[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 1, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19119-19120]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09084]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-7003; NRC-2018-0079]
Centrus Energy Corp.; Proposed Decommissioning Plan
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: License amendment application; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received an
application from Centrus Energy Corp. (Centrus) to amend Material
License Number SNM-7003 to authorize decommissioning of its American
Centrifuge Lead Cascade Facility (LCF) located in Piketon, Ohio. The
NRC has accepted the application for technical review and evaluation of
the decommissioning plan. As all materials and equipment at the LCF
were previously removed and dispositioned offsite under the authority
of Centrus' existing license, the NRC's review of the decommissioning
plan is limited to (1) decommissioning funding, (2) dose assessment and
derived concentration guideline levels and methodology, and (3) final
status survey design in accordance with the Multi-Agency Radiation
Survey and Site Investigation Manual. In order to inform its review of
these remaining issues, the NRC is soliciting comments from affected
parties.
DATES: Submit comments by July 2, 2018. Comments received after this
date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but the Commission
is able to ensure consideration only for comments received before this
date.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0079. Address
questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-
9127; email: [email protected]. For technical questions, contact
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of
this document.
Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail
Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
For additional direction on obtaining information and submitting
comments, see ``Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments'' in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yawar H. Faraz, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-7220; email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining Information and Submitting Comments
A. Obtaining Information
Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2018-0079 when contacting the NRC
about the availability of information for this action. You may obtain
publicly-available information related to this action by any of the
following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2018-0079.
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 it is available
in ADAMS) is provided the first time that it is mentioned in 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.
B. Submitting Comments
Please include Docket ID NRC-2018-0079 in your comment submission.
The NRC cautions you not to include identifying or contact
information that you do not want to be publicly disclosed in your
comment submission.
[[Page 19120]]
The NRC will post all comment submissions at http://www.regulations.gov
as well as enter the comment submissions into ADAMS. The NRC does not
routinely edit comment submissions to remove identifying or contact
information.
If you are requesting or aggregating comments from other persons
for submission to the NRC, then you should inform those persons not to
include identifying or contact information that they do not want to be
publicly disclosed in their comment submission. Your request should
state that the NRC does not routinely edit comment submissions to
remove such information before making the comment submissions available
to the public or entering the comment into ADAMS.
II. Background
By letter dated February 21, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No.
ML18030A442), the NRC accepted for detailed technical review Centrus'
application dated January 5, 2018 (ADAMS Accession No. ML18025B285),
and a subsequent clarification dated February 14, 2018 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML18046A081), to amend Material License No. SNM-7003 to authorize
decommissioning of its LCF located in Piketon, Ohio.
In the early 1980s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated
its construction of the Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant (GCEP) at the
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Piketon, Ohio. After
installing and operating several hundred centrifuges, the DOE
terminated the GCEP project in 1985. Approximately 15 years later,
USEC, Inc. decided to use and expand the existing GCEP facilities for
deploying its own commercial centrifuge plant. In 2004, USEC, Inc.
signed a lease agreement with DOE to use certain GCEP facilities for
testing and eventual commercial production as part of its overall gas
centrifuge uranium enrichment project.
The NRC issued Material License No. SNM-7003 for the LCF to USEC,
Inc. on February 24, 2004 (ADAMS Accession No. ML062630432). At that
time, USEC, Inc., under contract with DOE, dismantled and packaged for
transport for offsite disposition DOE's contaminated and non-
contaminated GCEP classified waste, comprising of centrifuges and
equipment. After licensing by the NRC, USEC, Inc. began to install its
own centrifuges in a portion of one of the two existing GCEP process
buildings and began operating the LCF as a test facility in August of
2006. The LCF's purpose was to obtain ``reliability, performance, cost,
and other data'' for use in the decision whether to construct and
operate a commercial uranium enrichment plant, commonly referred to as
the American Centrifuge Plant. To govern any future operation of the
ACP, the NRC issued Material License No. SNM-2011 on April 13, 2007
(ADAMS Accession No. ML070400284). To date, no significant construction
activities have occurred at the ACP. These NRC licenses were
subsequently transferred from USEC, Inc. to Centrus. The LCF lies
completely within the ACP site, occupying about ten percent of the
space reserved for the ACP. The ACP site, in turn, lies completely
within DOE's controlled access area, where an adjoining uranium
enrichment facility using a gaseous diffusion process previously
operated for several decades. Currently, DOE is decommissioning this
facility.
On March 2, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16074A405), Centrus
notified the NRC, in accordance with paragraph 70.38(d)(2) of title 10
of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), of its decision to
permanently cease operation of the LCF and to terminate Material
License No. SNM-7003 following decontamination and decommissioning
activities.
On May 17, 2016, Centrus submitted a license amendment request to
the NRC to downgrade licensed activities at the LCF to ``limited
operations'' and to remove enrichment capability from the license
(ADAMS Package Accession No. ML16162A194). The NRC approved the
amendment on December 23, 2016 (ADAMS Accession No. ML16330A248).
Since notifying the NRC of its intent to decommission the LCF under
the authority of its existing Material License No. SNM-7003, Centrus
removed the process gas in the form of UF6 and packaged all LCF
classified equipment, including all LCF centrifuges and piping, and
shipped the packages offsite for appropriate disposition. The NRC has
verified that all classified matter has been shipped offsite for
appropriate disposition, and the NRC has withdrawn Centrus'
authorization to possess classified information or material/equipment
at the LCF and ACP in Piketon, Ohio. Except for the NRC's confirmation
of the results of Centrus' final status survey, all physical
decommissioning activities for the LCF have been completed.
This present action requires the NRC to evaluate and consider
Centrus' decommissioning plan for approval and to consider the approval
of a corresponding license amendment. This review will be limited in
scope to those portions of the decommissioning plan not previously
completed under the authority of the license. Before completing the
proposed action, the NRC will need to make the findings required by the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the NRC's regulations. These
findings will be documented in a safety evaluation report and an
environmental assessment.
III. Opportunity To Provide Comments
In accordance with section 20.1405 of 10 CFR, the NRC is providing
notice to individuals in the vicinity of the site that the NRC is in
receipt of a decommissioning plan and will accept comments from
affected parties concerning this decommissioning proposal. The NRC
requests comments on the portions of the LCF's decommissioning plan
under review by the NRC, which are limited to: (1) Decommissioning
funding, (2) dose assessment and derived concentration guideline levels
and methodology, and (3) final status survey design in accordance with
the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of April 2018.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Craig G. Erlanger,
Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental
Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2018-09084 Filed 4-30-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P