[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]


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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.

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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