[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 37 (Thursday, February 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9517-9518]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-04019]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 040-8610; NRC-2008-0591]


Stepan Company

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: License termination; issuance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing 
public notice of the termination of Source Materials License No. STC-
1333. The NRC has terminated the license of the decommissioned Stepan 
Company facility in Maywood, New Jersey, and has approved the site for 
unrestricted release.

DATES: Notice of termination of Source Materials License No. STC-1333 
issued on February 25, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2008-0591 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-2008-0591. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-415-
3463; 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]. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced (if that document 
is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time that a document is 
referenced.
     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: Kim Conway, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-1335, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NRC has terminated License No. STC-1333, 
held by Stepan Company (Stepan), for a site in Maywood, New Jersey, and 
has approved the site for unrestricted release.
    Maywood Chemical Works processed thorium ore at its Maywood 
facility in northeastern New Jersey between 1916 and 1956. Radioactive 
contamination resulted from these processing operations and associated 
material storage and waste disposal practices. In 1959, Stepan Chemical 
Company (now Stepan Company) purchased the Maywood facility. In the 
late 1960s, Stepan took corrective measures at some of the former 
disposal areas by re-locating approximately 19,000 cubic yards of 
thorium wastes and consolidating the wastes into three onsite burial 
pits. The three onsite burial pits were subsequently licensed by the 
NRC under materials license STC-1333.
    In 1983, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included 
the Maywood facility on its National Priorites List for cleanup under 
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability 
Act (CERCLA). In 1984, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) assumed 
responsibility for remediating the Maywood facility (including the NRC-
licensed burial pits) and 87 other designated residential, commercial, 
and government properties that were contaminated by the thorium 
processing activities at the former Maywood Chemical Works. The Maywood 
facility was included in the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action 
Program (FUSRAP) along with the other 87 radiologically contaminated 
properties.
    In October 1997, the administration of FUSRAP was transferred from 
DOE to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In September 2003, the 
Record of Decision (ROD) for Soils and Buildings at the FUSRAP Maywood 
Superfund Site was issued. In the ROD, the specific concentration-based 
cleanup criteria for the radioactive contamination in soil for 
commercial properties (relevant to the Stepan burial pits) was 
determined to be an average of 15 picocuries/gram (pCi/g) of the 
combined radium-226 (Ra-226) plus thorium-232 (Th-232) concentrations 
above background, with an ``as low as is reasonably achievable'' 
(ALARA) goal of 5 pCi/g. The ROD also includes a criterion of 100 pCi/g 
above background for total uranium, which equates to approximately 50 
pCi/g of uranium-238 (U-238).
    On October 21, 2008, the NRC executed a Confirmatory Order to

[[Page 9518]]

suspend Stepan's license, contingent upon USACE notifying the NRC of 
their intent to take physical possession of all, or part, of the 
licensed portions of the site (ADAMS Accession No. ML082760095). The 
Order provided the USACE with the mechanism to request that the NRC 
suspend the NRC's license for the Stepan burial pits. In December 2008, 
August 2009, and January 2010, the USACE notified the NRC that it had 
taken physical possession of Burial Pits #2, #3, and #1, respectively.
    On February 14, 2012, the USACE notified the NRC that the 
remediation response action had been completed for all three of the 
NRC-licensed burial pits, and pursuant to the MOU, USACE also provided 
notification of its intent to terminate physical possession of all 
three licensed burial pits in May 2012 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML120880217). On May 7, 2012, NRC license STC-1333 was reinstated when 
Stepan reestablished possession of the burial pits in accordance with 
the Confirmatory Order (ADAMS Accession No. ML12159A537). By letter 
dated August 15, 2014, Stepan submitted a request to the NRC for the 
termination of their materials license (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML14259A103). As part of this submittal, Stepan provided the NRC with 
the USACE's Post Remedial Action Reports for each of the burial pits 
(ADAMS Accession Nos. ML12046A500, ML12046A502, and ML12046A504, 
respectively). On July 20, 2015, Stepan provided a response to the 
NRC's request for additional information (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML15217A026) and a radiological dose assessment (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML15217A025).
    The NRC has now completed its review of the reports and associated 
documents according to NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated Decommissioning 
Guidance,'' and guidance in the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site 
Investigation Manual) MARSSIM (NUREG 1575). The NRC staff has concluded 
that the Final Site Survey (FSS) design and data collected were 
adequate to characterize the residual radioactivity in the NRC-licensed 
portions of the Stepan site. The NRC staff also concluded that the data 
analysis and dose assessments performed are appropriate and that the 
projected dose from residual radioactivity in these areas is less than 
the 25 mrem/year dose criterion in 10 CFR 20.1402. Stepan has also 
submitted a completed NRC Form 314 (``Certificate of Disposition of 
Materials'') and otherwise met the requirements of 10 CFR 40.42(j), the 
NRC regulation concerning the final step in the decommissioning process 
for a 10 CFR part 40 source materials license. For these reasons, the 
NRC staff has determined that Stepan has demonstrated that the site 
will meet the radiological criteria for license termination described 
in 10 CFR 20.1402. Therefore, Source Materials License No. STC-1333 has 
been terminated.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of February 2016.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Bruce A. Watson,
CHP, Branch Chief, Reactor Decommissioning Branch, Division of 
Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery and Waste Programs, Office of Nuclear 
Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2016-04019 Filed 2-24-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7590-01-P