Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of no Significant Impact for License Amendment to Materials License No. 45-23645-01na, to Incorporate the Decommissioning Plan for the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia, 77078-77080 [E8-30055]
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77078
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 244 / Thursday, December 18, 2008 / Notices
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
DC 20555–0001, and should cite the
publication date and page number of
this Federal Register notice. To be
considered in the scoping process,
written comments must be postmarked
or delivered by February 17, 2009.
Electronic comments may be sent by
e-mail to the NRC at
Comanche.COLEIS@nrc.gov. Electronic
submissions must be sent no later than
February 17, 2009, to be considered in
the scoping process. Comments will be
made available electronically and will
be accessible through the NRC’s
Electronic Reading Room link https://
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Participation in the scoping process
for the EIS does not entitle participants
to become parties to the proceeding to
which the EIS relates. A notice of a
hearing and opportunity to request leave
to petition to intervene in the
proceeding on the application for the
COL, will be published in a future
Federal Register notice.
At the conclusion of the scoping
process, the NRC staff will prepare a
concise summary of the determination
and conclusions reached on the scope of
the environmental review. The
summary will include the significant
issues identified. The NRC staff will
send this summary to each participant
in the scoping process for whom the
staff has an address. The staff will then
prepare and issue for comment the draft
EIS, which will be the subject of a
separate Federal Register notice and a
separate public meeting. Copies of the
draft EIS will be available for public
inspection at the PDR through the
above-mentioned address and one copy
per request will be provided free of
charge. After receipt and consideration
of comments on the draft EIS, the NRC
will prepare a final EIS, which will also
be available to the public.
Information about the proposed
action, the EIS, and the scoping process
may be obtained from Mr. Michael
Willingham at 301–415–3924, by e-mail
at michael.willingham@nrc.gov, or by
mail to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Mail Stop T6–E38M,
Washington, DC 20555–0001 and from
Mr. John Fringer at 301–415–6208 or by
e-mail at john.fringer@nrc.gov.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 12th day
of December, 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Scott Flanders,
Director, Division of Site and Environmental
Reviews, Office of New Reactors.
[FR Doc. E8–30052 Filed 12–17–08; 8:45 am]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No 52–037]
Union Electric Company d/b/a
Amerenue; Acceptance for Docketing
of an Application for Combined
License for Callaway Plant Unit 2
Nuclear Power Plant
By letter dated July 28, 2008, as
supplemented by letters dated
September 24, 2008, November 14,
2008, and November 25, 2008, Union
Electric Company d/b/a AmerenUE
(AmerenUE), submitted an application
to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) for a combined
license (COL) for a single unit of the
U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S.
EPR) in accordance with the
requirements contained in 10 CFR Part
52, ‘‘Licenses, Certifications and
Approvals for Nuclear Power Plants.’’
This reactor will be identified as
Callaway Plant Unit 2 and is to be
located at the current Callaway County,
Missouri site of the Callaway Power
Plant. A notice of receipt and
availability of this application was
previously published in the Federal
Register (73 FR 59677) on October 9,
2008, as corrected in Federal Register
(73 FR 61444 on October 16, 2008).
The NRC staff has determined that
AmerenUE has submitted information
in accordance with 10 CFR Part 2,
‘‘Rules of Practice for Domestic
Licensing Proceedings and Issuance of
Orders,’’ and 10 CFR Part 52 that is
acceptable for docketing. The Docket
Number established for Unit 2 is 52–
037.
The NRC staff will perform a detailed
technical review of the application.
Docketing of the application does not
preclude the NRC from requesting
additional information from the
applicant as the review proceeds, nor
does it predict whether the Commission
will grant or deny the application. The
Commission will conduct a hearing in
accordance with Subpart L, ‘‘Informal
Hearing Procedures for NRC
Adjudications,’’ of 10 CFR Part 2 and
will receive a report on the COL
application from the Advisory
Committee on Reactor Safeguards in
accordance with 10 CFR 52.87, ‘‘Referral
to the Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards (ACRS).’’ If the Commission
finds that the COL application meets the
applicable standards of the Atomic
Energy Act and the Commission’s
regulations, and that required
notifications to other agencies and
bodies have been made, the Commission
will issue a COL, in the form and
containing conditions and limitations
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that the Commission finds appropriate
and necessary.
