[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18807-18809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-8009]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2010-0073]
Proposed Generic Communication; Licensee Justification of Long-
Term Surveillance Charge
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of opportunity for public comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to
issue a regulatory issue summary (RIS) to re-affirm its existing
interpretation of the regulatory policy regarding the scope and
corresponding dollar amount of the long-term surveillance charge (LTSC)
to be paid to the general treasury of the United States, or to an
appropriate State agency. This LTSC is paid prior to the transfer of
title to a uranium mill, covered by Title II of the Uranium Mill
Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) of 1978 (UMTRCA Title II site),
to the long-term custodian for long-term care and license termination.
This Federal Register notice is available through the NRC's Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number
ML102080569.
DATES: Comment period expires May 5, 2011. Comments submitted after
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance
of consideration cannot be given except for comments received on or
before this date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods.
Please include Docket ID NRC-2011-0073 in the subject line of your
comments. Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be
posted on the NRC website and on the Federal rulemaking website
Regulations.gov. Because your comments will not be edited to remove any
identifying or contact information, the NRC cautions you against
including any information in your submission that you do not want to be
publicly disclosed.
The NRC requests that any party soliciting or aggregating comments
received from other persons for submission to the NRC inform those
persons that the NRC will not edit their comments to remove any
identifying or contact information, and therefore, they should not
include any information in their comments that they do not want
publicly disclosed.
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and
search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-2011-0073. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher 301-492-3668; e-mail
[email protected].
Mail comments to: Cindy Bladey, Chief, Rules, Announcements, and
Directives Branch (RADB), Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWB-05-
B01M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or
by fax to RADB at 301-492-3446.
You can access publicly available documents related to this notice
using the following methods:
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR): The public may examine and have
copied for a fee publicly available documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland
20852.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS):
Publicly available documents created or received at the NRC are
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this page, the public can gain
entry into ADAMS, which provides text and image files of NRC's public
documents. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's PDR
reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to
[email protected].
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Public comments and supporting
materials related to this notice can be found at http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID: NRC-2011-0073.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Roman A. Przygodzki at 301-415-
5143 or by e-mail at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Draft Regulatory Issue Summary 2010-XX, ``Licensee Justification of
Long-Term Surveillance Charge''
Addressees
All holders of operating licenses for conventional or heap leach
uranium recovery facilities, all holders of licenses for conventional
or heap leach uranium recovery facilities in
[[Page 18808]]
decommissioning, and all companies that have submitted applications to
construct new conventional or heap leach uranium recovery facilities or
letters of intent to submit such applications, and all UMTRCA Title II
sites.
Intent
NRC is issuing this RIS to reiterate its policy regarding the Long-
Term Surveillance Charge (LTSC) for the applicable uranium recovery
facilities. This RIS, among other things, discusses NRC's existing
policy regarding the scope and corresponding dollar amount of the LTSC
to be paid to the General Treasury of the United States, or to an
appropriate State agency, prior to the transfer of title to the long-
term custodian for long-term care and license termination. No specific
action or written response is required.
Background
Both conventional and heap leach uranium milling processes generate
mill tailings, which are primarily a sandy waste material containing
the radioactive decay products from the uranium chains (mainly the
Uranium-238 chain) and heavy metals. During operations, the tailings
are deposited in a tailings impoundment or disposal cell. The goal of
the tailings impoundment or disposal cell is to provide long-term
protection of human health and safety, to protect the environment, and
to isolate the tailings without ongoing maintenance. Specifically,
Criterion 1 to Appendix A of Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), Part 40 (10 CFR 40) states that:
The general goal or broad objective in siting and design
decisions is permanent isolation of tailings and associated
contaminants by minimizing disturbance and dispersion by natural
forces, and to do so without ongoing maintenance.
Criterion 6 to Appendix A of 10 CFR Part 40 states that licensees
are required to place a cover over the tailings or wastes
``[hellip]which provides reasonable assurance of control of
radiological hazards[hellip]for 1,000 years, to the extent reasonably
achievable, and, in any case, for at least 200 years.''
Prior to license termination, a Long-Term Surveillance Plan (LTSP)
is submitted to NRC for review. According to 10 CFR 40.28(b)(2) and 10
CFR 40.28(b)(3), cited below, groundwater monitoring must be considered
in the LTSP, if required:
(b)(2) A detailed description, which can be in the form of a
reference of the final disposal site conditions, including existing
ground water characterization. This description must be detailed
enough so that future inspectors will have a baseline to determine
changes to the site and when these changes are serious enough to
require maintenance or repairs.
(b)(3) A description of the long-term surveillance program,
including proposed inspection frequency and reporting to the
Commission (as specified in appendix A, Criterion 12 of this part),
frequency and extent of ground water monitoring if required,
appropriate constituent concentration limits for ground water,
inspection personnel qualifications, inspection procedures,
recordkeeping and quality assurance procedures. (emphasis added)
Additionally, prior to license termination, all operators of
uranium mills are required to pay an appropriate LTSC to the General
Treasury of the United States, or the appropriate State agency, as
stated in the following excerpt from Criterion 10 to Appendix A of 10
CFR Part 40:
A minimum charge of $250,000 (1978 dollars) to cover the costs
of long-term surveillance must be paid by each mill operator to the
general treasury of the United States or to an appropriate State
agency prior to the termination of a uranium or thorium mill
license.
The LTSC is a one-time charge, in an amount such that an assumed 1
percent annual real interest rate would provide interest income
sufficient to cover the annual costs of site surveillance incurred by
the long-term custodian. Specifically, the intent of the minimum LTSC
is to cover costs of a ``passive monitoring'' approach to site
surveillance, whose assumptions are described in NUREG-0706, Vol. I,
``Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement of Uranium Milling
Project M-25,'' dated September 1980 (Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System [ADAMS] accession number ML032751663); Appendix R,
``Costs of Post-Operational Site Surveillance'' of NUREG-0706, Vol.
