[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 218 (Thursday, November 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70170-70173]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29129]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[NRC-2011-0258]


Proposed Alternative Soils Standards for the Uravan, Colorado 
Uranium Mill

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Uranium milling alternative standards.

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SUMMARY: By letter dated October 10, 2007, the Colorado Department of 
Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE)'s, Hazardous Materials and 
Waste Management Division (the Division) submitted a proposal for 
alternative standards for soil clean up in four areas of the Uravan 
Site in Montrose County, Colorado. The Division approved the proposed 
alternative standards and requested the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission's (NRC or the Commission) concurrence. Colorado's proposed 
alternative soil standards are to leave the remaining radioactive 
contamination in place in these four areas without any further 
remediation. The NRC staff has determined that Colorado's proposal 
constitutes use of alternative standards. Under Section 274o of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), the Commission must 
make a determination that such alternatives will achieve a level of 
stabilization and containment of the sites concerned, and a level of 
protection for public health, safety, and the environment from 
radiological and non-radiological hazards associated with such sites, 
after notice and opportunity for public hearing. Through this action, 
the Commission intends to fulfill both the notice and opportunity for 
public hearing provisions of Section 274o.

DATES: Submit comments by December 12, 2011. Comments received after 
this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the 
Commission cannot assure consideration of comments received after this 
date.

ADDRESSES: Please include Docket ID NRC-2011-0258 in the subject line 
of your comments. For additional instructions on submitting comments 
and instructions on accessing documents related to this action, see 
``Submitting Comments and Accessing Information'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document. You may submit comments by any 
one of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for documents filed under Docket ID NRC-
2011-0258. Address questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher, 
telephone: (301) 492-3668; email: [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.
     Fax comments to: RADB at (301) 492-3446.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis M. Sollenberger, Office of 
Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 
(301) 415-2819; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Submitting Comments and Accessing Information

    Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form will be posted 
on the NRC Web site and on the Federal rulemaking Web site, http://www.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

[[Page 70171]]

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.
    You can access publicly available documents including comments 
related to this proposed action 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, 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 online in the NRC Library 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 the 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 email to 
[email protected].
     Federal Rulemaking Web Site: Public comments and 
supporting materials related to this proposed action can be found at 
http://www.regulations.gov by searching on Docket ID NRC-2011-0258.

Background

    Since Section 274 of the Act was added in 1959, the Commission has 
entered into Agreements with 37 States that relinquished Federal 
authority. Under these agreements, regulatory authority was assumed by 
each State under State law to regulate certain radioactive materials 
within the State. The NRC periodically reviews the performance of the 
Agreement States to assure compliance with the provisions of Section 
274. In 1978, the Act was further amended by adding a new subsection, 
Section 274o, which required Agreement States to specifically amend 
their Agreements to regulate uranium mill tailings (11e.(2) byproduct 
material). Six Agreement States have this authority as part of their 
Agreements. Under Section 274o of the Act, an Agreement State may adopt 
site-specific alternative standards with respect to sites at which ores 
are processed primarily for their source material content or which are 
used for the disposal of Section 11e.(2) byproduct material. Before the 
State can adopt alternative standards, the Commission must make the 
determination that the alternative standards will achieve a level of 
stabilization and containment of the site concerned, and the 
alternative standards will provide an adequate level of protection for 
public health, safety, and the environment from radiological and non-
radiological hazards associated with the site. In addition, before 
making that determination, the NRC must provide notice and an 
opportunity for public hearing prior to approving the site-specific 
alternative standards. The Commission is using the notice and 
opportunity for comment process through this Federal Register notice to 
fulfill both the notice and opportunity for public hearing provisions 
of the Act.
    This approach of allowing interested persons to provide comments 
before the Commission reaches a determination on the proposed 
alternative standards was approved by the Commission in the Staff 
Requirements Memorandum (SRM) for SECY-03-0025, ``Utah Alternative 
Groundwater Protection Standards; Process for Implementation of the 
Alternative Standards Provision in Section 274o of the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954, As Amended,'' dated April 21, 2003 (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML032901053 for the SRM, ML032901045 for the SECY paper). The NRC staff 
is following the same process and has evaluated the Colorado proposal 
and has made a preliminary determination that the proposed alternative 
standards for the Uravan site in Colorado are acceptable.

