Waste Control Specialists LLC; Order Modifying Exemption, 65999-66002 [2014-26415]

Agencies

• NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 215 (Thursday, November 6, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65999-66002]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26415]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-7005; NRC-2009-0283]


Waste Control Specialists LLC; Order Modifying Exemption

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; 
issuance.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an 
Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) in support of the NRC's consideration of the issuance of a new 
order superseding an order previously issued to Waste Control 
Specialists LLC (WCS) on October 20, 2009 (2009 Order). The 2009 Order 
exempted WCS from the NRC's regulations concerning special nuclear 
material (SNM). The current action is in response to a request by WCS 
dated July 18, 2014, to temporarily store containers of transuranic 
waste, originated at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in its 
Federal Facility Waste Disposal Facility (FWF).

DATES: The EA and FONSI are available as of November 6, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2009-0283 when contacting the 
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You 
may obtain publicly-available information related to this document 
using any of the following methods:
     Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2009-0283. Address 
questions about NRC dockets to Carol Gallagher; telephone: 301-287-
3422; email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact 
the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 
this document.
     NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System 
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly-available documents online in the 
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``ADAMS Public Documents'' and 
then select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, 
please contact the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 
1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 
ADAMS accession number for each document referenced in this document 
(if that document is available in ADAMS) is provided the first time 
that a document is referenced.
     NRC's PDR: You may examine and purchase copies of public 
documents at the NRC's PDR, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Park, Office of Nuclear Material 
Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington 
DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-6935; email: James.Park@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The WCS operates a facility in Andrews County, Texas, that is 
licensed to process and store certain types of radioactive material 
contained in low-level waste (LLW) and mixed waste (MW). The facility 
also disposes of hazardous and toxic waste. Under an Agreement 
authorized by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA), the NRC 
can relinquish and a State can assume, regulatory authority over 
radioactive material specified in an Agreement with the NRC. In 1963, 
Texas entered into an Agreement and assumed regulatory authority over 
source material, byproduct material, and SNM under critical mass.
    On November 30, 1997, the State of Texas Department of Health (TDH) 
issued WCS a radioactive materials license (RML) to possess, treat, and 
store LLW (RML R04971). In 1997, WCS began accepting Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Toxic Substance Control Act 
(TSCA) wastes for treatment, storage, and disposal. Later that year, 
WCS received a license from the TDH for treatment and storage of MW and 
LLW. The MW and LLW streams may contain quantities of SNM. In 2007, RML 
R04971 was transferred to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality 
(TCEQ). In September 2009, the TCEQ issued RML R04100 to WCS for 
disposal of LLW.
    Section 70.3 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 
CFR) requires

[[Page 66000]]

