[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 208 (Thursday, October 29, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55869-55871]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26069]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2009-0475; Docket No. 030-31714]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment to Byproduct Materials 
License No. 19-09760-02, for Termination of the License and 
Unrestricted Release of the Department of Health & Human Service's 
Facility Located in Baltimore, MD

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No 
Significant Impact for License Amendment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis Lawyer, Health Physicist, 
Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region 
I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; telephone 610-
337-5366; 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 a license amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 19-
09760-02. This license is held by the Department of Health & Human 
Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse (the Licensee) for its 
facilities located at 5500 and 5510 Nathan Shock Drive in Baltimore, 
Maryland (the Facility). Issuance of the amendment would authorize 
release of the Facility for unrestricted use and termination of the NRC 
license. The Licensee requested this action in a letter dated January 
22, 2009. 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. 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

[[Page 55870]]

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 January 22, 2009, 
license amendment request, resulting in release of the Facility for 
unrestricted use and the termination of its NRC materials license. 
License No. 19-09760-02 was issued on July 13, 1990, pursuant to 10 CFR 
part 30, and has been amended periodically since that time. This 
license authorized the Licensee to use unsealed byproduct material for 
purposes of conducting research and development activities on 
laboratory bench tops and in hoods and animal research.
    The Facility is comprised of a 110,000 square foot building and an 
11,520 square foot building consisting of office space and 
laboratories. The Facility is located within a university campus and is 
surrounded by a mixed residential/commercial area. Within the Facility, 
use of licensed materials was confined to an area of 23,637 square 
feet.
    On May 1, 2008, the Licensee ceased licensed activities and 
initiated a survey and decontamination of the Facility. Based on the 
Licensee's historical knowledge of the site and the conditions of the 
Facility, the Licensee determined that only routine decontamination 
activities, in accordance with their NRC-approved, operating radiation 
safety procedures, were required. The Licensee was not required to 
submit a decommissioning plan to the NRC because worker cleanup 
activities and procedures are consistent with those approved for 
routine operations. The Licensee conducted surveys of the Facility and 
provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that it meets the 
criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted release and 
for license termination.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The Licensee has ceased conducting licensed activities at the 
Facility, and seeks the unrestricted use of its Facility and the 
termination of its NRC materials license. Termination of its license 
would end the Licensee's obligation to pay annual license fees to the 
NRC.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The historical review of licensed activities conducted at the 
Facility shows that such activities involved use of the following 
radionuclides with half-lives greater than 120 days: hydrogen-3, 
carbon-14, chlorine-36, cobalt-60, germanium-68/gallium-68, and 
cadmium-109. The cobalt-60 resulted from the operation of the 
Facility's particle accelerator. Prior to performing the final status 
survey, the Licensee conducted decontamination activities, as 
necessary, in the areas of the Facility affected by these 
radionuclides. The Licensee conducted a final status survey during the 
months of June through November 2008. This survey covered all areas 
affected by material usage. The final status survey report was attached 
to the Licensee's amendment request dated January 22, 2009. For 
hydrogen-3, carbon-14, chlorine-36, and cadmium-109, the Licensee 
elected to demonstrate compliance with the radiological criteria for 
unrestricted release as specified in 10 CFR 20.1402 by using the 
screening approach described in NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS 
Decommissioning Guidance,'' Volume 2. The Licensee used the 
radionuclide-specific derived concentration guideline levels (DCGLs), 
developed there by the NRC, which comply with the dose criteria in 10 
CFR 20.1402. These DCGLs define the maximum amount of residual 
radioactivity on building surfaces, equipment, and materials, and in 
soils, that will satisfy the NRC requirements in subpart E of 10 CFR 
part 20 for unrestricted release. However, because the NRC does not 
have a published DCGL for germanium-68 or gallium-68, the licensee used 
surface DCGLs of 5000 disintegrations per minute per 100 square 
centimeters. This value is two or more orders of magnitude lower than 
the NRC's DCGLs for similar beta/gamma emitting radionuclides. The 
Licensee thus determined the maximum amount of residual radioactivity 
on building surfaces, equipment, and materials that will satisfy the 
NRC requirements in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted 
release. However, in the case of cobalt-60, the contamination resulted 
from activation of structures from the operation of the Facility's 
particle accelerator. The Licensee developed a DCGL for volumetric 
contamination with cobalt-60 by conducting site-specific dose modeling 
using input parameters specific to the Facility. The NRC reviewed the 
Licensee's methodology and proposed DCGLs and concluded that the 
proposed DCGLs for germanium-68/gallium-68 and cobalt-60 are acceptable 
for use as release criteria at the Facility. The Licensee's final 
status survey results were below these DCGLs and are in compliance with 
the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) requirement of 10 CFR 
20.1402. The NRC thus finds that the final status survey results are 
acceptable.
    Based on its review, the staff has determined that the affected 
environment and any environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by the ``Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological 
Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities'' 
(NUREG-1496) Volumes 1-3 (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). 
The staff finds there were no significant environmental impacts from 
the use of radioactive material at the Facility. The NRC staff reviewed 
the docket file records and the final status survey report to identify 
any non-radiological hazards that may have impacted 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 NRC staff finds that the proposed release of the Facility for 
unrestricted use and the termination of the NRC materials license is in 
compliance with 10 CFR 20.1402. Based on its review, the staff 
considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the Facility and 
concluded that the proposed action will not have a significant effect 
on the quality of the human environment.

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 NRC's analysis of the Licensee's 
final status survey data confirmed that the Facility meets the 
requirements of 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted release and for license 
termination. 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.

[[Page 55871]]

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 
Maryland Department of the Environment for review on August 7, 2009. On 
September 28, 2009, the Maryland Department of the Environment 
responded by electronic mail. 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 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;'' and
    5. Department of Health & Human Services Termination Request dated 
January 22, 2009 (ML090410267).
    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 
22nd day of October 2009.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. E9-26069 Filed 10-28-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P