[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6660-6662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01233]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 50-59; NRC-2017-0007]
Texas A&M University
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact;
issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering
the issuance of a license amendment to Facility Operating License No.
R-23, held by the Texas A&M University (TAMU or the licensee) for the
Aerojet General Nucleonics Model 201-Modified (AGN-201M) reactor
facility located in the Zachry Engineering Center on the TAMU College
Station Campus, Brazos County, Texas. The amendment would delete from
the technical specifications (TSs) the Zachry Engineering Center
location that constituted the reactor facility for the AGN-201M reactor
and associated components. The reactor, associated components, and its
special nuclear material (SNM) have been removed from the Zachry
Engineering Center and temporarily stored at the Texas Engineering
Experiment Station, in Brazos County, Texas, where TAMU operates
another reactor. The license amendment would also delete the license
conditions requiring a physical security plan (PSP) and TSs requiring
procedures that implement the security plan and audits of the PSP and
its implementing procedures as the SNM possession limit in the license
is below the quantity of material that requires a security plan.
If approved, removal of the Zachry Engineering Center from the TSs
would allow the unrestricted use of the rooms where the AGN-201M
reactor, its associated components and its byproduct and SNM were
formerly located. The NRC is issuing an environmental assessment (EA)
and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) associated with the
proposed license amendment.
DATES: The EA and FONSI are available as of January 19, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2017-0007 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-2017-0007. 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].
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: Patrick G. Boyle, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville, MD
20852; telephone: 301-415-3936; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The NRC is considering the issuance of a license amendment to
Facility Operating License No. R-23, held by TAMU, which would delete
(1) part of TS 5.3, removing the Reactor Room, Control Room and
Accelerator Room in the Zachry Engineering Center as a storage location
for the AGN-201M reactor and associated components and allowing the
unrestricted use of the Zachry Engineering Center that was the former
location of the AGN-201M reactor; (2) license conditions 2.C.(3) and
2.D, removing the requirement that the licensee maintain a PSP; and (3)
TS 6.4.3.c and parts of TS 6.6.f, removing requirements for procedures
that implement the PSP and audits of the PSP and implementing
procedures. The facility is located in the Zachry Engineering Center on
the TAMU campus, Brazos County, Texas.
The licensee submitted its license amendment request by letter
dated November 21, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16326A447), as
supplemented by letters dated December 16 and 20, 2016 (ADAMS Accession
Nos. ML16352A000, ML16351A502, and ML17011A079); and January 9 and 11,
2017 (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML17010A057 and ML17012A069). The NRC staff
prepared an EA to document its environmental findings related to the
proposed license amendment in accordance with section 51.21 of title 10
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR). Based on the results of
the environmental review conducted for this EA, the NRC staff did not
identify any significant environmental impacts associated with the
proposed action and is, therefore, issuing a FONSI in accordance with
10 CFR 51.32.
II. Environmental Assessment
Facility Locations and Previous Actions
The Zachry Engineering Center, located on the TAMU College Station
Campus, in Brazos County, Texas housed the AGN-201M reactor as well as
offices and laboratories in which radiological materials were used in
support of reactor operations. The AGN-201M has a power rating of 5
watts, thermal and uses a polyethylene and uranium dioxide plate type
fuel with a uranium-235 enrichment of less than 20%. The reactor core
is cooled by natural convection and therefore, the reactor does not
have an external cooling loop. Texas A&M University purchased the AGN
reactor in 1957 and moved it to the Zachry Engineering Center in 1972.
The AGN-201M reactor was located on the ground floor in the
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southwest portion of the building and has not been operated since 2014.
TAMU operates a second reactor at the Nuclear Science Center,
within the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, also located on the
TAMU College Station Campus, in Brazos County, Texas.
The NRC staff approved the SNM transfer and relocation of the AGN-
201M reactor and associated components in license amendments dated
August 31, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16109A153), and November 11,
2015 (ADAMS Accession No. ML15315A027), respectively. TAMU completed
the transfer of SNM in the form of AGN-201M reactor fuel, control rods,
and a plutonium beryllium start up source to the TAMU System, Nuclear
Science Center Reactor Facility License No. R-83 and the remaining AGN-
201M reactor components containing byproduct material and trace
quantities of SNM were relocated to the Texas Engineering Experiment
Station on October 15, 2016.
TAMU requested that the NRC amend the AGN-201M license to allow the
unrestricted use of the Zachry Engineering Center, proposed changes to
conditions and TSs in the license, and provided radiation survey
results to support its amendment application.
Description of the Proposed Action
The proposed action would delete the Reactor Room, Control Room and
Accelerator Room in the Zachry Engineering Center as a location for the
storage of the AGN-201 reactor and associated components, allowing the
unrestricted use of the Zachry Engineering Center that was the former
location of the AGN-201M reactor. The proposed action would also delete
license conditions that require a PSP, and delete TS 6.6.f. and
6.4.3.c, which require PSP implementing procedures and audits of the
PSP and its implementing procedures because SNM for the AGN-201M has
been transferred to another NRC license and, hence, the license no
longer authorizes possession of a quantity of SNM that requires a PSP
under the regulations in 10 CFR 73.67. In order to remove the Zachry
Engineering Center rooms constituting the reactor facility from the TSs
and allow unrestricted use of those locations in accordance with 10 CFR
20.1402, residual radioactivity that is distinguishable from background
radiation at the reactor facility may not exceed 25 mrem (0.25 mSv) per
year total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) to a member of the public
and the residual radioactivity must be reduced to levels that are as
low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).
The Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is needed (1) to remove from Facility Operating
License No. R-23 and release the rooms that constitute the AGN-201M
reactor facility at the Zachry Engineering Center, which would enable
the rooms to be used for other purposes without radiological
restrictions, and (2) to delete license conditions requiring the
licensee to maintain a PSP and delete associated PSP procedural and
audit requirements in the TSs.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The NRC staff has completed its environmental review of the
proposed action and concludes that the proposed action will not present
any undue risk to public health and safety. After removal of the AGN-
201M reactor, associated components, and SNM, and their relocation to
the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, TAMU conducted clean-up
activities at the Zachry Engineering Center. TAMU developed a final
status survey plan (ADAMS Accession No. ML16316A002), completed the
final status survey of the Zachry Engineering Center rooms where the
AGN-201M reactor, associated components, and SNM were previously
located (ADAMS Accession No. ML17010A057) and found that the facility
met the requirements for unrestricted use in 10 CFR part 20, subpart E.
An NRC staff confirmatory survey was conducted during the week of
November 14, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16355A083).
The NRC staff is preparing a safety evaluation in connection with
its review of the proposed action. Based on the clean-up activities
carried out by the licensee, the NRC staff's review of TAMU's final
status survey report and the results of the NRC staff confirmatory
survey, the NRC staff has concluded, pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1402, that
residual radioactivity at the site does not exceed 25 mrem (0.25 mSv)
TEDE. In addition, since no residual radioactivity distinguishable from
background was found at the site, ALARA has been met. Therefore, the
Zachry Engineering Center rooms which constituted the reactor facility
(as designated in TS 5.3) are suitable to be released for unrestricted
use and can be removed from the TSs. TAMU also requests that the NRC
delete license conditions requiring a PSP and associated PSP TSs
because physical possession of the SNM for the AGN-201M reactor has
been transferred to, and is being stored under, another NRC license and
therefore a PSP is not required for the AGN-201M under 10 CFR 73.67.
Further details of the NRC's safety review will be provided in the
safety evaluation related to the license amendment that, if issued by
the NRC, would authorize the proposed action.
The proposed action does not authorize any effluent or material
releases, does not change any release criteria set forth in the present
regulations, and the results of the NRC confirmatory survey confirmed
that any residual radioactivity at the Zachry Engineering Center
facility comply with criteria for unrestricted release of a site set
forth in 10 CFR 20.1402. No changes would occur in the types of any
effluents that may be released offsite, and there would be no
significant increase in the amount of any effluent released offsite.
Thus there would be no significant increase in occupational or public
radiation exposure. In addition, because all of the SNM has been
removed from the Zachry Engineering Center, deletion of license
conditions requiring a PSP and deletion of associated TSs is
appropriate. Therefore, the proposed action would result in no
significant radiological environmental impacts.
With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed
action does not authorize of involve any reactor facility construction
activities and would not result in visual resource impacts, increases
in noise or air emissions, or have any foreseeable impacts to historic
properties, water resources, and aquatic or terrestrial resources.
Similarly, the proposed action would result in no socioeconomic or
environmental justice impacts. Therefore, there would be no significant
non-radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed
action.
Accordingly, the NRC staff concludes that there would be no
significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered
the denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action''
alternative). Denial of the license amendment request would result in
no change in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts
of the proposed action and the ``no action'' alternative would be
similar.
Alternative Use of Resources
The proposed action would not involve the use of any different
[[Page 6662]]
resources than those previously considered in the document ``Texas A&M
University--Facility Operating License No. R-23,'' dated August 26,
1957 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16085A206).
Agencies and Persons Consulted
The NRC staff did not enter into consultation with any other
Federal agency or with the State of Texas regarding the environmental
impact of the proposed action. However, on December 22, 2016, the NRC
notified the Texas State official, Mrs. DeAnn Walker, Director, Office
of the Governor Office of Budget and Policy, of the proposed action.
The State official had no comments.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC is considering the issuance of a license amendment to
Facility Operating License No. R-23, held by TAMU, which would delete
(1) part of TS 5.3, removing the Reactor Room, Control Room and
Accelerator Room in the Zachry Engineering Center as a storage location
for the AGN-201M reactor and associated components and allowing the
unrestricted use of the Zachry Engineering Center that was the former
location of the AGN-201M reactor; (2) license conditions 2.C.(3) and
2.D, removing the requirement that the licensee maintain a PSP; and (3)
TS 6.4.3.c and parts of TS 6.6.f, removing requirements for procedures
that implement the PSP and audits of the PSP and implementing
procedures. The facility is located in the Zachry Engineering Center on
the TAMU campus, Brazos County, Texas.
On the basis of the EA included in Section II of this notice and
incorporated by reference, the NRC staff finds that the proposed action
will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human
environment. The NRC staff's evaluation considered information provided
in the licensee's application, as supplemented, and the NRC staff's
review of related environmental documents. Section II above identifies
the documents related to the proposed action and includes information
on the availability of these documents. Accordingly, the NRC has
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the
proposed action.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 13th day of January 2017.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Mirela Gavrilas,
Deputy Director, Division of Policy and Rulemaking, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 2017-01233 Filed 1-18-17; 8:45 am]
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