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 Hypervelocity Gun Facility at the Naval Research Laboratory in Chesapeake Beach, MD, 1710-1712 [E9-457]
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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2009 / Notices
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[NRC–2009–0024; 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
Hypervelocity Gun Facility at the Naval
Research Laboratory in Chesapeake
Beach, MD
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No
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 the Hypervelocity
Gun Facility at the Naval Research
Laboratory, located about 2 miles south
of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. By
letter dated May 22, 2008, the Navy
submitted for NRC approval a
decommissioning plan regarding the
Hypervelocity Gun Facility. Granting
the amendment request would
incorporate the decommissioning plan
into the license authorizing
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 amendment. 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
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19:10 Jan 12, 2009
Jkt 217001
respect to the proposed action. The
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 May 22, 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. The
Hypervelocity Gun Facility was used to
test the impact of high velocity
projectiles on depleted uranium targets.
The testing was conducted from the
early 1970s until the early 1990s.
Testing was authorized under NRC
License No. SMB–448, and
subsequently, by Naval Radioactive
Materials Permit No. 08–00173–E1NP.
The Naval Radioactive Materials Permit
No. 08–00173–E1NP remains active
under the Navy’s Master Materials
License. Depleted uranium was stored
and used in the Building 218C target
chamber and Building 227 vault, and
these areas are included within the
decommissioning plan’s scope.
The Hypervelocity Gun Facility is
located at the Naval Research
Laboratory on a 168 acre site. The
Facility is located against a hillside,
approximately 1,000 feet from the
Chesapeake Bay. The city of Chesapeake
Beach is approximately two miles to the
north of the Facility, and North Beach
is approximately six miles to the north
of the Facility. The region surrounding
the Naval Research Laboratory is
sparsely populated.
The Hypervelocity Gun Facility
consists of a light gas gun, a blast tank
at the gun muzzle, a shadowgraph tube
with optics to measure the projectile
velocity, an orthogonal room and the
target chamber, and a spherical target
chamber that is 12 feet in diameter. All
components are steel except for
aluminum in a quick closing valve and
the shadowgraph tube. Part of the gas
gun is enclosed by concrete walls and
ceilings and buried in the hill. The
entire blast tube is buried in the hillside
with a small access to crawl into the
tube. The optics room containing the
shadowgraph tube and orthogonal room
are surrounded by concrete walls and
ceilings and partly buried in a hill. The
target chamber is contained in a
structure called the environmental
room, and it is this part of the Facility
that contains the areas of residual
contamination from past operations.
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Frm 00049
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
In the Hypervelocity Gun Facility,
various metallic projectiles were fired
against depleted uranium shapes and
depleted uranium with explosives
(targets) in a completely enclosed
containment system. Depleted uranium
targets were located in the spherical
target chamber with target debris
contained in the target chamber and
flight tube. In a few tests, the quick
closing valve did not function and
allowed target debris from explosive
tests to blow back through the flight
tube into the orthogonal room,
shadowgraph tube, and blast tank as far
as the muzzle of the projectile launch
tube. Depleted uranium remains
embedded in some walls of the blast
tank. It is possible that depleted
uranium is lodged in inaccessible areas
that were not affected by the routine
cleaning and decontamination
performed during testing. The
decommissioning plan submitted by the
Navy addresses the residual
contamination in Buildings 218C and
227.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to approve the
decommissioning plan so that the Navy
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 Part 30.36(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
test firing of various metallic projectiles
against depleted uranium shapes and
depleted uranium targets 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
granting 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
E:\FR\FM\13JAN1.SGM
13JAN1
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2009 / Notices
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. In addition,
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 NUREG–1496, which
concludes that the environmental
consequences are small.
The Navy estimates that
approximately 78 cubic yards of solid
radioactive waste will be generated
during decommissioning activities. 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, well below the
10 CFR part 20.1301 limit of 100 mrem
for a member of the public.
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
is no significant increase in
occupational or pubic 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 of the Transportation
of Radioactive Material by Air and
Other Modes.’’ Shipment of the 78 cubic
yards of materials from the facility
would not affect the assessment of
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19:10 Jan 12, 2009
Jkt 217001
environmental impacts or the
conclusions in the ‘‘Final
Environmental Impact Statement of 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 part
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 that 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. Work activities are not
anticipated to result in radiation
exposures to the public in excess of 10
percent of the 10 CFR Part 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 Naval Research
Laboratory 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 part 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
PO 00000
Frm 00050
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
1711
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 part 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
Radiological Health Program in the Air
and Radiation Management
Administration of the Maryland
Department of the Environment on
November 17, 2008. On December 16,
2008, the State of Maryland responded
by e-mail. The State 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 NRC’s public
documents. The documents related to
E:\FR\FM\13JAN1.SGM
13JAN1
1712
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2009 / Notices
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 of the Hypervelocity
Gun Facility at NavalResearch
Laboratory, Chesapeake Beach
Detachment, dated January 19, 2007
(ML070330468); and
8. Department of the Navy,
Decommissioning Plan for
Hypervelocity Gun Facility at
NavalResearch Laboratory, Chesapeake
Beach Detachment, dated May 22, 2008
(ML081640631).
