Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for License Amendment to Source Materials License No. STC-133, Incorporating the Decommissioning Plan for the Defense Logistics Agency's Curtis Bay Depot Facility in Baltimore, MD, 34486-34487 [E7-12156]
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34486
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 120 / Friday, June 22, 2007 / Notices
will be issued to the Licensee following
the publication of this FONSI and EA in
the Federal Register.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 040–00341]
Notice of Availability of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact for License
Amendment to Source Materials
License No. STC–133, Incorporating
the Decommissioning Plan for the
Defense Logistics Agency’s Curtis Bay
Depot Facility in Baltimore, MD
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of environmental
assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact for license
amendment.
AGENCY:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Steve Hammann, Health Physicist,
Commercial and R&D Branch, Division
of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I,
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania, 19406; telephone (610)
337–5399; fax number (610) 337–5269;
or by e-mail: sth2@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license amendment to
Source Materials License No. STC–133.
This license is held by Defense Logistics
Agency (the Licensee), for its Curtis Bay
Depot (the Facility), located at 710
Ordnance Road in Baltimore, Maryland.
Issuance of the amendment would
incorporate the Decommissioning Plan
(DP) into the license to allow
completion of decommissioning
activities at the site and eventual
unrestricted release of the Facility. The
NRC has evaluated and approved the
Licensee’s DP. The findings of this
evaluation are documented in a Safety
Evaluation Report, which will be issued
along with the amendment. The
Licensee requested this action in a letter
dated September 29, 2006. The
Licensee’s amendment request was
noted in the Federal Register on
February 1, 2007 (72 FR 4734). This
Federal Register notice also provided an
opportunity for a hearing on this
licensing action. No hearing requests
were received. The NRC has prepared
an Environmental Assessment (EA) in
support of this proposed action in
accordance with the requirements of
Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR), Part 51 (10 CFR Part 51). Based
on the EA, the NRC has concluded that
a Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI) is appropriate with respect to
the proposed action. The amendment
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:51 Jun 21, 2007
Jkt 211001
II. Environmental Assessment
Identification of Proposed Action
The proposed action would approve
the Licensee’s September 29, 2006,
license amendment request to
incorporate the DP into the license,
resulting in final decommissioning of
the Facility and subsequent release of
the Facility for unrestricted use. License
No. STC–133 was issued on February
14, 1957, pursuant to 10 CFR Part 40,
and has been amended periodically
since that time. This license authorized
the Licensee to possess natural uranium
and thorium mixtures as ores,
concentrates and solids for the purpose
of storage, sampling, repackaging, and
transfer for the activities of the National
Defense Stockpile.
The Facility is situated on
approximately 483 acres of grassy open
areas and some lightly wooded areas
and consists of various building pads,
buildings and warehouses, some
functional and others in a serious state
of disrepair. A number of paved and dirt
roads, along with railroad tracks,
traverse the site. The Facility is located
in an industrial area. Within the
Facility, use of licensed materials was
confined to buildings 1022, A–921, B–
911, B–912, B–913, F–731, F–734, F–
735, F–736, F–737, G–721, H–711, H–
712, H–713, H–714, H–715, and the
waste burial pit. Licensed activities
ceased in May 2005.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to approve the
DP so that the Licensee may complete
Facility decommissioning activities.
Completion of the decommissioning
activities will reduce residual
radioactivity at the Facility. NRC
regulations require licensees to begin
timely decommissioning of their sites,
or any separate buildings that contain
residual radioactivity, upon cessation of
licensed activities, in accordance with
10 CFR 40.42(d). The proposed
licensing action will support such a
goal. NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities
under the Atomic Energy Act to make a
decision on a proposed license
amendment for decommissioning that
ensures protection of the public health
and safety.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed
Action
The historical review of licensed
activities conducted at the Facility
shows that such activities involved the
storage, repackaging and transfer of
PO 00000
Frm 00061
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
licensed material in the form of thorium
nitrate, monazite sand, and sodium
sulfate. The licensed materials were
always stored inside buildings, but were
moved to other buildings which
resulted in some licensed materials
being spilled outdoors.
The NRC staff has reviewed the
Licensee amendment request for the
Facility and examined the impacts of
this license amendment request.
