[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 17, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63897-63898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25537]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket Nos. 50-30 and 50-185; NRC-2012-0243]


Notice of License Terminations for National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration; Plum Brook Reactor and Plum Brook Mock-Up Reactor

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is 
noticing the termination of the National Aeronautic and Space 
Administration (NASA) Facility License Nos.TR-3 and R-93 for the Plum 
Brook Reactor Facility (PBRF) near Sandusky, Ohio.
    The NRC has terminated the two licenses for the decommissioned NASA 
PBRF reactors and has released the site for unrestricted use. The 
licensee requested termination of the licenses in a letter to the NRC 
dated September 18, 2012 (Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS) Accession Number ML12268A326). The Plum Brook Reactor 
was a 60-megawatt materials test reactor, constructed to perform 
irradiation testing of fueled and unfueled experiments for space 
program applications. The Plum Brook Mock-up Reactor was a 100-kilowatt 
swimming-pool type reactor constructed to test ``mock-up'' irradiation 
components for the Plum Brook Reactor. The reactors operated from 1961 
to 1973. In 1973, the PBRF reactors were shutdown.
    The licensee submitted a proposed decommissioning plan to the NRC 
for review and approval in a letter dated December 20, 1999 (ADAMS 
Accession Numbers ML993630054 and ML993630075). A notice and 
solicitation of comments under sections 20.1405 and 50.82(b)(5) of 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), concerning the 
proposed action to decommission the NASA PBRF, appeared in the Federal 
Register (65 FR

[[Page 63898]]

12040; March 7, 2000). Prior to issuance of the amendments, the 
Commission published an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No 
Significant Impact concerning this action in the Federal Register (65 
FR 16421; March 28, 2000). On March 20, 2002, the NRC approved the 
decommissioning plan by Amendment No. 11 to License TR-3 and Amendment 
No. 7 to License No. R-93 (ADAMS Accession Number ML020390069).
    In 2007, the licensee submitted a revised Final Status Survey Plan 
and a request for amendment to the licenses incorporating this plan 
prior to performing final radiation surveys (ADAMS Accession Numbers 
ML070450166, ML070450170 and ML070450171). The NRC published a ``Notice 
of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating 
Licenses, Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, 
and Opportunity for a Hearing'' for the PBRF in the Federal Register 
(72 FR 46521; August 20, 2007). On March 24, 2008, the NRC approved the 
revised Final Status Survey Plan by License Amendment No. 13 to License 
TR-3 and Amendment No. 9 to License R-93 (ADAMS Accession Number 
ML073020311). Following the issuance of the license amendments, the 
licensee revised the decommissioning plan (ADAMS Accession Number 
ML082070086) to reflect the approval of the revised Final Status Survey 
Plan.
    The licensee completed final status surveys and documented the 
survey results in the Final Status Survey Report (FSSR). The FSSR 
consists of one summary report and eighteen attachments each 
documenting final status survey results for different areas of the 
facility. The FSSR documented the level of residual radioactivity 
remaining at the facility. The licensee stated that radiological 
remediation of all areas of the PBRF has been completed and the 
facility meets the criteria for unrestricted release specified in 10 
CFR 20.1402. The NRC completed its review of the FSSR, and the NRC 
staff verified that the criteria in the approved decommissioning plan 
has been met and determined that the facility and site met the criteria 
in 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted use. The NRC review was documented 
in a Technical Evaluation Report and included in its response (ADAMS 
Accession Number ML12223A244) to the licensee's request for termination 
of licenses.
    Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(b)(6), the NRC staff has concluded that 
the PBRF has been decommissioned in accordance with the approved 
decommissioning plan and that the terminal radiation survey and 
associated documentation demonstrate that the facility and site may be 
released in accordance with the criteria in the NRC-approved 
decommissioning plan. Further, on the basis of the decommissioning 
activities carried out by NASA, the NRC's review of the licensee's 
FSSR, and the results of the NRC inspections conducted at the PBRF and 
the NRC confirmatory surveys, the NRC has concluded that the 
decommissioning process is complete and the facility and site may be 
released for unrestricted use. Therefore, Facility Licenses Nos. TR-3 
and R-93 are terminated.
    For further details with respect to this action, see licensee's 
request for license termination dated September 18, 2012. The above 
referenced documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the 
NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) at One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852. Publicly 
available records for the NASA PBRF dated after January 30, 2000, will 
be available online in the NRC Library in ADAMS at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who 
have problems in accessing the documents in ADAMS should call the NRC's 
PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or email 
[email protected].

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of October 2012.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lydia Chang,
Acting Deputy Director, Decommissioning and Uranium Recovery Licensing 
Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, 
Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Programs.
[FR Doc. 2012-25537 Filed 10-16-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P