Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Related to Issuance of Amendment No. 11 to Materials License No. STB-527, the Dow Chemical Company (TDCC), Bay City, MI Site (TAC #L60463), 42593-42595 [E5-3940]
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Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 141 / Monday, July 25, 2005 / Notices
that several new entities would be
interposed between (i) the Investment
Funds and Management owners and (ii)
Texas Genco LLC. This proposed
restructuring is in anticipation of a
proposed initial public offering of a
minority interest in Texas Genco Inc.
Texas Genco Inc., was incorporated on
May 20, 2005, as a wholly-owned
subsidiary of another new entity, Texas
Genco Sponsor LLC. Immediately prior
to the initial public offering, Texas
Genco Sponsor LLC and Texas Genco
Inc., will form a new limited liability
company, Texas Genco Holdings LLC.
Following certain transactions
described in the application, and
following the initial public offering,
Texas Genco Inc., will become the sole
managing member of Texas Genco
Holdings LLC, and Texas Genco
Holdings LLC will become the sole
owner of Texas Genco LLC and the
indirect owner of licensee Texas Genco,
which shall at all times continue to be
a licensed owner of STP. According to
the application, the Investment Funds
and Management owners would control
Texas Genco Inc., through their
ownership of a majority of the voting
power in Texas Genco Inc., and
continue to ultimately control Texas
Genco.
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.80, no license,
or any right thereunder, shall be
transferred, directly or indirectly,
through transfer of control of the
license, unless the Commission shall
give its consent in writing. The
Commission will approve an
application for the transfer of a license,
if the Commission determines that the
proposed transferee is qualified to hold
the license, and that the transfer is
otherwise consistent with applicable
provisions of law, regulations, and
orders issued by the Commission
pursuant thereto.
The filing of requests for hearing and
petitions for leave to intervene, and
written comments with regard to the
license transfer application, are
discussed below.
Within 20 days from the date of
publication of this notice, any person
whose interest may be affected by the
Commission’s action on the application
may request a hearing and, if not the
applicant, may petition for leave to
intervene in a hearing proceeding on the
Commission’s action. Requests for a
hearing and petitions for leave to
intervene should be filed in accordance
with the Commission’s rules of practice
set forth in Subpart C, ‘‘Rules of General
Applicability: Hearing Requests,
Petitions to Intervene, Availability of
Documents, Selection of Specific
Hearing Procedures, Presiding Officer
VerDate jul<14>2003
19:54 Jul 22, 2005
Jkt 205001
Powers, and General Hearing
Management for NRC Adjudicatory
Hearings,’’ of 10 CFR Part 2. In
particular, such requests and petitions
must comply with the requirements set
forth in 10 CFR 2.309. Untimely
requests and petitions may be denied, as
provided in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1), unless
good cause for failure to file on time is
established. In addition, an untimely
request or petition should address the
factors that the Commission will also
consider, in reviewing untimely
requests or petitions, set forth in 10 CFR
2.309(c)(1)(i)–(viii).
Requests for a hearing and petitions
for leave to intervene should be served
upon Mr. John E. Matthews, Morgan,
Lewis, & Bockius, LLP, 1111
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20004, attorney for
STPNOC; Nicholas S. Reynolds,
Winston & Strawn LLP, 1700 K Street,
NW., Washington, DC 20006–3817,
attorney for Texas Genco; the General
Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555–
0001 (e-mail address for filings
regarding license transfer cases only:
OGCLT@NRC.gov); and the Secretary of
the Commission, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001, Attention: Rulemakings
and Adjudications Staff, in accordance
with 10 CFR 2.302 and 2.305.
The Commission will issue a notice or
order granting or denying a hearing
request or intervention petition,
designating the issues for any hearing
that will be held and designating the
Presiding Officer. A notice granting a
hearing will be published in the Federal
Register and served on the parties to the
hearing.
As an alternative to requests for
hearing and petitions to intervene,
within 30 days from the date of
publication of this notice, persons may
submit written comments regarding the
license transfer application, as provided
in 10 CFR 2.1305. The Commission will
consider and, if appropriate, respond to
these comments, but such comments
will not otherwise constitute part of the
decisional record. Comments should be
submitted to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555–0001, Attention: Rulemakings
and Adjudications Staff, and should cite
the publication date and page number of
this Federal Register notice. For further
details with respect to this action, see
the application dated June 28, 2005,
available for public inspection at the
Commission’s Public Document Room
(PDR), located at One White Flint North,
Public File Area O1 F21, 11555
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville,
Maryland. Publicly available records
PO 00000
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42593
will be accessible electronically from
the Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System’s (ADAMS) Public
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet
at the NRC Web site, https://
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Persons who do not have access to
ADAMS or who encounter problems in
accessing the documents located in
ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR
Reference staff by telephone at 1–800–
397–4209, 301–415–4737 or by e-mail to
pdr@nrc.gov.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 18th day
of July, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
David H. Jaffe,
Senior Project Manager, Section 1, Project
Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project
Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation.