Potential impacts include water
resource impact (e.g., water may be used
for dust control), air quality impacts
from dust emissions, temporary local
traffic impacts resulting from
transporting debris, human health
impacts, noise impacts from equipment
operation, scenic quality impacts, and
waste management impacts.
Based on its review, the staff has
determined that no surface water or
ground water impacts are expected from
the decommissioning activities.
Additionally, the staff has determined
that significant air quality, noise, land
use, and off-site radiation exposure
impacts are also not expected. No
significant air quality impacts are
anticipated because of the
contamination controls that will be
implemented by the Licensee during
decommissioning activities. In addition,
the environmental impacts associated
with the decommissioning activities are
bounded by impacts evaluated by
NUREG–0586, ‘‘Final Generic
Environmental Impact Statement on the
Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities,’’
(GEIS). Generic impacts for this type of
decommissioning process were
previously evaluated and described in
the GEIS, which concludes that the
environmental consequences are small.
The risk to human health from the
transportation of all radioactive material
in the U.S. was evaluated in NUREG–
0170, ‘‘Final Environmental Statement
on the Transportation of Radioactive
Materials by Air and Other Modes.’’ The
principal radiological environmental
impact during normal transportation is
direct radiation exposure to nearby
persons from radioactive material in the
package. The average annual individual
dose from all radioactive material
transportation in the U.S. was
calculated to be approximately 0.5
millirem, well below the 10 CFR
20.1301 limit of 100 millirem for a
member of the public. Additionally, the
Licensee estimates that approximately
200 cubic meters of low-contaminated
demolition material waste and 930
cubic meters of low-contaminated soil,
mostly from the excavation of the burial
pit, will leave the site over the course
of the decommissioning project. The
waste will be transported from the
E:\FR\FM\22JNN1.SGM
22JNN1
rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 120 / Friday, June 22, 2007 / Notices
Facility by rail car to its final
destination. This proposed action will
not significantly increase the probability
or consequences of accidents, no
changes are being made in the types of
any effluents that may be released off
site, and there is no significant increase
in occupational or public radiation
exposure. Thus, waste management and
transportation impacts from the
decommissioning will not be
significant.
Occupational health was also
considered in the ‘‘Final Environmental
Impact Statement on the Transportation
of Radioactive Material by Air and
Other Modes.’’ Shipment of these
materials would not affect the
assessment of environmental impacts or
the conclusions in the ‘‘Final
Environmental Impact Statement on the
Transportation of Radioactive Material
by Air and Other Modes.’’
The Staff also finds that the proposed
license amendment will meet the
radiological criteria for unrestricted
release as specified in 10 CFR 20.1402.
The Licensee demonstrated this through
the development of derived
concentration guideline limits (DCGLs)
for its Facility. The Licensee conducted
site-specific dose modeling using
parameters specific to the Facility that
adequately bounded the potential dose.
This included dose modeling for two
scenarios: building surfaces and soil.
The building surface dose model was
based on the warehouse worker scenario
and the soil dose modeling was based
on a resident farmer scenario.
The Licensee will maintain an
appropriate level of radiation protection
staff, procedures, and capabilities, and,
through its Radiation Safety Officer, will
implement an acceptable program to
keep exposure to radioactive materials
as low as reasonably achievable
(ALARA). Work activities are not
anticipated to result in radiation
exposures to the public in excess of ten
percent of the 10 CFR 20.1301 limits.
The NRC also evaluated whether
cumulative environmental impacts
could result from an incremental impact
of the proposed action when added to
other past, present, or reasonably
foreseeable future actions in the area.
The proposed NRC approval of the
license amendment request, when
combined with known effects on
resource areas at the site, including
further site remediation, are not
anticipated to result in any cumulative
impacts at the site.
Environmental Impacts of the
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
The only alternative to the proposed
action of decommissioning the Facility
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:51 Jun 21, 2007
Jkt 211001
is the no-action alternative, under
which the staff would leave things as
they are by simply denying the
amendment request. This no-action
alternative is not feasible because it
conflicts with 10 CFR 40.42(d) requiring
that decommissioning of source material
facilities be completed and approved by
the NRC after licensed activities cease.
