No. I-07-052 

Contact: Diane Screnci, 610/337-5330 

 Neil Sheehan, 610/337-5331 

October 4, 2007

NRC REVIEWING DECOMMISSIONING PLAN FOR NEW HAVEN, CONN., SITE; 

HEARING OPPORTUNITY TO BE OFFERED 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering approval of a decommissioning plan 

for a former nuclear materials facility in New Haven, Conn. As part of that review process, an 

opportunity to request a hearing on the plan will be offered. 

United Nuclear Corp. (UNC) – Naval Products previously held an NRC license for its 

facilities in New Haven and Montville, Conn. UNC closed the New Haven facility in 1974, 

transferring the radioactive materials from that site to the Montville location. From 1973 

through 1976, the New Haven site was decontaminated and decommissioned, with final 

radiological surveys finished in 1976. 

UNC’s license was amended in April 1976 to remove the New Haven facility. That 

action cleared the way for the site to be released for “unrestricted” use consistent with existing 

regulations and guidance at the time. After the Montville facility was decontaminated and 

decommissioned, the UNC license was terminated on June 8, 1994. 

In the early 1990s, the NRC initiated a program to ensure that past licenses had been 

terminated in accordance with the agency’s current release criteria for unrestricted use. (Current 

criteria require that members of the public should not be exposed to more than 25 millirems of 

radiation annually from a site released for unrestricted use. For comparison purposes, the 

average American is exposed to about 360 millirems of radiation each year from natural and 

manmade sources.) The NRC contracted with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to 

conduct that review. During the course of that evaluation, ORNL determined that UNC did not 

have sufficient documentation to verify the New Haven facility had been properly 

decontaminated prior to its release for unrestricted use. Subsequently, the NRC and Oak Ridge 

Institute for Science and Education performed radiological surveys of the site in 1996 and found 

soil contaminated with uranium in excess of allowable levels. The residual radioactivity does 

not pose a threat to the health and safety of members of the public. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs, Region I 

475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 

E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov
UNC carried out additional studies of the site, performed further remediation work and 

then submitted a decommissioning plan to the NRC on June 7, 2005. A Final Status Survey 

Plan, which details the UNC testing to be performed to demonstrate that any radioactive material 

left on-site meets acceptable limits, was provided to the NRC in October 2006. 

 

Prior to approving the decommissioning plan, the NRC staff must complete a review of 

the proposal, including an environmental assessment. The review also entails the opportunity for 

any person whose interest may be affected by the action to request a hearing. Such a request 

must include specific contentions. A notice of opportunity to request a hearing will be published 

soon in the Federal Register. The deadline for requesting a hearing is 60 days after publication 

of the notice. 

A request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene must be filed with the 

Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-

0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. Requests may also be submitted by fax to 

(301) 415-1101 or e-mail to HEARINGDOCKET@nrc.gov. A copy should also be submitted to 

the NRC Office of General Counsel, by fax to (301) 415-3725 or e-mail to 

OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. 

More information about the UNC decommissioning plan is available via the NRC’s 

electronic document system known as ADAMS (Agencywide Document Access and 

Management System) at: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html . The ADAMS Accession 

Numbers for documents related to this matter are: ML051780083, ML051780088, 

ML051780091 and ML062910318. Help in accessing documents through the Reading Room is 

available by contacting the NRC’s Public Document Room at 800-397-4209 or by e-mail at 

pdr@nrc.gov. 

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