[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]
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