[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 157 (Thursday, August 14, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47688-47689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-19280]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 030-28641; NRC-2014-0160]
Department of the Air Force, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact;
notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering an
amendment to License No. 42-23539-01AF (Docket No. 030-28641) which
authorizes the unrestricted release of Radioactive Waste Site RW-06 at
Kirtland Air Force Base. The NRC has reviewed the Department of the Air
Force's final status survey report and conducted an independent
confirmatory survey of the site. The NRC concludes that the site meets
the radiological criteria established in regulations for unrestricted
use. The NRC plans to approve the final status survey report and issue
an amendment to the license which allows Site RW-06 to be released for
unrestricted use.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2014-0160 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2014-0160. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS,
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to [email protected]. For
the convenience of the reader, the ADAMS accession numbers are provided
in a table in the ``Availability of Documents'' section of this
document.
NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ray L. Kellar, Division of Nuclear
Materials Safety, Region IV, telephone: 817-200-1191, email:
[email protected]; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Arlington,
Texas, 76011.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is issuing a license amendment to Material License No. 42-
23539-01AF, issued to the Department of the Air Force (the licensee),
to authorize release of Radioactive Waste Site RW-06 at Kirtland Air
Force Base, New Mexico, for unrestricted use, and has prepared an
Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this amendment in
accordance with the requirements of Part 51 of Title 10 of the Code of
Federal Regulations. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The license
amendment will be issued following the publication of this Notice.
II. EA Summary
The purpose of the proposed license amendment is to authorize the
release of the licensee's Radioactive Waste Site RW-06 for unrestricted
use and to allow the licensee to remove this site from its license. The
licensee was previously authorized by the NRC to possess radioactive
materials at the RW-06 site. These radioactive materials include buried
wastes from previous laboratory operations. The licensee remediated the
site in 2009. On November 3, 2011, the licensee requested that NRC
release the site for unrestricted use. In response, the NRC proceeded
to confirm if the licensee conducted surveys of the facility and
provided sufficient information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site
meets the license termination criteria in Subpart E of Part 20 of Title
10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) for unrestricted
release.
The NRC conducted an environmental assessment of this
decommissioning project as required by 10 CFR 51.21. The staff has
prepared this EA and associated Technical Evaluation Report in support
of the proposed license amendment. In summary, the NRC staff concluded
that the licensee designed and implemented the final status survey plan
using the guidance provided in NUREG-1575, ``Multi-Agency Radiation
Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM).'' The NRC staff
confirmed that the licensee implemented the final status survey as
stipulated in the survey plan, and the licensee submitted a final
status survey report to the NRC as required by 10 CFR 30.36(j). The
results of the amended final status survey report indicate that
Radioactive Waste Site RW-06 meets the derived concentration guideline
level criteria specified in MARSSIM and NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated
Decommissioning Guidance,'' Volume 1. The NRC staff conducted a
confirmatory survey during March 2011, confirming that the licensee had
effectively remediated the site.
Section 20.1402 states that a site will be considered acceptable
for unrestricted use if the residual radioactivity that is
distinguishable from background radiation results in a total effective
dose equivalent to an average member of the critical group that does
not exceed 25 millirems (0.25 milliSieverts) per year. The licensee's
final status survey report documents that Radioactive Waste Site RW-06
meets the criteria established in 10 CFR 20.1402. The NRC has reviewed
and approved the final status survey report, and the NRC has conducted
a
[[Page 47689]]
confirmatory survey to confirm the licensee's survey results.
Therefore, Radioactive Waste Site RW-06 can be released by the licensee
for unrestricted use.
The State of New Mexico was offered an opportunity to review and
comment on the draft EA, FONSI, and Technical Evaluation Report used to
support the licensing action. The State provided the NRC with comments
by letter dated January 30, 2014. The State had questions and comments
on the radioactive contaminants as they relate to the release of Site
RW-06 for unrestricted use based on dose. The Department of the Air
Force responded to the State's comments by Memorandum dated April 8,
2014. The State had no further comments on this EA and FONSI.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the EA, the 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. Availability of Documents
The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this
notice are:
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Document ADAMS accession No.
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U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NUREG- ML082310759
1575, Revision 1, ``Multi-Agency
Radiation Survey and Site Investigation
Manual (MARSSIM),'' August 2000.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NUREG- ML063000243
1757, Volume 1, Revision 2,
``Consolidated Decommissioning
Guidance,'' September 2006.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC ML111801367
Inspection Report 030-28641/11-002, June
29, 2011.
Department of the Air Force, Final Status ML11363A116
Survey Report, Site RW-06, Kirtland Air
Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
November 3, 2011.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ML12208A175
Request for Additional Information About
the Department of Air Force's Final
Status Survey Report for Site RW-06 at
Kirtland Air Force Base, July 26, 2012.
Department of the Air Force, Additional ML13186A161
Information to Support Final Status
Survey for Site RW-06, Kirtland Air Force
Base, New Mexico, October 11, 2012.
New Mexico Environment Department, Request ML14064A359
for Comment on Draft Environmental
Assessment for Decommissioning at
Kirtland Air Force Base, January 30, 2014.
Department of the Air Force, Response to ML14120A421
Request for Comments on Draft
Environmental Assessment for
Decommissioning Kirtland Air Force Base,
April 8, 2014.
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Dated at Arlington, Texas this 01st day of August 2014.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Ray L. Kellar,
Chief, Repository and Spent Fuel Safety Branch, Division of Nuclear
Materials Safety, Region IV.
[FR Doc. 2014-19280 Filed 8-13-14; 8:45 am]
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