[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 30 (Monday, February 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8382-8383]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-3226]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 04000341; NRC-2009-0539]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact For License Amendment to Source Materials License 
No. STC-133 for Unrestricted Release of The Defense Logistics Agency, 
DLA Strategic Materials Depot, in New Haven, IN

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: Dennis Lawyer, Health Physicist, 
Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region 
1, 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 Source Materials License No. STC-
133. This license is held by Defense Logistics Agency, DLA Strategic 
Materials (the Licensee), for its Depot located on State Route 14 in 
New Haven, Indiana (the Facility). Issuance of the amendment would 
authorize release of the Facility for unrestricted use. The Licensee 
requested this action in a letter dated February 24, 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 (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 February 24, 2009, 
license amendment request, resulting in release of the Facility for 
unrestricted use. License No. STC-133 was issued on February 14, 1957, 
pursuant to 10 CFR Part 40, and has been amended periodically since 
that time. This license authorized the Licensee to have unsealed source 
material for purposes of storage, sampling, repackaging, and transfer.
    The Facility is situated on 268 acres and consists of warehouses 
and other office and support buildings. The Facility is located in a 
mixed rural and industrial area. Within the Facility, use of licensed 
materials was confined to the locations as described in the Licensee's 
Final Status Survey Report dated January 2009. Locations included 
outside storage areas covering 2300 square meters; warehouses 210-215 
covering 16,054 square meters; and support buildings 136, 141, 145, and 
146.
    On September 24, 2004, 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 were consistent with those approved for 
routine operations (i.e., these procedures could not increase the 
potential health and safety impacts to workers or the public). 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.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The Licensee has ceased conducting licensed activities at the 
Facility, and seeks the unrestricted use of its Facility.

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: natural uranium 
and thorium mixtures. 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 final status surveys during October and 
November 2006; June, August, and September 2007; and February 2008. 
These surveys covered the affected areas of the facility. The final 
status survey report was attached to the Licensee's amendment request 
dated February 24, 2009. The Licensee elected to demonstrate compliance 
with the radiological criteria for unrestricted release as specified in 
10 CFR 20.1402 by developing derived concentration guideline levels 
(DCGLs) for its Facility. The Licensee conducted site-specific dose 
modeling using input parameters specific to the Facility, which 
included the soil's site-specific physical properties. The Licensee 
thus determined the maximum amount of residual radioactivity on 
building surfaces, equipment, materials and soils that will satisfy the 
NRC requirements in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20 for unrestricted 
release. The NRC previously reviewed the Licensee's methodology and 
proposed DCGLs, and concluded that the proposed DCGLs are acceptable 
for use as release criteria at the Facility. The NRC's approval of the 
Licensee's proposed DCGLs was published in the Federal Register on 
December 8, 2009 (74 FR 64762). The Licensee's final status survey 
results were below these DCGLs, and are thus acceptable.
    The NRC staff had confirmatory surveys conducted during October 5-
8, 2009. Some of the area results indicated a need to perform further 
investigation sampling. The Licensee completed additional sampling and 
mitigation and final surveys during July 2010. The NRC staff conducted 
a follow up confirmatory survey on July 22 and 23, 2010, and performed 
an inspection of the licensee's sampling, mitigation, and final status 
survey. None of the final confirmatory sample results exceeded the 
DCGLs established for the Facility. 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

[[Page 8383]]

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). Because the GEIS found that there were 
no significant impacts for the facility that bounds the Facility, 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 40.42, requiring that decommissioning of source 
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 the NRC has no reason not to 
approve release of the Facility. 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 has concluded that the proposed action is consistent 
with the NRC's unrestricted release criteria specified in 10 CFR 
20.1402 and that the proposed action will not significantly impact the 
quality of the human environment.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    NRC provided a draft of this Environmental Assessment to the 
Indiana State Department of Health for review on January 7, 2011. On 
January 12, 2011, Indiana State Department of Health, Radiological 
Health Program 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 Document 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. Defense Logistics Agency request letter dated February 24, 2009 
[ML090630138]
    6. Defense Logistics Agency deficiency response letter dated May 
19, 2009 [ML091410397]
    7. Defense Logistics Agency deficiency response letter dated July 
27, 2009 [ML092110028]
    8. Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Report dated 
February 2010 [ML092800227]
    9. Defense Logistics Agency deficiency response letter dated April 
8, 2010 [ML101030841]
    10. Defense Logistics Agency additional information letter dated 
October 21, 2010 [ML102950429]
    11. Defense Logistics Agency additional information letter dated 
November 10, 2010 [ML103200071]
    12. Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education letter dated 
August 20, 2010 [ML102430288]
    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, O1 
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 
The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Region 1, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia this 2nd 
day of February 2011.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region 1.
[FR Doc. 2011-3226 Filed 2-11-11; 8:45 am]
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