NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

 Office of Public Affairs Region IV 

 611 Ryan Plaza Drive - Suite 400

 Arlington, TX 76011-4005

No. IV-03-022 May 6, 2003

Contact: Victor Dricks E-Mail: opa4@nrc.gov

Phone: 817-860-8128

NRC TO MEET WITH PUBLIC TO DISCUSS 

 DECOMMISSIONING SEQUOYAH FUELS

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet with the public Tuesday, May 13 to

discuss issues related to the decommissioning activities at the Sequoyah Fuels Corporation

facility near Gore, Oklahoma.

The meeting will be held from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Gore High School cafeteria, 1200

Highway 10N, to discuss a change in the classification of some of the wastes at the Seqouyah

Fuels Corp. site. NRC staff will discuss the basis for the reclassification and its effect on

decommissioning and reclamation of the site, and will answer questions from the public. 

Additionally, the status of the environmental review of reclamation activities at the site will be

discussed. The NRC staff is seeking public comments on the environmental impacts that need to

be addressed in light of the reclassification.

In addition to the Tuesday evening meeting, NRC staff and Sequoyah Fuels Corp.

officials will tour the site and hold a technical exchange from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon Wednesday,

May 14. This meeting and site tour will be held at the Sequoyah Fuels facility located at

Interstate-40 and Highway 10N. The technical exchange will provide Sequoyah Fuels an

opportunity to discuss technical issues identified in NRC ’s March 24 letter accepting the

reclamation plan for detailed review by NRC staff. It will also afford the NRC staff and its

consultants an opportunity to discuss environmental issues prior to anticipated NRC requests for

additional information from Sequoyah Fuels. 

Other agencies and organizations cooperating in the environmental review are the

Environmental Protection Agency; the Army Corps of Engineers; the U.S. Geological Survey;

the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality; and the Cherokee Nation. 

 From 1970 to 1993, the Sequoyah Fuels facility was used to convert uranium oxide

(yellowcake) to uranium hexafluoride, a step in the production of nuclear reactor fuel. From

1987 to 1993, the facility was also used to convert depleted uranium hexafluoride to depleted
uranium tetrafluoride. During this operational period, Sequoyah Fuels disposed of radioactive

material on site in accordance with NRC regulations in effect at the time. It also built ponds for

chemically and radioactively contaminated materials, and disposed of sludge and other process

materials by burial on site.

In 1998, Sequoyah Fuels began to prepare for decommissioning the site. It submitted to

NRC a site characterization report, a study of remediation alternatives, and a decommissioning

plan. The remediation plan proposed by Sequoyah Fuels was an on-site disposal cell.

In January 2001, Sequoyah Fuels requested that the NRC determine if waste material

from the solvent extraction process at the facility could be classified as byproduct material as

defined in section 11e.(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. In July 2002, the Commission

concluded that those wastes, which comprise most of the waste at the site, could be reclassified

as 11e.(2) byproduct material. 

The NRC is conducting a review of the site reclamation plan to determine if it meets

regulatory requirements. At the conclusion of its review, NRC staff will issue a Technical

Evaluation Report documenting its findings. NRC staff will also develop an environmental

impact statement to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with reclamation alternatives. The

environmental impact statement will evaluate the potential impacts of the licensee’s proposal and

alternatives, including the option of disposing of the contaminated material off-site in a licensed

disposal facility. 

The May 13 public meeting is one of a series of public meetings held periodically to

discuss various issues related to the remediation of the Sequoyah Fuels site. 

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