In accordance with 10 CFR Part 51,
the Commission will also prepare an
environmental impact statement for the
proposed action. Pursuant to 10 CFR
51.26, and as part of the environmental
scoping process, the staff intends to
hold a public scoping meeting. Detailed
information regarding this meeting will
be included in a future Federal Register
notice.
Finally, the Commission will
announce in a future Federal Register
notice the opportunity to petition for
leave to intervene in the hearing
required for this application by 10 CFR
52.85.
Documents may be examined, and/or
copied for a fee, at the NRC’s Public
Document Room (PDR), located at One
White Flint North, Public File Area O1
F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor),
Rockville, Maryland, and will be
accessible electronically through the
Agencywide Documents Access and
Management System (ADAMS) Public
Electronic Reading Room link at the
NRC Web site https://www.nrc.gov/
reading-rm/adams.html. The
application is also available at https://
www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/
col.html. Persons who do not have
access to ADAMS or who encounter
problems in accessing 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 12th day
of December 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Joseph Colaccino,
Chief, U.S. EPR Projects Branch, Division of
New Reactor Licensing, Office of New
Reactors.
[FR Doc. E8–30058 Filed 12–17–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. 030–29462]
Notice of Availability of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of no
Significant Impact for License
Amendment to Materials License No.
45–23645–01na, to Incorporate the
Decommissioning Plan for the Naval
Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren,
Virginia
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
E:\FR\FM\18DEN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 244 / Thursday, December 18, 2008 / Notices
Significant Impact for License
Amendment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Orysia Masnyk Bailey, Health Physicist,
Decommissioning Branch, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475
Allendale Road, King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania, 19406; telephone (864)
427–1032; fax number (610) 680–3497;
or by e-mail:
orysia.masnykbailey@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license amendment to
Materials License No. 45–23645–01NA.
The license is held by the Department
of the Navy (Navy). This is a Master
Materials License and covers many sites
around the country. The proposed
action pertains to Building 200 and
adjacent grounds (the Facility) at the
Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, Virginia.
Issuance of the amendment would
incorporate the Decommissioning Plan
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 Navy’s Decommissioning
Plan. The findings of this evaluation are
documented in a Safety Evaluation
Report which will be issued along with
the license amendment. The Navy
requested this action in a letter dated
March 4, 2008. The NRC has prepared
an Environmental Assessment 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 Environmental Assessment, the
NRC has concluded that a Finding of No
Significant Impact is appropriate with
respect to the proposed action. The
license amendment will be issued to the
Navy following the publication of this
Finding of No Significant Impact and
Environmental Assessment in the
Federal Register.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
II. Environmental Assessment
Identification of Proposed Action
The proposed action would approve
the Navy’s March 4, 2008, license
amendment request to incorporate the
Decommissioning Plan into the license,
resulting in final decommissioning of
the Facility and subsequent release of
the Facility for unrestricted use. Test
firing of depleted uranium rounds at the
facility began in the early 1970s under
NRC Materials License No. SMB–1145.
The Navy issued Navy Radioactive
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Materials Permit No. 45–00178–S1NP
authorizing the test firing of depleted
uranium rounds at the Facility in 1987
when the Master Materials License was
issued to the Navy. The Navy initiated
decommissioning of the facility in 1993
and work is ongoing. In January 2002,
the permit was converted to
decommissioning permit, NRMP No.
45–00178–Y1NP. The Decommissioning
Plan submitted by the Navy addresses
the residual contamination in Bay 4 in
Building 200 and adjacent soil outside
of the building.
The facility is the largest tenant at the
Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, which
is located in King George County,
Virginia, approximately 40 miles south
of Washington, DC, and 25 miles east of
Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Naval
Support Facility Dahlgren encompasses
approximately 4,300 acres on the
western bank of the Potomac River. The
region surrounding Naval Support
Facility Dahlgren is sparsely populated.