persons who own, acquire, deliver, receive, possess, use, or transfer 
SNM to obtain a license pursuant to the requirements of 10 CFR Part 70. 
The licensing requirements in 10 CFR Part 70 apply to persons in 
Agreement States possessing greater than critical mass quantities, as 
defined in 10 CFR 150.11. However, pursuant to 10 CFR 70.17(a), ``the 
Commission may grant such exemptions from the requirements of the 
regulations in this part as it determines are authorized by law and 
will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security 
and are otherwise in the public interest.''
    On September 25, 2000, WCS requested an exemption from the 
licensing requirements in 10 CFR Part 70 (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML003759584). On November 21, 2001, the NRC issued an order to WCS 
(2001 Order) granting an exemption to WCS from certain NRC regulations 
and permitted WCS, under specified conditions, to possess waste 
containing SNM in greater quantities than specified in 10 CFR Part 150, 
at the WCS storage and treatment facility in Andrews County, Texas, 
without obtaining an NRC license pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70. The 2001 
Order was published in the Federal Register on November 15, 2001 (66 FR 
57489). The conditions specified in the 2001 Order are discussed in the 
October 2001 EA and November 2001 Safety Evaluation Report (SER) that 
supported the 2001 Order. The EA and SER are attachments to the 
November 21, 2001, NRC letter to WCS (ADAMS Accession No. ML030130085).
    By letters dated August 6, 2003, and March 14, 2004, WCS requested 
a modification to the 2001 Order, which would allow it to use 
additional reagents for chemical stabilization of mixed waste 
containing SNM. The NRC issued the new order on November 4, 2004 (2004 
Order), which superseded the 2001 Order. The 2004 Order was published 
in the Federal Register on November 12, 2004 (69 FR 65468). The new 
conditions specified in the 2004 Order are discussed in the October 
2004 EA and SER that supported the 2004 Order (ADAMS Accession Nos. 
ML043020614 and ML042250362). The 2004 Order changed the 2001 Order 
conditions to allow WCS to use such chemical reagents as it deems 
necessary for treatment and stabilization of mixed waste containing 
SNM, provided that the SNM mass does not exceed specified concentration 
limits.
    By letter dated December 10, 2007, WCS requested additional 
modifications to the 2004 Order, which would allow it to discontinue 
confirmatory sampling of waste streams with certain SNM characteristics 
and to meet the confirmatory sampling requirements of Condition 7 of 
the order for sealed sources by using surface smear surveys. The NRC 
issued the new order to WCS on October 20, 2009 (2009 Order), which 
superseded the 2004 Order. The 2009 Order was published in the Federal 
Register on October 26, 2009 (74 FR 55071). The new conditions 
specified in the 2009 Order are discussed in the October 2009 EA and 
SER that supported the 2009 Order (ADAMS Accession Nos. ML092460509 and 
ML093070307). The 2009 Order changed the 2004 Order conditions 
regarding sampling of waste, what is allowed to be in the waste, and 
the amount of highly water soluble SNM in each waste package.
    In July 2013, by Amendment No. 22 of RML R04100, the TCEQ began to 
merge the license requirements in RML R04971 (for the radioactive waste 
treatment, storage, and processing facility) with the requirements in 
RML R04100 (for the LLW land disposal facility). In Amendment No. 22 of 
RML R04100, the TCEQ license requirements related to the 2009 Order in 
RML R04971 for the WCS treatment, storage, and processing facility were 
transferred to RML R04100. Previous orders referred to that location as 