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 6th day of January
2009.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eugene Cobey,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety Region I.
[FR Doc. E9–457 Filed 1–12–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
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19:10 Jan 12, 2009
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
Biweekly Notice; Applications and
Amendments to Facility Operating
Licenses Involving No Significant
Hazards Considerations
I. Background
Pursuant to section 189a.(2) of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended
(the Act), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (the Commission or NRC
staff) is publishing this regular biweekly
notice. The Act requires the
Commission publish notice of any
amendments issued, or proposed to be
issued and grants the Commission the
authority to issue and make
immediately effective any amendment
to an operating license upon a
determination by the Commission that
such amendment involves no significant
hazards consideration, notwithstanding
the pendency before the Commission of
a request for a hearing from any person.
This biweekly notice includes all
notices of amendments issued, or
proposed to be issued from December
18, 2008 to December 30, 2008. The last
biweekly notice was published on
December 30, 2008 (73 FR 79928).
Notice of Consideration of Issuance of
Amendments to Facility Operating
Licenses, Proposed No Significant
Hazards Consideration Determination,
and Opportunity for a Hearing
The Commission has made a
proposed determination that the
following amendment requests involve
no significant hazards consideration.
Under the Commission’s regulations in
10 CFR 50.92, this means that operation
of the facility in accordance with the
proposed amendment would not (1)
involve a significant increase in the
probability or consequences of an
accident previously evaluated; or (2)
create the possibility of a new or
different kind of accident from any
accident previously evaluated; or (3)
involve a significant reduction in a
margin of safety. The basis for this
proposed determination for each
amendment request is shown below.
The Commission is seeking public
comments on this proposed
determination. Any comments received
within 30 days after the date of
publication of this notice will be
considered in making any final
determination.
Normally, the Commission will not
issue the amendment until the
expiration of 60 days after the date of
publication of this notice. The
Commission may issue the license
amendment before expiration of the 60-
PO 00000
Frm 00051
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
day period provided that its final
determination is that the amendment
involves no significant hazards
consideration. In addition, the
Commission may issue the amendment
prior to the expiration of the 30-day
comment period should circumstances
change during the 30-day comment
period such that failure to act in a
timely way would result, for example in
derating or shutdown of the facility.
Should the Commission take action
prior to the expiration of either the
comment period or the notice period, it
will publish in the Federal Register a
notice of issuance. Should the
Commission make a final No Significant
Hazards Consideration Determination,
any hearing will take place after
issuance. The Commission expects that
the need to take this action will occur
very infrequently.
Written comments may be submitted
by mail to the Chief, Rulemaking,
Directives and Editing Branch, Division
of Administrative Services, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, DC 20555–
0001, and should cite the publication
date and page number of this Federal
Register notice.
Within 60 days after the date of
publication of this notice, person(s) may
file a request for a hearing with respect
to issuance of the amendment to the
subject facility operating license and
any person whose interest may be
affected by this proceeding and who
wishes to participate as a party in the
proceeding must file a written request
via electronic submission through the
NRC E-Filing system for a hearing and
a petition for leave to intervene.
Requests for a hearing and a petition for
leave to intervene shall be filed in
accordance with the Commission’s
‘‘Rules of Practice for Domestic
Licensing Proceedings’’ in 10 CFR Part
2. Interested person(s) should consult a
current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is
available at the Commission’s PDR,
located at One White Flint North, Public
File Area 01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
Publicly available records will be
accessible 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/doc-collections/cfr/. If a
request for a hearing or petition for
leave to intervene is filed within 60
days, the Commission or a presiding
officer designated by the Commission or
by the Chief Administrative Judge of the
Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
Panel, will rule on the request and/or
petition; and the Secretary or the Chief
E:\FR\FM\13JAN1.SGM
13JAN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 13, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1710-1712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-457]
[[Page 1710]]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[NRC-2009-0024; 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
Hypervelocity Gun Facility at the Naval Research Laboratory in
Chesapeake Beach, MD
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
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 the Hypervelocity Gun Facility at the Naval
Research Laboratory, located about 2 miles south of Chesapeake Beach,
Maryland. By letter dated May 22, 2008, the Navy submitted for NRC
approval a decommissioning plan regarding the Hypervelocity Gun
Facility. Granting the amendment request would incorporate the
decommissioning plan into the license authorizing 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 amendment. 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 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 May 22, 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. The
Hypervelocity Gun Facility was used to test the impact of high velocity
projectiles on depleted uranium targets. The testing was conducted from
the early 1970s until the early 1990s. Testing was authorized under NRC
License No. SMB-448, and subsequently, by Naval Radioactive Materials
Permit No. 08-00173-E1NP. The Naval Radioactive Materials Permit No.