III, ``Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement of Uranium Milling
Project M-25--Appendices G-V,'' dated September 1980 (ADAMS accession
number ML032751669); and ``[NRC] Staff Guidance on the License
Termination Process for Conventional Uranium Mill Licensees,'' dated
November 27, 1996 (ADAMS accession number ML100840671).
Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) raised an issue to
the NRC regarding the minimum LTSC amount paid. Specifically, DOE
inquired as to what long-term care activities would merit an increase
in the LTSC above the minimum amount. DOE stated that, based on actual
costs of site surveillance and control activities, the minimum amount
paid as the LTSC may not be sufficient to cover the costs for the
needed site surveillance and control activities, in certain cases. For
instance, sites with alternate concentration limits (ACLs) may require
increased groundwater monitoring not covered by the ``passive
monitoring'' approach assumed in the development of the minimum LTSC.
In a letter dated June 17, 2010, NRC responded to DOE's query with
regard to what long-term care activities would merit an increase in the
LTSC (ADAMS accession number ML100670337). It is the intent of this RIS
to further clarify the matters discussed in that letter, as well as
state NRC's intent with regard to the review of proposed LTSCs and
financial assurance.
Summary of Issue
Pursuant to Criterion 10 to Appendix A of 10 CFR 40, an escalation
in the LTSC from the minimum charge amount is within NRC's regulatory
authority:
If site surveillance or control requirements at a particular
site are determined, on the basis of a site-specific evaluation, to
be significantly greater than those specified in Criterion
12[hellip]variance in funding requirements may be specified by the
Commission. (emphasis added)
The NRC's position on the LTSC--described in ``[NRC] Staff Guidance
on the License Termination Process for Conventional Uranium Mill
Licensees,'' (ADAMS accession number ML100840671)--is well established
and goes back over 13 years. Escalation of the LTSC is consistent with
NRC's historical practice. The LTSC of the Atlantic Richfield Company's
(ARCO's) Bluewater Uranium Mill and Tailings site was escalated for
sampling of groundwater (ML103410026). At the Sohio Western Mining
Company's L-Bar uranium mill tailings site, the LTSC was escalated for
the maintenance required to address of future accumulation of
sedimentation in the diversion channels (ADAMS accession numbers
ML042580467 and ML042580457).
Provided that there is a nexus to radiological health and safety,
the NRC may consider escalating the LTSC above the minimum amount,
adjusted to current year dollars. The increased LTSC would address
long-term maintenance and control activities if site surveillance or
control requirements are expected to be greater than those specified in
Criterion 12 to Appendix A of 10 CFR 40 to cover such measures relied
on for the performance of the tailings impoundment. The NRC may
consider escalating the LTSC for long-term maintenance and control
activities undertaken to ensure maintenance of radiological health and
safety such as,
[[Page 18809]]
but not limited to: (1) Groundwater monitoring; (2), rip-rap, erosion
or other cover repair; (3) fencing; and (4) vegetation control.
Consistent with past practice, on a site-specific basis, NRC staff
will continue to work with the custodial agency and the licensee to
address the LTSC, with any final variances in the funding requirements
to be determined solely by the NRC. If the custodial agency desires to
have commitments in the LTSP that exceed the requirements set forth in
Appendix A of 10 CFR 40 and do not have a nexus to radiological health
and safety (e.g., fencing that is not necessary to ensure maintenance
of radiological health and safety), the custodial agency would need to
identify a funding mechanism to meet these desired commitments.
Annual updates to financial assurance for decommissioning submitted
to NRC should contain a detailed basis (e.g., unit cost and units) and
justification for the LTSC calculated by the licensee or license
applicant. The licensee should consider all activities for site
surveillance and control as specified in Criterion 12 to Appendix A of
10 CFR 40, including groundwater monitoring. For groundwater
monitoring, the licensee or applicant should specify, with a sufficient
basis, the number of wells to be sampled; the frequency of sampling;
the duration of sampling; and the constituents analyzed during long-
term site surveillance and control. If site surveillance or control
requirements, including groundwater monitoring, are expected to be
greater than those specified in Criterion 12 to Appendix A of 10 CFR
40, the licensee should fully describe the activities needed with a
basis for their costs, propose an escalation in the LTSC, and provide
an overall bottom-line amount, corresponding to the proposed, escalated
LTSC.
Federal Register Notification
To be done after the public comment period.
Congressional Review Act
This RIS is not a rule as designated in the Congressional Review
Act (5 U.S.C. 801-886) and, therefore, is not subject to the Act.
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
This RIS contains and references information collection
requirements that are subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Existing information collection requirements
were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, approval number
3150-0020.
Public Protection Notification
The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a request for information or an information collection
requirement unless the requesting document displays a currently valid
OMB control number.
Contact
This RIS requires no specific action or written response. If you
have any questions about this summary, please contact the technical
contact listed below.
Technical Contact: Roman A. Przygodzki, DWMEP/SPB, (301) 415-5143,
E-mail: [email protected].
Note: The NRC's generic communications may be found on the NRC
public Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, under Electronic Reading Room/
Document Collections.
End of Draft Regulatory Issue Summary
Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's
Public Document Room at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be
accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the
Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html.
If you do not have access to ADAMS or if you have problems in accessing
the documents in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR)
reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to
[email protected].
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 28th day of March 2011.
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. 2011-8009 Filed 4-4-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P