Discussion

    The Uravan site began operations in 1912 as a radium mill and later 
expanded operations to include extraction of other metals including 
uranium. The Uravan site was a licensed and operating mill at the time 
of passage of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 
(UMTRCA) (November 1978) making it subject to regulation under Title II 
of UMTRCA, even though some of the contamination was a result of 
practices going back to earlier operations. Specific mention of this 
situation and calls for active programs to address residual 
contamination during the operational phase are mentioned in NUREG-0706, 
Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Uranium Milling (ADAMS 
Accession Nos. ML032751663, ML032751667, ML032751669). This site is 
part of the UMTRCA Title II program administered by the CDPHE through 
its Section 274b Agreement with the NRC. The Uravan mill ceased 
operations in 1984 and began decommissioning planning and 
implementation. Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), this site was listed on the 
National Priorities List (NPL) in 1986. The CDPHE is designated as the 
Lead Agency at this site under a Memorandum of Agreement signed with 
Region VIII of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1986.
    The site covers over 500 acres, most of which is in very steep, 
rugged terrain. The remainder of the site is dominated by the San 
Miguel River Valley. Remedial activities have concluded and the final 
cap is in place over the disposal areas.
    Portions of the site will be titled to the U.S. Department of 
Energy (DOE) for Legacy Management. Other portions of the site will be 
transferred to other Federal agencies (e.g., Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM)) or to a land trust for institutional management. Montrose County 
Road Y-11 bisects the site.
    The CDPHE believes the licensee has remediated the site to the 
extent practical and has identified four discrete areas that are not in 
full compliance with the soil remediation standards. The licensee has 
proposed and CDPHE agrees that no further remediation is warranted for 
these areas.
    This is the first site specific alternative standards to be 
proposed by an Agreement State (generic alternative standards were 
proposed and approved for Utah). There is a provision for alternative 
standards in the introduction to Appendix A of 6 CCR (Code of Colorado 
Regulations) 1007-1, part 18 (equivalent to Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR), part 40, Appendix A) which allows for 
``alternates to the requirements with Commission approval.'' This is 
based on language found in Section 274o of the Act. Section 274o states 
in part that,

    ``* * * the State may adopt alternatives (including, where 
appropriate, site-specific alternatives) to the requirements adopted 
and enforced by the Commission for the same purpose if after notice 
and opportunity for public hearing, the Commission determines that 
such alternatives will achieve a level of stabilization and 
containment of the sites concerned, and a level of protection for 
public health, safety, and the environment from radiological and 
non-radiological hazards associated with such sites, which is 
equivalent to, to the extent practicable, or more stringent than the 
level which would be achieved by standards and requirements adopted 
and enforced by the Commission for the same purpose and any final 
standards promulgated by the Administrator of the EPA

[[Page 70172]]

in accordance with Section 275. Such alternative State requirements 
may take into account local or regional conditions, including 
geology, typography, hydrology, and meteorology.''

Similar language codifying this requirement can be found in 10 CFR 
150.31(d).

    The NRC's Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards 
informed NRC's Region IV in 1988, in a memorandum titled, ``Use of 
Title I Supplemental Standards for Title II'' (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML111670171), that, if a request for alternative standards was to be 
considered, the application of 40 CFR 192.21, Supplemental Standards, 
as guidance would be appropriate. The Uravan Consent Decree and 
Remedial Action Plan approved by the federal district court in 1987, 
included the possible use of Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate 
Requirements (ARARs). If alternative standards are agreed to by the 
NRC, the alternative standards could be used as part of the basis for 
the State of Colorado and the EPA to proceed with delisting the Uravan 
site from the NPL.
    Four discrete areas of the site (about 40 acres total) could not 
meet the standard for background level of radium-226 in soil, found in 
the Colorado Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Radiation Control, 6 
CCR 1007-1, Part 18, Appendix A, Criterion 6. This standard is that the 
background level is not exceeded by more than 5 pCi/g (picocuries per 
gram) of radium-226 averaged over the first 15 centimeters (cm) below 
the surface and 15 pCi/g of radium-226 averaged over 15 cm thick layers 
more than 15 cm below the surface. The four discrete areas are referred 
to as: the Mill Hillside Area; A-Plant North Area; River Ponds Area; 
and County Road Y-11. The areas were remediated as best as practical, 
and the specifics are described in the licensee's report submitted to 
the CDPHE (ADAMS Accession No. ML081150505). The licensee proposed to 
the CDPHE that alternative standards be applied to these four areas of 
the Uravan site. The licensee's proposal to the CDPHE was to leave the 
remaining materials in place and conduct no further remediation.
    The CDPHE has accepted the licensee's report and believes the areas 
were remediated to levels that are ALARA, and are protective of public 
health. This conclusion is further supported by applying the criteria 
for supplemental standards in UMTRCA Title I standards in 40 CFR 
192.21, and through dose calculations for reasonable future use given 
the status of the areas after the termination of the specific license 
and long-term care of the site by DOE. The CDPHE recommended the 
application of the contemporary dose limit for restricted release found 
in the License Termination Rule (LTR), which in Colorado regulation is 
found at CCR (Code of Colorado Regulations) 1007-04, Section 61.3. 
Since the federal LTR explicitly excludes uranium milling facilities 
already subject to Appendix A to 10 CFR part 40 and since the 
licensee's proposed alternative standards were developed using the 
Title I supplemental standards that are specific to uranium milling 
facilities, the NRC staff does not recommend pursuing the use of the 
LTR standard for this uranium recovery facility.
    Challenges to worker safety prevented additional remediation along 
the cliff face that makes up a majority of the Mill Hillside Area under 
consideration for alternate standards. Remediation was performed as 
much as possible and was terminated when safety to workers became too 
much of a risk, costs continued show diminishing returns, and concern 
arose that additional removal could cause mass wasting of the cliff 
face which would cause environmental harm to the riparian area and the 
San Miguel River. Two other areas, the River Ponds Area and the A-Plant 
North Area, were cleaned as much as possible prior to annual spring 
flooding that has since buried the areas under up to 3 feet of sediment 
(the San Miguel River is a free-flowing river and does not have any 
dams to control flow). This riparian area now hosts fauna and wildlife 
that would not be best served if remediation were to continue. The 
final area, County Road Y-11, has contaminated materials present at 
depths greater than 3 feet, assuring that routine maintenance 
activities of the road can be conducted without creating worker 
exposure. County Road Y-11 will remain under institutional controls 
agreed to by the County, BLM, and DOE.
    The alternative standards will be protective even if institutional 
controls fail in the distant future. This is based on two limited 
assumptions: (1) The cliff face will not be developed for residential 
construction, and (2) the San Miguel River will not be relocated. Both 
of these assumptions are realistic.
    All four areas have been cleaned to levels that are considered 
ALARA, will be under permanent institutional control, and meet the EPA 
supplemental standards requirements in 40 CFR 192.21. Additional 
cleanup work in the areas would present safety or environmental 
challenges with little corresponding reduction in dose. Therefore, the 
NRC staff believes the four areas are candidates for alternative 
standards.
    The NRC staff evaluated Colorado's proposed alternate soil 
standards for the four discrete areas and the justification for the 
alternate soil standards for the Uravan Site in Montrose County, 
Colorado (CO RML 660-02). The individual areas are discussed in more 
detail in the NRC staff's assessment (ADAMS Accession No. ML11220A308).
    Therefore, the NRC staff has made a preliminary determination that 
the State's proposal to leave the materials in place provides levels of 
protection to public health and safety and protection of the 
environment from radiological and non-radiological hazards associated 
with each of the four areas, that are equivalent to, to the extent 
practicable, or more stringent than levels which would be achieved by 
the standards and requirements adopted and enforced by the Commission 
for the same purpose (specifically the soil cleanup standards for 
radium) contained in 10 CFR Part 40, Appendix A and the Colorado 
requirements in 6 CCR 1007-1, Part 18, Appendix A.