08-00173-E1NP remains active under the Navy's Master Materials License.
Depleted uranium was stored and used in the Building 218C target
chamber and Building 227 vault, and these areas are included within the
decommissioning plan's scope.
The Hypervelocity Gun Facility is located at the Naval Research
Laboratory on a 168 acre site. The Facility is located against a
hillside, approximately 1,000 feet from the Chesapeake Bay. The city of
Chesapeake Beach is approximately two miles to the north of the
Facility, and North Beach is approximately six miles to the north of
the Facility. The region surrounding the Naval Research Laboratory is
sparsely populated.
The Hypervelocity Gun Facility consists of a light gas gun, a blast
tank at the gun muzzle, a shadowgraph tube with optics to measure the
projectile velocity, an orthogonal room and the target chamber, and a
spherical target chamber that is 12 feet in diameter. All components
are steel except for aluminum in a quick closing valve and the
shadowgraph tube. Part of the gas gun is enclosed by concrete walls and
ceilings and buried in the hill. The entire blast tube is buried in the
hillside with a small access to crawl into the tube. The optics room
containing the shadowgraph tube and orthogonal room are surrounded by
concrete walls and ceilings and partly buried in a hill. The target
chamber is contained in a structure called the environmental room, and
it is this part of the Facility that contains the areas of residual
contamination from past operations.
In the Hypervelocity Gun Facility, various metallic projectiles
were fired against depleted uranium shapes and depleted uranium with
explosives (targets) in a completely enclosed containment system.
Depleted uranium targets were located in the spherical target chamber
with target debris contained in the target chamber and flight tube. In
a few tests, the quick closing valve did not function and allowed
target debris from explosive tests to blow back through the flight tube
into the orthogonal room, shadowgraph tube, and blast tank as far as
the muzzle of the projectile launch tube. Depleted uranium remains
embedded in some walls of the blast tank. It is possible that depleted
uranium is lodged in inaccessible areas that were not affected by the
routine cleaning and decontamination performed during testing. The
decommissioning plan submitted by the Navy addresses the residual
contamination in Buildings 218C and 227.
Need for the Proposed Action
The proposed action is to approve the decommissioning plan so that
the Navy 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 Part 30.36(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 test firing of various
metallic projectiles against depleted uranium shapes and depleted
uranium targets 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 granting 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
[[Page 1711]]
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. In addition, 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
NUREG-1496, which concludes that the environmental consequences are
small.
The Navy estimates that approximately 78 cubic yards of solid
radioactive waste will be generated during decommissioning activities.
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, well
below the 10 CFR part 20.1301 limit of 100 mrem for a member of the
public.
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 is no
significant increase in occupational or pubic 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 of the Transportation of Radioactive
Material by Air and Other Modes.'' Shipment of the 78 cubic yards of
materials from the facility would not affect the assessment of
environmental impacts or the conclusions in the ``Final Environmental
Impact Statement of 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 part 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
that 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. Work activities are not anticipated to result in radiation
exposures to the public in excess of 10 percent of the 10 CFR Part
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
Naval Research Laboratory 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 part 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 part
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
Radiological Health Program in the Air and Radiation Management
Administration of the Maryland Department of the Environment on
November 17, 2008. On December 16, 2008, the State of Maryland
responded by e-mail. The State 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 NRC's public documents. The documents
related to
[[Page 1712]]
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 of the Hypervelocity Gun
Facility at NavalResearch Laboratory, Chesapeake Beach Detachment,
dated January 19, 2007 (ML070330468); and
8. Department of the Navy, Decommissioning Plan for Hypervelocity
Gun Facility at NavalResearch Laboratory, Chesapeake Beach Detachment,
dated May 22, 2008 (ML081640631).
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
6th day of January 2009.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Eugene Cobey,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety
Region I.
[FR Doc. E9-457 Filed 1-12-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