the treatment, storage, and processing facility. Subsequently, WCS 
began referring to that location as the ``Treatment, Storage and 
Disposal Facility.'' The NRC will use the name ``Treatment, Storage, 
and Disposal Facility'' and the abbreviation TSDF to reference that 
location in this October 2014 EA and the 2014 Order.
    The previous NRC orders (2001, 2004, and 2009) addressed the issue 
that 10 CFR 70.3 requires persons who own, acquire, deliver, receive, 
possess, use, or transfer SNM to obtain an NRC license pursuant to the 
requirements in 10 CFR Part 70. However, 10 CFR 150.10 exempts a person 
in an Agreement State who possesses SNM in quantities not sufficient to 
form a critical mass from the NRC's imposed licensing requirements and 
regulations. The method for calculating the quantity of SNM not 
sufficient to form a critical mass is set out in 10 CFR 150.11. 
Therefore, prior to the 2001 Order, WCS was required to comply with NRC 
regulatory requirements and obtain an NRC specific license to possess 
SNM in quantities greater than amounts established in 10 CFR 150.11. 
The 2001 WCS exemption request, to the NRC, proposed to use 
concentration-based limits rather than mass-based limits at a specific 
location at the WCS facility. The 2001 Order granted, and the 
subsequent NRC orders (2004 and 2009) continued, the use of 
concentration-based limits with conditions at a specific location at 
the WCS facility. The TCEQ incorporated the concentration-based limits 
and conditions from each respective order (2001, 2004, and 2009) into 
the WCS license for the specific location at the WCS facility where the 
concentration-based limits instead of mass-based limits are applicable.
    By letter dated July 18, 2014, WCS requested an exemption from the 
NRC's regulations to possess SNM in excess of the critical mass limits 
specified in 10 CFR 150.11 while temporarily storing specific waste at 
a different location at the WCS facility other than the TSDF (ADAMS 
Accession No. ML14209A660). The WCS exemption request referenced the 
WCS June 20, 2014, letter to the NRC that notified the NRC of actions 
that WCS had taken in response to the on-going U.S. Department of 
Energy (DOE) investigation of an unplanned radiation release event at 
the DOE Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility (i.e., the WIPP 
incident) (ADAMS Accession No. ML14171A554). The specific waste 
includes some of the transuranic waste that originated at the DOE Los 
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which are destined to be disposed of 
at the DOE WIPP facility (i.e., LANL waste). Due to the February 14, 
2014, WIPP incident, the DOE suspended operations at the WIPP facility. 
In April 2014, WCS began receiving some of the LANL waste from DOE, 
which met the conditions in the 2009 Order. The WCS intended to 
temporarily store the LANL waste at the TSDF at the WCS facility until 
WCS ships the waste.
    Based on the DOE investigation of the WIPP incident, DOE 
subsequently informed WCS that some of the LANL waste being temporarily 
stored at the WCS TSDF could, under certain conditions, react and 
potentially result in a release of transuranic radionuclides to the 
environment. On June 12, 2014, WCS responded to DOE's information by 
starting to voluntarily move the identified LANL waste to the Federal 
Waste Disposal Facility (FWF) at the WCS facility for temporary 
storage.
    To move the identified LANL waste from the TSDF to the FWF, WCS 
first loaded the LANL waste containers onto pallets and then using a 
crane, moved the container-bearing pallets into Modular Concrete 
Canisters (MCCs). The WCS then filled the void space within each loaded 
MCC with washed river rock. The WCS moved the loaded MCCs to the FWF 
and placed the MCCs in a single array. The WCS then poured