[FR Doc. E5–3942 Filed 7–22–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40–00017]
Environmental Assessment and
Finding of No Significant Impact
Related to Issuance of Amendment No.
11 to Materials License No. STB–527,
the Dow Chemical Company (TDCC),
Bay City, MI Site (TAC #L60463)
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCY:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David Nelson, Project Manager,
Materials Decommissioning Section,
Decommissioning Directorate, Division
of Waste Management and
Environmental Protection, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Mail Stop T7E18, Washington, DC
20555. Telephone: (301) 415–6626; fax
number: (301) 415–5397; e-mail:
dwn@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license amendment to the
Dow Chemical Company’s (TDCC)
Material License, No. STB–527. The
amendment would allow an alternate
method for conducting surveys, would
add two plans to the license, and would
expand the scope of onsite
decommissioning activities.
NRC has prepared an Environmental
Assessment (EA) in support of this
amendment in accordance with the
E:\FR\FM\25JYN1.SGM
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42594
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 141 / Monday, July 25, 2005 / Notices
requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based
on the EA, the NRC has concluded that
a Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment
will be issued following the publication
of this Notice.
II. Environmental Assessment
Background
TDCC is the current holder of NRC
radioactive source materials license
STB–527 (NRC Docket 040–00017). The
license authorizes TDCC, to possess and
use licensed materials (materials
contaminated with source material)
during activities leading to their
removal from the Bay City, MI site.
License STB–527 continues in effect
until the Commission notifies the
licensee in writing that the license is
terminated. The source material
(radiological contamination) consists of
thorium and its daughter products. The
license authorizes the removal and
transport of contaminated materials
from the site in accordance with an
approved decommissioning plan (DP).
The DP for TDCC Bay City, MI site was
approved in License Amendment No. 7
dated July 21, 1997 (See ADAMS
ML050750212). The NRC is considering
a license amendment (License
Amendment No. 11) to approve the
following:
1. An alternate method (AAR Method
as described in Revision 2 to the
Supplement to the DP) for conducting
final status radiological surveys at its
Bay City, MI site, (See ADAMS
ML051040383), and
2. The addition of four structures and
two small pieces of land adjacent to the
property to the scope of
decommissioning activities (See
ADAMS ML051040383), and
3. The incorporation of the
Groundwater Monitoring Plan (GMP) for
TDCC Bay City site into the license (See
ADAMS ML051040383), and
4. The incorporation of Revision 3 of
TDCC Thorad Project Radiological
Health and Safety Plan into the license
(See ADAMS ML051290296).
The objective of decommissioning at
TDCC’s Bay City, MI site is to remediate
radiological constituents, to the extent
required, to allow the NRC to release the
property for unrestricted use and
terminate TDCC’s license for the site
(STB–527).
The Proposed Action
The proposed action is to allow TDCC
to more accurately determine the spatial
distribution of the radiological
contamination in the subsurface soil
using an alternate surveying method
(AAR Method) to that described in the
VerDate jul<14>2003
14:21 Jul 22, 2005
Jkt 205001
Final Survey Plan. The amendment
would also incorporate a formal GMP
and Revision 3 of the Radiological
Health and Safety Plan into the license
and add four structures and two small
plots of land to the scope of
decommissioning activities.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed
Action
Through the proposed action, the
licensee believes the alternate survey
method would more accurately
characterize the radiological
contamination in the subsurface soil. By
more accurately characterizing the
subsurface soil, the licensee believes
that the volume of soil excavated would
be reduced thus reducing the cost of
decommissioning. The original DP did
not address the four structures and two
small plots of land in the scope of
decommissioning activities. In order to
release the whole site for unrestricted
use, the four structures and two plots of
land need to be formally addressed in
the DP. The license has routinely
collected ground water samples on-site
without an approved GMP and the
amendment would formally incorporate
the GMP into the license. Revision 3 of
the Radiological Health and Safety Plan
addresses administrative issues that
have arisen since its last revision.