Bay 4 in Building 200 consists of the
target bay and gun bay. The target bay
is 14.5 feet wide, 9 feet high, and 106
feet in length; and the gun bay is 14.5
feet wide, 9 feet high, and 138 feet in
length. Building 200, Bay 4 is an indoor
firing range where single shot tests on
20–40 millimeter depleted uranium and
tungsten energy penetrators were fired.
It is estimated that between 2,000 and
3,000 depleted uranium rounds were
fired in Bay 4.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to approve the
Decommissioning Plan that the Navy
may complete Facility decommissioning
activities. Completion of the
decommissioning activities will reduce
residual radioactivity at the facility. The
NRC’s 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 30.36(d). The
proposed licensing action will support
such a goal. The 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
test firing of depleted uranium rounds
and the storage of contaminated targets
and debris.
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77079
The NRC staff has reviewed the
Navy’s amendment request for the
Facility and examined the impacts of
this license amendment request.
Potential impacts include water
resource impacts (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
operations, scenic quality impacts, and
waste management impacts.
Based on its review, the staff has
determined that no surface 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 Navy during
decommissioning activities. The
environmental impacts associated with
the decommissioning activities are
bounded by impacts evaluated by
NUREG–1496, ‘‘Generic Environmental
Impact Statement in Support
Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for
License Termination of NRC Licensed
Nuclear Facilities.’’ Generic impacts for
this type of decommissioning process
were previously evaluated and
described in the ‘‘Generic
Environmental Impact Statement in
Support Rulemaking on Radiological
Criteria for License Termination of NRC
Licensed Nuclear Facilities,’’ which
concludes that the environmental
consequences are small. The risk to
human health from the transportation of
all radioactive material in the United
States 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 United States was
calculated to be approximately 0.5
mrem, which is well below the 10 CFR
20.1301 limit of 100 mrem for a member
of the public. Additionally, the Navy
estimates that approximately 78 cubic
yards of solid radioactive waste will be
generated during decommissioning
activities. This proposed action will not
significantly increase the probability or
consequences of accidents, no changes
are being made in the types of effluents
that may be released off site, and there
E:\FR\FM\18DEN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 244 / Thursday, December 18, 2008 / Notices
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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 NUREG–0170, ‘‘Final
Environmental Impact Statement of 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 NUREG–0170.
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 Navy demonstrated this through the
development of building surface derived
concentration guideline limits for its
Facility. The Navy conducted site
specific dose modeling using parameters
specific to the Facility that adequately
bounded the potential dose. The release
limits for soil at the Facility will be
those published in the Federal Register
on December 7, 1999 (Volume 64,
Number 234, Pages 68395–68396).
The Navy will maintain an
appropriate level of radiation protection
staff, procedures, and capabilities; and
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 10
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
Due to the largely administrative
nature of the proposed action, its
environmental impacts are small.
Therefore, the only alternative the staff
considered 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 30.36(d),
requiring that decommissioning of
byproduct material facilities be
completed and approved by the NRC
after licensed activities cease. The no
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17:51 Dec 17, 2008
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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 the
NRC’s unrestricted release criteria
specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. 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
Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health
for review on August 1, 2008. On
October 30, 2008, the Virginia Bureau of
Radiological Health responded by email.
The Commonwealth agreed with the
conclusions of the Environmental
Assessment, and otherwise had no
comments.
