it is inconsistent with 
NRC's Timeliness Rule (10 CFR 30.36), which requires licensees to 
decommission their facilities when licensed activities cease and to 
request termination of their radioactive materials license. Although 
termination of the NRC and USACE agreement would result in unnecessary 
remediation and decommissioning delay, the environmental impacts 
created by the action would be unchanged. 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 reviewed the environmental impacts of the proposed 
action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 51 and NRC's 
unrestricted release criteria specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. The NRC 
staff has determined that incorporating the Facility's FUSRAP areas 
into the site-wide DP would not significantly affect the quality of the 
human environment. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not 
warranted for the proposed action, and pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, a 
FONSI is appropriate.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    This EA was prepared by NRC staff and coordinated with the 
following agencies: Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection 
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. NRC provided a draft of this 
EA to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection for review 
on May 20, 2009. On June 19, 2009, Michael Firsick of the Connecticut 
Department of Environmental Protection responded by e-mail. The State 
agreed with the conclusions of the EA, however, they included a letter 
dated June 19, 2009, indicating that ABB had not submitted the 
requested surveys to indicate the presence of two State species of 
special concern occurring in the project vicinity: Eastern box turtle 
(Terrapene carolina) and Eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos). 
On June 24, 2009, Mr. Firsick reported by e-mail that the issues 
identified in the June 19, 2009, letter had been appropriately resolved 
with ABB.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    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 FONSI 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 Documents 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. 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'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and 
ML042330385);
    5. NRC letter and safety evaluation report to Combustion 
Engineering, Inc. authorizing unrestricted release of the woods area 
(Burning Grounds) dated August 10, 1989 (ML091400662);
    6. ABB letter to NRC dated October 15, 2003, ``Application for 
Amendment of Materials License 06-00217-06'' dated October 15, 2003 
(ML033080245, ML033080248, and ML033080252);
    7. Enclosure II to ABB letter dated October 15, 2003 ``CE Windsor 
Site Decommissioning Plan, October 15,

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2003'' (ML033080254, ML033080258, ML033080273, ML033080279, 
ML033080310, and ML033080313);
    8. Enclosure III to ABB letter dated October 15, 2003 ``CE Windsor 
Site Derivation of Site-Specific DCGLs, September 2003'' (ML033080318, 
ML033080320, ML033080327, ML033080334, ML033080341, ML033080346, 
ML033080352, ML033080356, and ML033080366);
    9. ``Environmental Assessment of the Proposed Decommissioning Plan 
for the ABB Prospects, Inc. Windsor, Connecticut Facility'' dated May 
20, 2004 (ML041400413);
    10. NRC letter to the USACE dated August 15, 2007, ``Proposed 
Process To Decommission and Cleanup the ABB Windsor Site'' 
(ML072210979);
    11. ABB letter to NRC dated February 28, 2008, ``Subject: 
Environmental Information Report'' (ML080850764, ML080850789);
    12. ABB letter to the NRC dated December 31, 2008, ``Application 
for Amendment of Materials License 06-00217-06'' (ML090160123, 
ML090160128, ML090160370, and ML090160378);
    13. Attachment 4 to ABB letter dated December 31, 2008, ``CE 
Windsor Site Decommissioning Plan, Revision 1, December 2008'' 
(ML090160381, ML090160388, and ML090160396);
    14. Attachment 5 to ABB letter dated December 31, 2008. ``CE 
Windsor Site Development of Building DCGLs, Revision 0, December 2008'' 
(ML090160458, ML090160469, ML090160478, and ML090160487); and
    15. State of Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection e-
mail regarding actions to be taken for two State species of special 
concern occurring in the CE Windsor Site vicinity dated June 19, 2009 
(ML091730286).
    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 Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA, this 
25th day of June 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Judith Joustra,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. E9-15619 Filed 7-1-09; 8:45 am]
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