Alternative to the Proposed Action
The ‘‘no-action’’ alternative would be
to require TDCC to continue to conduct
surveys using the method described in
License Amendment No. 7. This could
result in the licensee unnecessarily
excavating soil that exceeded the
approved release criteria.
The inclusion of the GMP into the
license is not required. However,
inclusion does formally commit the
licensee to all of the provisions of the
GMP and may prevent
misunderstandings between the NRC
and TDCC regarding its implementation.
To release the entire site for
unrestricted use, all buildings and plots
of land must be surveyed and
remediated to the levels required in
License Amendment No. 7. The staff
compares survey results to the release
criteria before concluding that the site is
suitable for license termination and can
be released for unrestricted use. If the
buildings and plots of land are not
addressed in the DP and, therefore, not
released for unrestricted use, TDCC
would be required to maintain control
of them in the license. This would place
an unnecessary regulatory burden on
TDCC.
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The Affected Environment and
Environmental Impacts
An earlier and more extensive EA was
prepared for License Amendment No. 7
(See ADAMS ML050750212). The
amendment approved TDCC’s
unrestricted release criteria and final
survey plan for the Bay City, MI site
(See ADAMS ML050750212). The NRC
staff determined that decommissioning
of the site using the proposed release
criteria and the final survey plan could
be accomplished to demonstrate
compliance with the NRC public and
occupational dose limits, and effluent
release limits. In addition, the staff
concluded that the approval of the
decommissioning activities at TDCC Bay
City, MI site in accordance with the
commitments in NRC license STB–527
Amendment No. 7, and employing the
unrestricted release criteria and the final
survey plan, would not result in a
significant adverse impact on the
environment. For more details on the
facility description, operating history,
radiological status, evaluation of
decontamination, evaluation of
decontamination of outdoor areas,
radiation protection programs, and
environmental impacts, refer to the EA
prepared for License Amendment No. 7
(See ADAMS ML050750212).
Radiological and non-radiological
impacts are discussed in detail in the
EA prepared for the decommissioning of
the site in License Amendment No. 7.
Since the release criteria remains the
same for soils and surfaces, changing
the survey methodology and adding four
buildings and two small plots of land to
the scope of decommissioning activities
will not cause an increase the level of
radiological and non-radiological
impacts. Compliance with the soil and
surfaces release criteria ensures that the
dose limit for the site will not be
exceeded. Adding the GMP to the DP
and revising the Health and Safety Plan
are administrative issues that have no
environmental impact.
Agencies and Persons Contacted
NRC staff has consulted with
Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (MDEQ), the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, and the Michigan State
Historic Preservation Office in the
preparation of this EA. The NRC staff
has determined that Section 7
consultation is not required because
listed/habitat are not present in the
proposed action area, therefore the
proposed action will not affect listed
species or critical habitat. The NRC staff
has determined that the proposed action
is not a type of activity that has
potential to cause effects on historic
E:\FR\FM\25JYN1.SGM
25JYN1
Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 141 / Monday, July 25, 2005 / Notices
properties because it is administrative/
procedural action. Therefore no further
consultation is required under Section
106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act. The MDEQ had no
comments on the proposed action.
List of References
A. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
‘‘Issuance of License Amendment to the
Dow Chemical Company to Approve the
Decommissioning Criteria and Final
Survey Plan for the Decommissioning of
Thorium Contaminated Slag Storage Piles
at the Dow Chemical Company’s Sites in
Midland and Bay City, Michigan.’’ July 21,
1997, (ML050750212).
B. The Dow Chemical Company, ‘‘Revised
RAIs and Revision 2 of Supplement to the
Decommissioning Plan for the TDCC Bay
City, MI, Site.’’ April 13, 2005,
(ML051040383).
C. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ‘‘Revised
Radiological Health and Safety Plan for the
TDCC Bay City, MI, Site.’’ May 6, 2005,
(ML051290296).
D. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ‘‘Method
for Surveying and Averaging
Concentrations of Thorium in
Contaminated Subsurface Soil’’, February
1997.
E. UREG–5849, Manual for Conducting
Radiological Surveys in Support of License
Termination. June 1992.
F. NUREG–1757, Volume 1, Rev 1,
Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning
Guidance, Decommissioning Process for
Materials Licensees, Final Report,
September 2003.
G. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part
20, Subpart E, ‘‘Radiological Criteria for
License Termination.’’
H. Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part
51, ‘‘Environmental Protection Regulations
for Domestic Licensing and Related
Regulatory Functions.’’
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
Based upon the analysis in this EA
and the EA prepared for License
Amendment No. 7; the NRC staff has
concluded that there will be no
significant environmental impacts from
the proposed action and has determined
not to prepare an environmental impact
statement for the proposed action.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action,
including the application for
amendment and supporting
documentation, are available
electronically at the NRC’s Electronic
Reading Room at https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/adams.html. From this site,
you can access the NRC’s Agencywide
Document Access and Management
System (ADAMS), which provides text
and image files of NRC’s public
documents. The ADAMS accession
numbers for the document related to
this notice are: ML050750212 for the
July 21, 2005, letter issuing Amendment
VerDate jul<14>2003
14:21 Jul 22, 2005
Jkt 205001
No. 7; ML051040383 for the April 13,
2005, letter requesting a license
amendment to incorporate Revision 2 of
the Supplement to the DP into the
license; ML051290296 for the May 2,
2005, letter providing Revision 3 of the
TDCC Radiological Health and Safety
Plan; and ML050110068 for the letter
dated December 31, 2004, responding to
a NRC request for additional
information. If you do not have access
to ADAMS or if there are problems
accessing the documents located in
ADAMS, contact the NRC’s Public
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff
at 1–800–397–4209, (301) 415–4737, or
by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
These documents may also be viewed
electronically on the public computers
located at the NRC’s PDR, O 1 F21, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR
reproduction contractor will copy
documents for a fee.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 15th day
of July, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kimberly Gruss,
Acting Deputy Director, Decommissioning
Directorate, Division of Waste Management
and Environmental Protection, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5–3940 Filed 7–22–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
Sunshine Act Notice
Weeks of July 25, August 1, 8, 15,
22, 29, 2005.
PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference
Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville,
Maryland.
STATUS: Public and closed.
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:
DATE:
Week of July 25, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005:
1:25 p.m. Affirmation Session (Public
Meeting) (Tentative). a. (1) Exelon
Generation Company, LLC Early
Site Permit for Clinton ESP Site),
Docket No. 52–007–ESP; (2)
Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC
(Early Site Permit for North Anna
ESP Site), Docket No. 52–008–ESP;
(3) System Energy Resources, Inc.
(Early Site Permit for Grand Gulf
ESP Site), Docket No. 52–009–ESP;
(4) Louisiana Energy Services, L.P.
(National Enrichment Facility),
Docket No. 70–3103–ML; (5) USEC
Inc. (American Centrifuge Plant),
Docket No. 70–7004 (Tenative).
1:30 p.m. Discussion of Security
PO 00000
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42595
Issues (Closed–Ex. 1).
Week of August 1, 2005—Tentative
There are no meetings scheduled for
the week of August 1, 2005.
Week of August 8, 2005—Tentative
There are no meetings scheduled for
the week of August 8, 2005.
Week of August 15, 2005—Tentative
Tuesday, August 16, 2005:
10 a.m. Meeting with the Organization
of Agreement States (OAS) and the
Conference of Radiation Control
Program Directors (CRCPD) (Public
Meeting) (Contact: Shawn Smith,
301–415–2620).
This meeting will be webcast live at
the Web address—https://www.nrc.gov.
1 p.m. Discussion of Security Issues
(Closed–Ex. 1).
Week of August 22, 2005—Tentative
There are no meetings scheduled for
the week of August 22, 2005.
Week of August 29, 2005—Tentative
There are no meetings scheduled for
the week of August 29, 2005.
*The schedule for Commission
meetings is subject to change on short
notice. To verify the status of meetings
call (recording)—(301) 415–1292.
Contact person for more information:
David Gamberoni, (301) 415–1651.
*
*
*
*
*
The NRC Commission Meeting
Schedule can be found on the Internet
at: https://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/
policy-making/schedule.html.
*
*
*
*
*
The NRC provides reasonable
accommodation to individuals with
disabilities where appropriate. If you
need a reasonable accommodation to
participate in these public meetings, or
need this meeting notice or the
transcript or other information from the
public meetings in another format (e.g.
braille, large print), please notify the
NRC’s Disability Program Coordinator,
August Spector, at 301–415–7080, TDD:
301–415–2100, or by e-mail at
aks@nrc.gov. Determinations on
requests for reasonable accommodation
will be made on a case-by-case basis.
