[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 150 (Thursday, August 6, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39346-39348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-18820]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2008-0639; Docket Nos. 030-05224 and 040-08478]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendments to Byproduct Materials 
License No. 29-00170-03 and Source Materials License No. SMB-1260, 
Incorporating the Decommissioning Plan for Bell Laboratories Murray 
Hill Facility in Murray Hill, NJ

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: Steve Hammann, Health Physicist, 
Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region 
I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; telephone 610-
337-5399; fax number 610-337-5269; or by e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the 
issuance of license amendments to Byproduct Materials License No. 29-
00170-03 and Source Materials License No. SMB-1260. The licenses are 
held by Bell Laboratories (the Licensee), for its Murray Hill Facility, 
located at 600 Mountain Avenue in Murray Hill, New Jersey (the 
Facility). Issuance of the amendments would incorporate the 
Decommissioning Plan (DP) into the licenses to allow completion of 
decommissioning activities at the site and subsequent release of the 
Facility, except one room in the Radiation Lab, for unrestricted use 
and the termination of its NRC materials licenses. The room which is 
not being released is covered by NRC License No. 29-00170-08. The NRC 
has evaluated and approved the Licensee's DP. The findings of this 
evaluation are documented in a Safety Evaluation Report which will be 
issued along with the amendments. The Licensee requested these actions 
in a letter dated June 12, 2008. The Licensee's amendment requests were 
noted in the Federal Register on December 8, 2008 (73 FR 74529). This 
Federal Register notice also provided an opportunity for a hearing on 
these licensing actions. No hearing requests were received. The NRC has 
prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of the proposed 
actions 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 actions. The amendments 
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 actions would approve the Licensee's June 12, 2008 
license amendment requests to incorporate the DP into the licenses, 
resulting in decommissioning of the facility and subsequent release of 
the Facility, except one room in the Radiation Lab, for unrestricted 
use and the termination of its NRC materials licenses. The room which 
is not being released is covered by NRC License No. 29-00170-08. 
License No. 29-00170-03 was issued on January 25, 1957, pursuant to 10 
CFR Part 30, and License No. SMB-1260 was issued on December 2, 1975, 
pursuant to 10 CFR Part 40. Both licenses have been amended 
periodically since the issue dates. These licenses authorized the 
Licensee to use sealed and unsealed byproduct material and source 
material for the purpose of conducting research and development 
activities on laboratory bench tops and in hoods.
    The Facility is situated on 196 acres and encompasses fifteen 
buildings. The buildings in which licensed materials were used consist 
of office space and laboratories. The Facility is located in a mixed 
residential/commercial area. Within the Facility, use of licensed 
materials was confined to Buildings 1,2,6,7 and 15. Notification that 
all licensed activities had ceased was received April 26, 2007.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed actions are to approve the DP so that the Licensee may 
complete Facility decommissioning activities. Completion of the 
decommissioning activities will reduce residual radioactivity at the 
Facility. NRC 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) and 10 CFR 40.42(d). The proposed 
licensing actions will support such a goal. NRC is fulfilling its 
responsibilities under the Atomic Energy Act to make a decision on the 
proposed license amendments 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 research and development 
activities using sealed and unsealed byproduct material and source 
material. The licensed materials were always stored and used inside 
buildings with no releases.
    The NRC staff has reviewed the Licensee amendment requests for the 
Facility and examined the impacts of these license amendment requests. 
Potential impacts include water resource impact (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 operation, scenic 
quality impacts, and waste management impacts.
    Based on its review, the staff has determined that no surface water 
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 limited amount of contamination and the controls that 
will be implemented by the Licensee during decommissioning activities. 
In addition, the environmental impacts associated with the 
decommissioning activities are bounded by impacts evaluated by NUREG-
0586, ``Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the 
Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities,'' (GEIS). Generic impacts for 
this type of decommissioning process were

[[Page 39347]]

previously evaluated and described in the GEIS, which concludes that 
the environmental consequences are small. The risk to human health from 
the transportation of all radioactive material in the U.S. 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 U.S. was calculated 
to be approximately 0.5 millirem, well below the 10 CFR 20.1301 limit 
of 100 millirem for a member of the public. These proposed actions will 
not significantly increase the probability or consequences of 
accidents, no changes are being made in the types of any effluents that 
may be released off site, and there 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 the ``Final 
Environmental Impact Statement on 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 the ``Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Transportation of 
Radioactive Material by Air and Other Modes.''
    The Staff also finds that the proposed license amendments will meet 
the radiological criteria for unrestricted release as specified in 10 
CFR 20.1402. The Licensee demonstrated this through the development of 
derived concentration guideline limits (DCGLs) for its Facility. The 
Licensee conducted site-specific dose modeling using parameters 
specific to the Facility that adequately bounded the potential dose.
    The Licensee will maintain an appropriate level of radiation 
protection staff, procedures, and capabilities, and, through its 
Radiation Safety Officer, 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 ten 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 
requests, 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

    The only alternative to the proposed action of decommissioning the 
Facility is the no-action alternative, under which the staff would 
leave things as they are by simply denying the amendment requests. This 
no-action alternative is not feasible because it conflicts with 10 CFR 
30.36(d) and 10 CFR 40.42(d), requiring that decommissioning of 
byproduct material and source material facilities be completed and 
approved by the NRC after licensed activities cease. Additionally, 
denying the amendment requests 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 New 
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for review on June 3, 
2009. On July 8, 2009, the New Jersey Department of Environmental 
Protection responded by letter. 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 amendments 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;'' and
    4. NUREG-1496, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support 
of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-
Licensed Nuclear Facilities.''
    5. Submittal Letter dated June 12, 2008 (ML081910071).
    6. Decommissioning Plan, Volume 1 (ML081910076).
    7. Decommissioning Plan, Volume 2 (ML081910083).
    8. Review of Decommissioning Plan dated April 6, 2009 
(ML090960301).
    9. Deficiency Response Letter dated May 21, 2009 (ML091470227).
    10. Federal Register Notice of Consideration (ML083360193).
    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.


[[Page 39348]]


    Dated at 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA, this 28th day 
of July 2009.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. E9-18820 Filed 8-5-09; 8:45 am]
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