[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 68 (Friday, April 8, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19794-19795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-8419]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-01179; NRC-2011-0078]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for the University of 
Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack E. Whitten, Chief, Nuclear 
Materials Safety Branch B, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region 
IV Office, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Arlington, Texas, 76011. 
Telephone: 817-860-8197; fax number: 817-860-8188; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance 
of a license amendment to Material License No. 50-02430-07, issued to 
the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (the licensee), to authorize the 
release of an incinerator previously used at the Arctic Health Research 
Building for unrestricted use and for removal from the license. The NRC 
has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this 
amendment in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based 
on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant 
Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following 
the publication of this Notice.

II. EA Summary

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to allow for the release 
of an incinerator previously used at the Arctic Health Research 
Building, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, for 
unrestricted use and removal from the license. The licensee was 
authorized by the NRC on June 28, 1982, to begin using an incinerator 
to dispose of radioactive wastes. The licensee has used this 
incinerator to dispose of biologically hazardous wastes containing low-
level radioactive materials. On July 30, 2008, the licensee requested 
authorization to decommission this incinerator. The licensee stated 
that it had disposed of wastes containing low levels of hydrogen-3 
(tritium) and carbon-14 by incineration. The licensee also disposed of 
wastes containing phosphorus-32, sulfur-35, and iodine-125 via 
incinerator after the radioisotopes were allowed to decay in storage. 
The licensee's submittal included radiological survey results for the 
incinerator, the area around the incinerator, and accessible areas of 
the discharge stack. The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's submittal 
and requested additional information about the proposed decommissioning 
plan. The licensee responded with additional information by letter 
dated July 12, 2009. The licensee conducted an historical assessment 
and concluded that the incinerator had been used for 17 years. The 
licensee estimated that it had disposed of wastes containing about 19 
millicuries (0.7 gigabecquerels) of hydrogen-3 (tritium) and about 13 
millicuries (0.47 gigabecquerels) of carbon-14. All other radionuclides 
that were incinerated had short half-lives (less than 88 days) and were 
allowed to decay in storage prior to incineration. The licensee 
included additional survey measurements of the accessible areas of the 
incinerator in its second submittal. The NRC subsequently approved the 
decommissioning plan by license amendment dated August 12, 2009. The 
licensee completed decommissioning and submitted a final status survey 
report to the NRC by letter dated November 16, 2009. The final status 
survey report included survey data for the discharge stack, data 
collected from areas that were inaccessible during previous surveys.
    The NRC staff conducted a technical review of the licensee's 
radiological survey data. The licensee's final status survey results 
were well below the NRC's screening values for hydrogen-3 and carbon-14 
as presented in NUREG-1757, Volume 1, Revision 2, ``Consolidated 
Decommissioning Guidance: Decommissioning Process for Materials 
Licensees,'' Table B.1, Acceptable License Termination Screening Values 
of Common Radionuclides for Building-Surface Contamination.'' The NRC 
staff also compared the final status survey results to the equipment 
release criteria provided in Regulatory Guide 1.86, ``Termination of 
Operating Licenses for Nuclear Reactors,'' Table 1, Acceptable Surface 
Contamination Levels. In summary, the licensee conducted radiological 
surveys of the incinerator and provided sufficient information to the 
NRC demonstrating that the incinerator meets the license termination 
criteria specified in Subpart E to 10 CFR Part 20 for unrestricted 
release of the incinerator. The staff has prepared this EA in support 
of the proposed license amendment.
    This proposed license amendment will allow the licensee to free-
release the decommissioned incinerator without any radiological 
restrictions. In accordance with the current license, the licensee will 
continue to be authorized to dispose of biologically hazardous wastes 
containing limited quantities of licensed radioactive material using a 
different incinerator.
    The staff has prepared this EA in support of the proposed license 
amendment to release the incinerator for unrestricted use. The staff 
has found that the radiological environmental impacts from the proposed 
amendment 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 Facilities'' (NUREG-
1496). The staff has also found that the non-radiological impacts are 
not significant. The staff consulted with the State of Alaska, and the 
State had no comments on the proposed action.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of this EA, NRC has concluded that there are no 
significant environmental impacts from the proposed amendment and has 
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
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 Agency Wide 
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and 
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for 
the documents related to this notice are:

1. NRC, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of 
Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-
Licensed Nuclear Facilities,''

[[Page 19795]]

NUREG-1496, July 1997 (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385).
2. Martinson, Tracey A., University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Licensee 
letter requesting release of incinerator, July 30, 2008 (ML082420967).
3. NRC, Request for additional information, June 4, 2009 (ML091560189).
4. Martinson, Tracey A., University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Proposed 
decommissioning plan, July 12, 2009 (ML110310647).
5. NRC, License amendment, August 12, 2009 (ML092240357).
6. Martinson, Tracey A., University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Final status 
survey report, November 16, 2009 (ML093641107).

    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 or 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 Public Document Room (PDR), O-1F21, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR 
reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    Dated at Arlington, Texas this 31st day of March 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jack E. Whitten,
Chief, Nuclear Materials Safety Branch B, Division of Nuclear Materials 
Safety, Region IV.
[FR Doc. 2011-8419 Filed 4-7-11; 8:45 am]
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