*
*
*
*
*
This notice is distributed by mail to
several hundred subscribers: If you no
longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please
contact the Office of the Secretary,
Washington, DC 20555 (301–415–1969).
In addition, distribution of this meeting
notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in
receiving this Commission meeting
E:\FR\FM\25JYN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 141 (Monday, July 25, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42593-42595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-3940]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-00017]
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
Related to Issuance of Amendment No. 11 to Materials License No. STB-
527, the Dow Chemical Company (TDCC), Bay City, MI Site (TAC
L60463)
AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Nelson, Project Manager,
Materials Decommissioning Section, Decommissioning Directorate,
Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Mail Stop T7E18, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301)
415-6626; fax number: (301) 415-5397; e-mail: dwn@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license amendment to the Dow Chemical Company's (TDCC)
Material License, No. STB-527. The amendment would allow an alternate
method for conducting surveys, would add two plans to the license, and
would expand the scope of onsite decommissioning activities.
NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of
this amendment in accordance with the
[[Page 42594]]
requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded
that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The
amendment will be issued following the publication of this Notice.
II. Environmental Assessment
Background
TDCC is the current holder of NRC radioactive source materials
license STB-527 (NRC Docket 040-00017). The license authorizes TDCC, to
possess and use licensed materials (materials contaminated with source
material) during activities leading to their removal from the Bay City,
MI site. License STB-527 continues in effect until the Commission
notifies the licensee in writing that the license is terminated. The
source material (radiological contamination) consists of thorium and
its daughter products. The license authorizes the removal and transport
of contaminated materials from the site in accordance with an approved
decommissioning plan (DP). The DP for TDCC Bay City, MI site was
approved in License Amendment No. 7 dated July 21, 1997 (See ADAMS
ML050750212). The NRC is considering a license amendment (License
Amendment No. 11) to approve the following:
1. An alternate method (AAR Method as described in Revision 2 to
the Supplement to the DP) for conducting final status radiological
surveys at its Bay City, MI site, (See ADAMS ML051040383), and
2. The addition of four structures and two small pieces of land
adjacent to the property to the scope of decommissioning activities
(See ADAMS ML051040383), and
3. The incorporation of the Groundwater Monitoring Plan (GMP) for
TDCC Bay City site into the license (See ADAMS ML051040383), and
4. The incorporation of Revision 3 of TDCC Thorad Project
Radiological Health and Safety Plan into the license (See ADAMS
ML051290296).
The objective of decommissioning at TDCC's Bay City, MI site is to
remediate radiological constituents, to the extent required, to allow
the NRC to release the property for unrestricted use and terminate
TDCC's license for the site (STB-527).
The Proposed Action
The proposed action is to allow TDCC to more accurately determine
the spatial distribution of the radiological contamination in the
subsurface soil using an alternate surveying method (AAR Method) to
that described in the Final Survey Plan. The amendment would also
incorporate a formal GMP and Revision 3 of the Radiological Health and
Safety Plan into the license and add four structures and two small
plots of land to the scope of decommissioning activities.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
Through the proposed action, the licensee believes the alternate
survey method would more accurately characterize the radiological
contamination in the subsurface soil. By more accurately characterizing
the subsurface soil, the licensee believes that the volume of soil
excavated would be reduced thus reducing the cost of decommissioning.
The original DP did not address the four structures and two small plots
of land in the scope of decommissioning activities. In order to release
the whole site for unrestricted use, the four structures and two plots
of land need to be formally addressed in the DP. The license has
routinely collected ground water samples on-site without an approved
GMP and the amendment would formally incorporate the GMP into the
license. Revision 3 of the Radiological Health and Safety Plan
addresses administrative issues that have arisen since its last
revision.
Alternative to the Proposed Action
The ``no-action'' alternative would be to require TDCC to continue
to conduct surveys using the method described in License Amendment No.
7. This could result in the licensee unnecessarily excavating soil that
exceeded the approved release criteria.
The inclusion of the GMP into the license is not required. However,
inclusion does formally commit the licensee to all of the provisions of
the GMP and may prevent misunderstandings between the NRC and TDCC
regarding its implementation.
To release the entire site for unrestricted use, all buildings and
plots of land must be surveyed and remediated to the levels required in
License Amendment No. 7. The staff compares survey results to the
release criteria before concluding that the site is suitable for
license termination and can be released for unrestricted use. If the
buildings and plots of land are not addressed in the DP and, therefore,
not released for unrestricted use, TDCC would be required to maintain
control of them in the license. This would place an unnecessary
regulatory burden on TDCC.
