[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 86 (Thursday, May 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26317-26318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10700]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[[Docket No. 50-133; License DPR-007; NRC-2012-0101]


Exemption of Material for Proposed Disposal Procedures for the 
Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit 3, Eureka, CA

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Hickman, Division of Waste 
Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Federal and State 
Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop: T8F5, Washington, DC 20555-00001, 
telephone: (301) 415-3017, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is considering a 
request dated June 7, 2011, as supplemented E-Mail dated January 9, 
2012, by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E, the licensee) for 
alternate disposal of approximately 2,000,000 cubic feet of hazardous 
waste containing low-activity radioactive debris, at the US Ecology 
Idaho (USEI) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C 
hazardous disposal facility located near Grand View, Idaho. This 
request was made under the alternate disposal provision contained in 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 20.2002, and the 
exemption provision in 10 CFR 30.11.
    This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been developed in accordance 
with the requirements of 10 CFR 51.21.

II. Environmental Assessment

Identification of Proposed Action

    On July 2, 1976, Humboldt Bay Power Plant (HBPP) Unit 3 was shut 
down for annual refueling and to conduct seismic modifications. In 
1983, updated economic analyses indicated that restarting Unit 3 would 
probably not be cost-effective, and in June 1983, Pacific Gas and 
Electric Company (PG&E) announced its intention to decommission the 
unit. On July 16, 1985, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
issued Amendment No. 19 to the HBPP Unit 3 Operating License to change 
the status to possess-but-not-operate. In December of 2008, the 
transfer of spent fuel from the fuel storage pool to the dry-cask 
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation was completed, and the 
decontamination and dismantlement phase of HBPP Unit 3 decommissioning 
commenced.
    PG&E requested NRC authorization for the disposal of waste from the 
HBPP at the US Ecology Idaho (USEI) facility in accordance with 10 CFR 
20.2002. This waste would be generated during the decommissioning of 
the nuclear Unit 3. This waste consists of approximately 2,000,000 
cubic feet (56,634 cubic meters) of hazardous waste, soil, and debris 
containing low-activity radioactive debris generated during the 
demolition of structures and remediation activities at Unit 3.
    The waste would be transported by truck from HBPP in Eureka, CA to 
the USEI facility, Grand View, Idaho in the Owyhee Desert. The USEI 
facility is a Subtitle C RCRA hazardous waste disposal facility 
permitted by the State of Idaho. The USEI site has both natural and 
engineered features that limit the transport of radioactive material. 
The natural features include the low precipitation rate [i.e., 18.4 cm/
y (7.4 in. per year)] and the long vertical distance to groundwater 
(i.e., 61-meter (203-ft) thick on average unsaturated zone below the 
disposal zone). The engineered features include an engineered cover, 
liners and leachate monitoring systems. Because the USEI facility is 
not licensed by the NRC, this proposed action would require the NRC to 
exempt the low-contaminated material authorized for disposal from 
further AEA and NRC licensing requirements.

Need for Proposed Action

    The subject waste material consists of hazardous waste, soil, and 
debris containing low-activity radioactive debris generated during the 
demolition of structures and remediation activities at Unit 3. This 
proposed alternate disposal would conserve low-level radioactive waste 
disposal capacity.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC staff has reviewed the evaluation performed by the Licensee 
to demonstrate compliance with the 10 CFR 20.2002 alternate disposal 
criteria. Under these criteria, a licensee may seek NRC authorization 
to dispose of licensed material using procedures not otherwise 
authorized by the NRC's regulations. A licensee's supporting analysis 
must show that the radiological doses arising from the proposed 10 CFR 
20.2002 disposal will be as low as reasonably achievable and within the 
10 CFR part 20 dose limits.
    PG&E performed a radiological assessment in consultation with USEI. 
Based on this assessment, PG&E concludes that potential doses to 
members of the public, including workers involved in the transportation 
and placement of this waste will be approximately one millirem total 
effective dose equivalent (TEDE) in one calendar year for this project, 
and well within the ``few millirem'' criteria that the NRC has 
established.
    The staff evaluated activities and potential doses associated with 
transportation, waste handling and disposal as part of the review of 
this 10 CFR 20.2002 application. The projected doses to individual 
transportation and USEI workers have been appropriately estimated and 
are demonstrated to meet the NRC's alternate disposal requirement of 
contributing a dose of not more than ``a few millirem per year'' to any 
member of the public. Independent review of the post-closure and 
intruder scenarios confirmed that the maximum projected dose over a 
period of 1,000 years is also within ``a few millirem per year.'' 
Additionally, the proposed action will not significantly increase the 
probability or consequences of accidents and there is no significant 
increase in occupational or public radiation exposures.

[[Page 26318]]

    With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. The 
proposed action does not affect non-radiological plant effluents, air 
quality or noise.
    The proposed action and attendant exemption of the material from 
further AEA and NRC licensing requirements will not significantly 
increase the probability or consequences of accidents, no changes are 
being made in the types of any effluents that may be released off site, 
and there is no significant increase in occupational or public 
radiation exposure.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    Due to the very small amounts of radioactive material involved, the 
environmental impacts of the proposed action are small. Therefore, the 
only alternative the staff considered is the no-action alternative, 
under which the staff would deny the disposal request. This denial of 
the 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 will not 
significantly impact the quality of the human environment, and that the 
proposed action is the preferred alternative.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    The NRC provided a draft of this Environmental Assessment to the 
State of Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for review on 
February 29, 2012. The State 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 and 
supporting documentation, are available online in the NRC Library 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 numbers.
    (1) Letter dated June 7, 2011, ``Humboldt Bay Power Plant Unit 3, 
Request for 10 CFR 20.2002 Alternate Disposal Approval and 10 CFR 30.11 
Exemption of Humboldt Bay Power Plant Waste for Disposal at US Ecology 
Idaho [ADAMS Accession Number ML11160A211].
    (2) E-Mail dated January 9, 2012, providing responses to a request 
for additional information and corrected information for the prior 
submittal [ADAMS Accession Number ML120330349].
    (3) NRC letter dated November 2, 2010, approving prior request from 
Humboldt Bay for 10 CFR 20.2002 alternate disposal and 10 CFR 30.11 
exemption [ADAMS Accession Number ML102870344].
    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 email to [email protected]. These documents may also be viewed 
electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 
The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.

    For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of April, 2012.
Paul Michalak,
Acting 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. 2012-10700 Filed 5-2-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P