The NRC staff has determined that the
proposed action is of a procedural
nature, and will not affect listed species
or critical habitat. Therefore, no further
consultation is required under Section 7
of the Endangered Species Act. The
NRC staff has also determined that the
proposed action is not the type of
activity that has the potential to cause
effects on historic properties. Therefore,
no further consultation is required
under Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has prepared this
Environmental Assessment in support
of the proposed action. On the basis of
this Environmental Assessment, 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
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Document Access and Management
System (ADAMS), which provides text
and image files of the 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 NRCLicensed Nuclear Facilities;’’
5. NUREG–1720, ‘‘Re-evaluation of
the Indoor Resuspension Factor for the
Screening Analysis of the Building
Occupancy Scenario for NRC’s License
Termination Rule—Draft Report;’’
6. NRC License No. 45–23645–01NA
inspection and licensing records;
7. Department of the Navy,
Decommissioning Building 200, Bay 4
Depleted Uranium (DU) Indoor Test
Range at Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgren Division
(NAVSURFWARCEN), dated November
15, 2006 (ML063340558);
8. Department of the Navy, Naval
Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren
Division Building 200 Decommissioning
Plan, dated March 4, 2008
(ML080980180); and
9. New World Technology, Final
Decommissioning Plan Building 200,
Bay 4, Dahlgren Laboratory, Dahlgren,
Virginia, dated January 10, 2008.
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
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 Public Document
Room, O 1 F21, One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD
20852. The Public Document Room
reproduction contractor will copy
documents for a fee.
Dated at Region I, 475 Allendale Road,
King of Prussia, PA this 11th day of
December 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eugene Cobey,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. E8–30055 Filed 12–17–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 244 (Thursday, December 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77078-77080]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30055]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 030-29462]
Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of
no Significant Impact for License Amendment to Materials License No.
45-23645-01na, to Incorporate the Decommissioning Plan for the Naval
Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
[[Page 77079]]
Significant Impact for License Amendment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Orysia Masnyk Bailey, Health
Physicist, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials
Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania,
19406; telephone (864) 427-1032; fax number (610) 680-3497; or by e-
mail: orysia.masnykbailey@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the
issuance of a license amendment to Materials License No. 45-23645-01NA.
The license is held by the Department of the Navy (Navy). This is a
Master Materials License and covers many sites around the country. The
proposed action pertains to Building 200 and adjacent grounds (the
Facility) at the Navy's Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division
in Dahlgren, Virginia. Issuance of the amendment would incorporate the
Decommissioning Plan 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 Navy's
Decommissioning Plan. The findings of this evaluation are documented in
a Safety Evaluation Report which will be issued along with the license
amendment. The Navy requested this action in a letter dated March 4,
2008. The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment 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 Environmental Assessment, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of
No Significant Impact is appropriate with respect to the proposed
action. The license amendment will be issued to the Navy following the
publication of this Finding of No Significant Impact and Environmental
Assessment in the Federal Register.
II. Environmental Assessment
Identification of Proposed Action
The proposed action would approve the Navy's March 4, 2008, license
amendment request to incorporate the Decommissioning Plan into the
license, resulting in final decommissioning of the Facility and
subsequent release of the Facility for unrestricted use. Test firing of
depleted uranium rounds at the facility began in the early 1970s under
NRC Materials License No. SMB-1145. The Navy issued Navy Radioactive
Materials Permit No. 45-00178-S1NP authorizing the test firing of
depleted uranium rounds at the Facility in 1987 when the Master
Materials License was issued to the Navy. The Navy initiated
decommissioning of the facility in 1993 and work is ongoing. In January
2002, the permit was converted to decommissioning permit, NRMP No. 45-
00178-Y1NP. The Decommissioning Plan submitted by the Navy addresses
the residual contamination in Bay 4 in Building 200 and adjacent soil
outside of the building.
The facility is the largest tenant at the Naval Support Facility
Dahlgren, which is located in King George County, Virginia,
approximately 40 miles south of Washington, DC, and 25 miles east of
Fredericksburg, Virginia. The Naval Support Facility Dahlgren
encompasses approximately 4,300 acres on the western bank of the
Potomac River. The region surrounding Naval Support Facility Dahlgren
is sparsely populated.
Bay 4 in Building 200 consists of the target bay and gun bay. The
target bay is 14.5 feet wide, 9 feet high, and 106 feet in length; and
the gun bay is 14.5 feet wide, 9 feet high, and 138 feet in length.