Section 274o Hearing for Alternative Standards

    The Commission has approved the use of a hearing process similar to 
the provisions in Subpart H of 10 CFR part 2 for the ``hearing'' 
component required by the last paragraph of Section 274o of the Act. 
The proposed alternate standards have been reviewed and agreed to by 
the State of Colorado. A hearing process similar to the provisions in 
Subpart H is not intended to duplicate the State's process; rather, it 
will be used to provide sufficient information for the Commission to 
make the determination required in Section 274o of the Act.
    Pursuant to the hearing process set forth in Subpart H of 10 CFR 
part 2, the Commission is requesting information from interested 
members of the public on the alternative standards proposed by the 
State of Colorado of leaving the remaining residual soil contamination 
in place in the four designated areas, in lieu of clean up to the 5/15 
pCi/g standard in 10 CFR part 40, Appendix A, Criterion 6.6. The NRC 
staff will evaluate the information received and provide the 
information to the Commission for a final determination. The issue 
under consideration is:

    Do the Colorado proposed alterative soil standards for the four 
discrete areas of the Uravan site achieve a level of stabilization 
and containment of the sites concerned, and a level of protection 
for public health, safety and the environment from radiological and 
non-radiological hazards associated with

[[Page 70173]]

such sites, which is equivalent to, to the extent practicable, or 
more stringent than the level which would be achieved by standards 
and requirements adopted and enforced by the Commission for the same 
purpose and any final standards promulgated by the Administrator of 
the EPA in accordance with Section 275 of the Act?

Environmental Analysis

    The environmental impact of a Commission determination that an 
Agreement State's alternative standards have been found to provide a 
level of protection that is equivalent to, to the extent practicable, 
or more stringent than standards promulgated by the NRC or the 
Administrator of the EPA under Section 275 of the Act is within the 
generic impact analysis conducted by the NRC and the EPA in 
promulgating their standards and the requirements (NUREG-0706, ``Final 
Generic Environmental Impact Statement on Uranium Milling,'' (ADAMS 
Accession Nos. ML032751663, ML032751667, and ML032751669) and EPA 520/
1-83-008, ``Final Environmental Impact Statement for Standards for the 
Control of Byproduct Materials from Uranium Processing'' (ADAMS 
Accession Nos. ML032751396 and ML032751400)). Any site-specific 
application of alternative standards in Agreement States will be 
evaluated under the State's environmental assessment required of the 
State under Section 274o of the Act.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of November, 2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brian J. McDermott,
Director, Division of Materials Safety and State Agreements, Office of 
Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-29129 Filed 11-9-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P