Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 52, December 26, 2024
(a) Each
licensee shall submit a decommissioning plan if at least one of the following
conditions is met:
(1) The licensee intends
to terminate the license using radiological criteria specified in K.A.R.
28-35-205a or K.A.R. 28-35-205b.
(2) A decommissioning plan is otherwise
required by these regulations.
(3)
A decommissioning plan is required by a license condition.
(4) The procedures and activities necessary
to carry out decommissioning of the site or separate building or outdoor area
have not been previously approved by the department, and these procedures could
increase the potential health and safety impact on workers or on the public,
including any of the following types of procedures:
(A) Procedures that would involve techniques
not applied routinely during cleanup or maintenance operations;
(B) procedures permitting workers to enter
areas not normally occupied where surface contamination and radiation levels
are higher than routinely encountered during the operation for which the
license was issued;
(C) procedures
that could result in greater airborne concentrations of radioactive materials
than are present during operation;
(D) procedures that could result in greater
releases of radioactive material to the environment than those associated with
the operation for which the license was issued; or
(E) procedures with a potential health and
safety impact that could be carried out before approval of the decommissioning
plan.
(b)
The proposed decommissioning plan for the facility or site, or separate
building or outdoor area, shall include the following:
(1) A description of the conditions of the
facility or site sufficient to evaluate the acceptability of the plan;
(2) a description of the planned
decommissioning operations;
(3) a
description of the methods used to ensure the protection of workers and the
environment against radiation hazards during decommissioning;
(4) a description of the radiation survey
planned to demonstrate compliance with subsection (e) or with K.A.R. 28-35-205;
and
(5) an updated, detailed cost
estimate of decommissioning, comparison of that estimate with the present funds
set aside for decommissioning, and a plan for ensuring the availability of
adequate funds for completion of the decommissioning.
(c) For decommissioning plans calling for
completion of decommissioning more than 24 months after plan approval, the plan
shall include a justification for the delay. The proposed decommissioning plan
shall not be approved unless the licensee demonstrates that the decommissioning
will be completed as soon as practicable and that the health and safety of the
workers and the public will be protected.
(d) Each licensee shall complete the
decommissioning of the facility or site as soon as practicable but not more
than 24 months following the initiation of decommissioning, unless an alternate
schedule addressing the factors specified in subsection (f) is approved.
(e) If decommissioning involves
the entire site, the licensee shall request license termination upon completion
of the decommissioning operations.
(f) For decommissioning plans calling for the
completion of decommissioning more than 24 months after plan approval, the plan
shall include a written justification for the decommissioning schedule
warranted by consideration of the following:
(1) Whether it is technically feasible to
complete decommissioning within the allotted 24-month period;
(2) whether waste disposal capacity is
available to allow the completion of decommissioning within the allotted
24-month period;
(3) whether a
volume reduction of wastes requiring disposal will be achieved by allowing
short-lived radionuclides to decay;
(4) whether a reduction in radiation exposure
to workers can be achieved by allowing short-lived radionuclides to decay; and
(5) whether other site-specific
factors exist. These factors may include the regulatory requirements of other
government agencies, lawsuits, groundwater treatment operations, monitored
natural groundwater restoration, and actions that could result in more
environmental harm than deferred cleanup.
(g) Each licensee shall perform the following
final steps in decommissioning:
(1) Conduct a
radiation survey of the premises where the licensed operations were carried out
and submit a report of the results of this survey, unless the licensee
demonstrates that the premises are suitable for release in some other manner.
Each licensee shall complete the following, as appropriate:
(A) Report the levels of gamma radiation in
units of millisieverts or microrems per hour at one meter from surfaces and
report the levels of radioactivity, including alpha and beta, in units of
megabecquerels, disintegrations per minute, or microcuries per milliliter for
water, and becquerels or picocuries per gram for solids, including soil and
concrete; and
(B) specify the
survey instrument or instruments used and certify that each instrument is
calibrated and tested.
(2) Each licensee shall certify the
disposition of all licensed material, including accumulated wastes, by
submitting a completed form specified by the department or the equivalent
information to the department.