The no action alternative would keep
radioactive material on-site without
disposal. Additionally, denying the
amendment request would result in no
change in current environmental
impacts. The environmental impacts of
the proposed action and the no-action
alternative are therefore similar, and the
no-action alternative is accordingly not
further considered.
Conclusion
The NRC staff has concluded that the
proposed action is consistent with NRC
guidance and regulations. Because the
proposed action will not significantly
impact the quality of the human
environment, the NRC staff concludes
that the proposed action is the preferred
alternative.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
NRC provided a draft of this
Environmental Assessment to the
Maryland Department of the
Environment for review on April 26,
2007. On May 30, 2007, Maryland
Department of the Environment
responded by email. The State agreed
with the conclusions of the
Environmental Assessment and
otherwise had no comments.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has prepared this EA in
support of the proposed action. On the
basis of this EA, the NRC finds that
there are no significant environmental
impacts from the proposed action, and
that preparation of an environmental
impact statement is not warranted.
Accordingly, the NRC has determined
that a Finding of No Significant Impact
is appropriate.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action,
including the application for license
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 documents related to
this action are listed below, along with
their ADAMS accession numbers.
PO 00000
Frm 00062
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
34487
1. NUREG–1757, ‘‘Consolidated
NMSS Decommissioning Guidance;’’
2. Title 10 Code of Federal
Regulations, Part 20, Subpart E,
‘‘Radiological Criteria for License
Termination;’’
3. Title 10, Code of Federal
Regulations, Part 51, ‘‘Environmental
Protection Regulations for Domestic
Licensing and Related Regulatory
Functions;’’
4. NUREG–1496, ‘‘Generic
Environmental Impact Statement in
Support of Rulemaking on Radiological
Criteria for License Termination of NRCLicensed Nuclear Facilities’’
5. Submittal Letter dated February 3,
2006: ML060580094
6. Historical Site Assessment:
ML060580564
7. Preliminary Site Specific Derived
Concentration Guidelines:
ML060580566
8. Radiological Scoping Survey:
ML060580581
9. Environmental Assessment,
Disposition of Thorium Nitrate:
ML060580592
10. Request for Additional
Information: ML061640494
11. Deficiency Response Letter dated
July 5, 2006: ML061870570
12. Deficiency Response Letter dated
August 8, 2006: ML062290404
13. Characterization Survey Report:
ML062650300
14. Decommissioning/Remediation
Plan: ML062760618
15. Receipt of Decommissioning Plan:
ML062930051
16. Federal Register Notice of
Consideration: ML070230235
If you do not have access to ADAMS,
or if there are problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS, contact
the NRC 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 475 Allendale Road, King of
Prussia, PA, this 15th day of June, 2007.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division
of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. E7–12156 Filed 6–21–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 120 (Friday, June 22, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34486-34487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-12156]
[[Page 34486]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 040-00341]
Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of
No Significant Impact for License Amendment to Source Materials License
No. STC-133, Incorporating the Decommissioning Plan for the Defense
Logistics Agency's Curtis Bay Depot Facility in Baltimore, MD
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of environmental assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact for license amendment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Hammann, Health Physicist,
Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region
I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406; telephone
(610) 337-5399; fax number (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: sth2@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license amendment to Source Materials License No. STC-
133. This license is held by Defense Logistics Agency (the Licensee),
for its Curtis Bay Depot (the Facility), located at 710 Ordnance Road
in Baltimore, Maryland. Issuance of the amendment would incorporate the
Decommissioning Plan (DP) into the license to allow completion of
decommissioning activities at the site and eventual unrestricted
release of the Facility. The NRC has evaluated and approved the
Licensee's DP. The findings of this evaluation are documented in a
Safety Evaluation Report, which will be issued along with the
amendment. The Licensee requested this action in a letter dated
September 29, 2006. The Licensee's amendment request was noted in the
Federal Register on February 1, 2007 (72 FR 4734). This Federal
Register notice also provided an opportunity for a hearing on this
licensing action. No hearing requests were received. The NRC has
prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this proposed
action in accordance with the requirements of Title 10, Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), Part 51 (10 CFR Part 51). Based on the EA, the NRC
has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is
appropriate with respect to the proposed action. The amendment will be
issued to the Licensee following the publication of this FONSI and EA
in the Federal Register.