Building 200, Bay 4 is an indoor firing range where single shot tests
on 20-40 millimeter depleted uranium and tungsten energy penetrators
were fired. It is estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 depleted
uranium rounds were fired in Bay 4.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to approve the Decommissioning Plan that the
Navy may complete Facility decommissioning activities. Completion of
the decommissioning activities will reduce residual radioactivity at
the facility. The NRC's 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 30.36(d). The proposed licensing action will
support such a goal. The 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 test firing of
depleted uranium rounds and the storage of contaminated targets and
debris.
The NRC staff has reviewed the Navy's amendment request for the
Facility and examined the impacts of this license amendment request.
Potential impacts include water resource impacts (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 operations, scenic
quality impacts, and waste management impacts.
Based on its review, the staff has determined that no surface 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 Navy during
decommissioning activities. The environmental impacts associated with
the decommissioning activities are bounded by impacts evaluated by
NUREG-1496, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support
Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC
Licensed Nuclear Facilities.'' Generic impacts for this type of
decommissioning process were previously evaluated and described in the
``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support Rulemaking on
Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC Licensed Nuclear
Facilities,'' which concludes that the environmental consequences are
small. The risk to human health from the transportation of all
radioactive material in the United States 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 United States was calculated to be approximately
0.5 mrem, which is well below the 10 CFR 20.1301 limit of 100 mrem for
a member of the public. Additionally, the Navy estimates that
approximately 78 cubic yards of solid radioactive waste will be
generated during decommissioning activities. This proposed action will
not significantly increase the probability or consequences of
accidents, no changes are being made in the types of effluents that may
be released off site, and there
[[Page 77080]]
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 NUREG-0170, ``Final
Environmental Impact Statement of 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 NUREG-0170.
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 Navy demonstrated this through the development of
building surface derived concentration guideline limits for its
Facility. The Navy conducted site specific dose modeling using
parameters specific to the Facility that adequately bounded the
potential dose. The release limits for soil at the Facility will be
those published in the Federal Register on December 7, 1999 (Volume 64,
Number 234, Pages 68395-68396).
The Navy will maintain an appropriate level of radiation protection
staff, procedures, and capabilities; and 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 10 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
Due to the largely administrative nature of the proposed action,
its environmental impacts are small. Therefore, the only alternative
the staff considered 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 30.36(d), requiring that decommissioning of
byproduct 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 the NRC's unrestricted release criteria specified in 10 CFR
20.1402. 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
Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health for review on August 1, 2008. On
October 30, 2008, the Virginia Bureau of Radiological Health responded
by email. The Commonwealth agreed with the conclusions of the
Environmental Assessment, and otherwise had no comments.
The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action is of a
procedural nature, and will not affect listed species or critical
habitat. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 7
of the Endangered Species Act. The NRC staff has also determined that
the proposed action is not the type of activity that has the potential
to cause effects on historic properties. Therefore, no further
consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The NRC staff has prepared this Environmental Assessment in support
of the proposed action. On the basis of this Environmental Assessment,
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 the 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. NUREG-1720, ``Re-evaluation of the Indoor Resuspension Factor
for the Screening Analysis of the Building Occupancy Scenario for NRC's
License Termination Rule--Draft Report;''
6. NRC License No. 45-23645-01NA inspection and licensing records;
7. Department of the Navy, Decommissioning Building 200, Bay 4
Depleted Uranium (DU) Indoor Test Range at Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgren Division (NAVSURFWARCEN), dated November 15, 2006
(ML063340558);
8. Department of the Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren
Division Building 200 Decommissioning Plan, dated March 4, 2008
(ML080980180); and
9. New World Technology, Final Decommissioning Plan Building 200,
Bay 4, Dahlgren Laboratory, Dahlgren, Virginia, dated January 10, 2008.
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 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 Public Document Room, O 1
F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852.
The Public Document Room reproduction contractor will copy documents
for a fee.
Dated at Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA this
11th day of December 2008.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eugene Cobey,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety,
Region I.
[FR Doc. E8-30055 Filed 12-17-08; 8:45 am]
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