The Affected Environment and Environmental Impacts
An earlier and more extensive EA was prepared for License Amendment
No. 7 (See ADAMS ML050750212). The amendment approved TDCC's
unrestricted release criteria and final survey plan for the Bay City,
MI site (See ADAMS ML050750212). The NRC staff determined that
decommissioning of the site using the proposed release criteria and the
final survey plan could be accomplished to demonstrate compliance with
the NRC public and occupational dose limits, and effluent release
limits. In addition, the staff concluded that the approval of the
decommissioning activities at TDCC Bay City, MI site in accordance with
the commitments in NRC license STB-527 Amendment No. 7, and employing
the unrestricted release criteria and the final survey plan, would not
result in a significant adverse impact on the environment. For more
details on the facility description, operating history, radiological
status, evaluation of decontamination, evaluation of decontamination of
outdoor areas, radiation protection programs, and environmental
impacts, refer to the EA prepared for License Amendment No. 7 (See
ADAMS ML050750212).
Radiological and non-radiological impacts are discussed in detail
in the EA prepared for the decommissioning of the site in License
Amendment No. 7. Since the release criteria remains the same for soils
and surfaces, changing the survey methodology and adding four buildings
and two small plots of land to the scope of decommissioning activities
will not cause an increase the level of radiological and non-
radiological impacts. Compliance with the soil and surfaces release
criteria ensures that the dose limit for the site will not be exceeded.
Adding the GMP to the DP and revising the Health and Safety Plan are
administrative issues that have no environmental impact.
Agencies and Persons Contacted
NRC staff has consulted with Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (MDEQ), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Michigan
State Historic Preservation Office in the preparation of this EA. The
NRC staff has determined that Section 7 consultation is not required
because listed/habitat are not present in the proposed action area,
therefore the proposed action will not affect listed species or
critical habitat. The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action
is not a type of activity that has potential to cause effects on
historic
[[Page 42595]]
properties because it is administrative/procedural action. Therefore no
further consultation is required under Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act. The MDEQ had no comments on the proposed
action.
List of References
A. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Issuance of License Amendment to
the Dow Chemical Company to Approve the Decommissioning Criteria and
Final Survey Plan for the Decommissioning of Thorium Contaminated
Slag Storage Piles at the Dow Chemical Company's Sites in Midland
and Bay City, Michigan.'' July 21, 1997, (ML050750212).
B. The Dow Chemical Company, ``Revised RAIs and Revision 2 of
Supplement to the Decommissioning Plan for the TDCC Bay City, MI,
Site.'' April 13, 2005, (ML051040383).
C. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Revised Radiological Health and
Safety Plan for the TDCC Bay City, MI, Site.'' May 6, 2005,
(ML051290296).
D. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Method for Surveying and
Averaging Concentrations of Thorium in Contaminated Subsurface
Soil'', February 1997.
E. UREG-5849, Manual for Conducting Radiological Surveys in Support
of License Termination. June 1992.
F. NUREG-1757, Volume 1, Rev 1, Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning
Guidance, Decommissioning Process for Materials Licensees, Final
Report, September 2003.
G. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20, Subpart E,
``Radiological Criteria for License Termination.''
H. Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 51, ``Environmental
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory
Functions.''
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
Based upon the analysis in this EA and the EA prepared for License
Amendment No. 7; the NRC staff has concluded that there will be no
significant environmental impacts from the proposed action and has
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the
proposed action.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action, including the application for
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide
Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for
the document related to this notice are: ML050750212 for the July 21,
2005, letter issuing Amendment No. 7; ML051040383 for the April 13,
2005, letter requesting a license amendment to incorporate Revision 2
of the Supplement to the DP into the license; ML051290296 for the May
2, 2005, letter providing Revision 3 of the TDCC Radiological Health
and Safety Plan; and ML050110068 for the letter dated December 31,
2004, responding to a NRC request for additional information. If you do
not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's Public Document Room
(PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail
to pdr@nrc.gov.
These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public
computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 F21, One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction
contractor will copy documents for a fee.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 15th day of July, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Kimberly Gruss,
Acting Deputy Director, Decommissioning Directorate, Division of Waste
Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Nuclear Material
Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5-3940 Filed 7-22-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