II. Environmental Assessment
Identification of Proposed Action
The proposed action would approve the Licensee's September 29,
2006, license amendment request to incorporate the DP into the license,
resulting in final decommissioning of the Facility and subsequent
release of the Facility for unrestricted use. License No. STC-133 was
issued on February 14, 1957, pursuant to 10 CFR Part 40, and has been
amended periodically since that time. This license authorized the
Licensee to possess natural uranium and thorium mixtures as ores,
concentrates and solids for the purpose of storage, sampling,
repackaging, and transfer for the activities of the National Defense
Stockpile.
The Facility is situated on approximately 483 acres of grassy open
areas and some lightly wooded areas and consists of various building
pads, buildings and warehouses, some functional and others in a serious
state of disrepair. A number of paved and dirt roads, along with
railroad tracks, traverse the site. The Facility is located in an
industrial area. Within the Facility, use of licensed materials was
confined to buildings 1022, A-921, B-911, B-912, B-913, F-731, F-734,
F-735, F-736, F-737, G-721, H-711, H-712, H-713, H-714, H-715, and the
waste burial pit. Licensed activities ceased in May 2005.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to approve the DP so that the Licensee may
complete Facility decommissioning activities. Completion of the
decommissioning activities will reduce residual radioactivity at the
Facility. NRC regulations require licensees to begin timely
decommissioning of their sites, or any separate buildings that contain
residual radioactivity, upon cessation of licensed activities, in
accordance with 10 CFR 40.42(d). The proposed licensing action will
support such a goal. NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities under the
Atomic Energy Act to make a decision on a proposed license amendment
for decommissioning that ensures protection of the public health and
safety.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
The historical review of licensed activities conducted at the
Facility shows that such activities involved the storage, repackaging
and transfer of licensed material in the form of thorium nitrate,
monazite sand, and sodium sulfate. The licensed materials were always
stored inside buildings, but were moved to other buildings which
resulted in some licensed materials being spilled outdoors.
The NRC staff has reviewed the Licensee amendment request for the
Facility and examined the impacts of this license amendment request.
Potential impacts include water resource impact (e.g., water may be
used for dust control), air quality impacts from dust emissions,
temporary local traffic impacts resulting from transporting debris,
human health impacts, noise impacts from equipment operation, scenic
quality impacts, and waste management impacts.
Based on its review, the staff has determined that no surface water
or ground water impacts are expected from the decommissioning
activities. Additionally, the staff has determined that significant air
quality, noise, land use, and off-site radiation exposure impacts are
also not expected. No significant air quality impacts are anticipated
because of the contamination controls that will be implemented by the
Licensee during decommissioning activities. In addition, the
environmental impacts associated with the decommissioning activities
are bounded by impacts evaluated by NUREG-0586, ``Final Generic
Environmental Impact Statement on the Decommissioning of Nuclear
Facilities,'' (GEIS). Generic impacts for this type of decommissioning
process were previously evaluated and described in the GEIS, which
concludes that the environmental consequences are small. The risk to
human health from the transportation of all radioactive material in the
U.S. was evaluated in NUREG-0170, ``Final Environmental Statement on
the Transportation of Radioactive Materials by Air and Other Modes.''
The principal radiological environmental impact during normal
transportation is direct radiation exposure to nearby persons from
radioactive material in the package. The average annual individual dose
from all radioactive material transportation in the U.S. was calculated
to be approximately 0.5 millirem, well below the 10 CFR 20.1301 limit
of 100 millirem for a member of the public. Additionally, the Licensee
estimates that approximately 200 cubic meters of low-contaminated
demolition material waste and 930 cubic meters of low-contaminated
soil, mostly from the excavation of the burial pit, will leave the site
over the course of the decommissioning project. The waste will be
transported from the
[[Page 34487]]
Facility by rail car to its final destination. This proposed action
will not significantly increase the probability or consequences of
accidents, no changes are being made in the types of any effluents that
may be released off site, and there is no significant increase in
occupational or public radiation exposure. Thus, waste management and
transportation impacts from the decommissioning will not be
significant.