[[Page 66001]]

a 1-foot, flowable sand layer around and over the MCCs.
    The MCCs, washed river rock, and sand layer are intended to reduce 
the likelihood of an incident similar to the one that happened at the 
WIPP facility and to provide protection in case such an incident was to 
occur at the WCS facility. The WCS placed the identified LANL waste for 
temporary storage in a specific area within the FWF that will be 
separate from other wastes disposed of at the FWF. That placement will 
also allow easier accessibility and monitoring of the identified LANL 
waste temporarily stored at the FWF.
    The WCS currently plans for the identified LANL waste at the FWF to 
be shipped from the FWF. In preparation for that shipment, WCS would 
need to retrieve the identified LANL waste containers from the MCCs. To 
gain access to the MCC lids, WCS would remove the sand layer. The WCS 
would then open each MCC and, using a vacuum truck, remove the washed 
river rock. The WCS would then use a crane to lift the LANL waste 
container-bearing pallets from the MCC.

II. Environmental Assessment

Description of the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to decide whether to grant or deny the WCS 
July 18, 2014, request to modify the conditions of the 2009 Order to 
reflect the WCS actions already taken in moving the identified LANL 
waste from temporary storage at the TSDF to temporary storage in the 
FWF, and, in the future, to prepare the waste for shipment from the 
FWF.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The WCS is making this request so that a new Order to WCS would 
reflect the actions that WCS has already taken and is expected to take 
in the future regarding the identified LANL waste at WCS in response to 
the DOE investigation of the WIPP incident.
    The purpose of this EA is to assess the potential environmental 
impacts of the WCS actions already taken in moving the identified LANL 
waste from the TSDF to the FWF, temporarily storing the identified LANL 
waste at the FWF, and preparing for the future shipments of the waste 
from the FWF. This EA does not approve or deny the requested action. A 
separate SER has been prepared in support of approval or denial of the 
requested action.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    The NRC does not expect that significant changes in radiation 
hazards to workers occurred from the movement of the identified LANL 
waste from the TSDF to the FWF or will occur in the future while 
temporarily storing the identified LANL waste at the FWF or future 
preparation of the identified LANL waste for shipment from the FWF. To 
perform those actions, WCS would need to have in place the necessary 
radiation protection procedures to keep potential radiological doses to 
workers within regulatory limits. The WCS conducts its radiation 
protection program with an emphasis on maintaining doses as low as is 
reasonably achievable.
    To address the potential for an incident similar to that which had 
occurred at the WIPP facility, WCS packed the identified LANL waste-
bearing containers into the MCCs, filled the void space with washed 
river rock, moved the MCCs to the FWF, and is temporarily storing the 
MCCs in the FWF in a separate placement and arrangement amenable to 
monitoring in the FWF. All LANL waste while at the WCS facility is 
covered by both the material control and accounting and security 
programs for the WCS facility.
    If the WCS exemption request is approved by the NRC staff, then the 
NRC would issue a new order that would supersede the 2009 Order. 
Conditions 1 through 7 would remain the same as in the 2009 Order, and 
a new Condition 8 would be created in a new order to address WCS' 
exemption request. The new Condition 8 would apply to the LANL waste 
stored in either the TSDF or the FWF. Condition 8 in the 2009 Order 
would be renumbered as Condition 9 in a new order, and Condition 9 in 
the 2009 Order would be renumbered as Condition 10 in a new order. A 
new Condition 11 would be added in a new order to provide the authority 
for the Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards at NRC (or their designee), to, in writing, relax or rescind 
any of the new order's conditions upon demonstration by the WCS of good 
cause. The WCS would continue to be permitted to possess SNM at the 
TSDF that meets the concentration limits and controls. The WCS would 
continue to be permitted to possess highly water soluble forms of SNM 
limited to amounts of SNM less than SNM of low strategic significance, 
as defined in 10 CFR 73.2 at the TSDF.
    The State of Texas regulates effluent releases and potential doses 
to the public under the WCS license. The superseding NRC order would 
not change the State of Texas' regulation of the WCS facility.
    The proposed action would not result in substantive changes to the 
transportation impacts identified in prior EAs. Movement of the 
identified LANL waste from the TSDF to the FWF was restricted to the 
WCS facility and involved the use of on-site cranes. Any increase in 
the number of trucks entering and leaving the WCS facility in support 
of the proposed action is expected to have been minimal. The trucks 
potentially would have supplied the washed river rock and flowable sand 
layer. That activity took place over a few days to a week, with the 
consequent impacts (i.e., primarily fugitive dust, exhausts, and 
traffic load on travelled roads) being temporary in nature. All other 
environmental impacts would be the same as those evaluated in the EAs 
that supported the 2001 Order, the 2004 Order, and the 2009 Order.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff considered 
denial of the WCS' July 18, 2014, request and therefore, to not issue a 
new order that would supersede the 2009 Order (i.e., the ``no action'' 
alternative). Under that alternative, WCS would need to remove the 
identified LANL waste from its temporary storage location at the FWF 
and return it to the TSDF. The impacts of doing so would be similar to 
those experienced for the proposed action because the actions to move 
the identified LANL waste back to the TSDF from the FWF would be the 
reverse of those taken to move it from the TSDF to the FWF.
    Additionally, temporary storage of the identified LANL waste at the 
TSDF may increase the potential for impacts on the environment at the 
WCS facility, if an event similar to the WIPP incident were to occur.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    On October 1, 2014, the staff consulted with the TCEQ, providing a 
copy of the draft EA for review and comment (ADAMS Accession No. 
ML14280A246). By email dated October 3, 2014, the TCEQ stated they had 
no substantive comments on the EA, recommending only two minor 
grammatical changes (ADAMS Accession No. ML14280A246). The NRC staff 
modified the EA to address the TCEQ comments.
    The proposed action does not involve the development or disturbance 
of additional land. Hence, the NRC has determined that the proposed 
action will not affect listed endangered or threatened species or their 
critical habitat. Therefore, no further

[[Page 66002]]

consultation is required under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. 
Likewise, the NRC staff has determined that the proposed action does 
not have the potential to cause effects on historic properties even if 
they were present. The identified LANL waste is being stored in the 
FWF, the bottom of which is more than 100 feet below grade, and no 
ground disturbing activities are associated with the proposed action. 
Therefore, no consultation is required under Section 106 of the 
National Historic Preservation Act.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    The NRC has reviewed WCS's July 18, 2014, request to amend the 2009 
Order. The NRC has found that effluent releases and potential 
radiological doses to the public are not anticipated to change as a 
result of this action and that occupational exposures are expected to 
remain within regulatory limits and as low as reasonably achievable. On 
the basis of the environmental assessment, the NRC concludes that the 
proposed action did not have a significant effect on the quality of the 
human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to prepare 
an environmental impact statement for the proposed action.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of October 2014.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 Marissa Bailey,
Director, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards and Environmental 
Review, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2014-26415 Filed 11-5-14; 8:45 am]
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