Occupational health was also considered in the ``Final
Environmental Impact Statement on the Transportation of Radioactive
Material by Air and Other Modes.'' Shipment of these materials would
not affect the assessment of environmental impacts or the conclusions
in the ``Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Transportation of
Radioactive Material by Air and Other Modes.''
The Staff also finds that the proposed license amendment will meet
the radiological criteria for unrestricted release as specified in 10
CFR 20.1402. The Licensee demonstrated this through the development of
derived concentration guideline limits (DCGLs) for its Facility. The
Licensee conducted site-specific dose modeling using parameters
specific to the Facility that adequately bounded the potential dose.
This included dose modeling for two scenarios: building surfaces and
soil. The building surface dose model was based on the warehouse worker
scenario and the soil dose modeling was based on a resident farmer
scenario.
The Licensee will maintain an appropriate level of radiation
protection staff, procedures, and capabilities, and, through its
Radiation Safety Officer, will implement an acceptable program to keep
exposure to radioactive materials as low as reasonably achievable
(ALARA). Work activities are not anticipated to result in radiation
exposures to the public in excess of ten percent of the 10 CFR 20.1301
limits.
The NRC also evaluated whether cumulative environmental impacts
could result from an incremental impact of the proposed action when
added to other past, present, or reasonably foreseeable future actions
in the area. The proposed NRC approval of the license amendment
request, when combined with known effects on resource areas at the
site, including further site remediation, are not anticipated to result
in any cumulative impacts at the site.
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action
The only alternative to the proposed action of decommissioning the
Facility is the no-action alternative, under which the staff would
leave things as they are by simply denying the amendment request. This
no-action alternative is not feasible because it conflicts with 10 CFR
40.42(d) requiring that decommissioning of source material facilities
be completed and approved by the NRC after licensed activities cease.
The no action alternative would keep radioactive material on-site
without disposal. Additionally, denying the amendment request would
result in no change in current environmental impacts. The environmental
impacts of the proposed action and the no-action alternative are
therefore similar, and the no-action alternative is accordingly not
further considered.
Conclusion
The NRC staff has concluded that the proposed action is consistent
with NRC guidance and regulations. Because the proposed action will not
significantly impact the quality of the human environment, the NRC
staff concludes that the proposed action is the preferred alternative.
Agencies and Persons Consulted
NRC provided a draft of this Environmental Assessment to the
Maryland Department of the Environment for review on April 26, 2007. On
May 30, 2007, Maryland Department of the Environment responded by
email. The State agreed with the conclusions of the Environmental
Assessment and otherwise had no comments.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has prepared this EA in support of the proposed
action. On the basis of this EA, the NRC finds that there are no
significant environmental impacts from the proposed action, and that
preparation of an environmental impact statement is not warranted.
Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a Finding of No Significant
Impact is appropriate.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action, including the application for
license 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 documents
related to this action are listed below, along with their ADAMS
accession numbers.
1. NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning Guidance;''
2. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20, Subpart E,
``Radiological Criteria for License Termination;''
3. Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 51, ``Environmental
Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory
Functions;''
4. NUREG-1496, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support
of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-
Licensed Nuclear Facilities''
5. Submittal Letter dated February 3, 2006: ML060580094
6. Historical Site Assessment: ML060580564
7. Preliminary Site Specific Derived Concentration Guidelines:
ML060580566
8. Radiological Scoping Survey: ML060580581
9. Environmental Assessment, Disposition of Thorium Nitrate:
ML060580592
10. Request for Additional Information: ML061640494
11. Deficiency Response Letter dated July 5, 2006: ML061870570
12. Deficiency Response Letter dated August 8, 2006: ML062290404
13. Characterization Survey Report: ML062650300
14. Decommissioning/Remediation Plan: ML062760618
15. Receipt of Decommissioning Plan: ML062930051
16. Federal Register Notice of Consideration: ML070230235
If you do not have access to ADAMS, or if there are problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC 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 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA, this 15th day
of June, 2007.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety,
Region I.
[FR Doc. E7-12156 Filed 6-21-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P