77268 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 231 / Tuesday, December 1, 2020 / Notices 

the scope of the backfitting and issue 

finality regulations. Applicants are not, 

with certain exceptions, covered by 

either the Backfit Rule or any issue 

finality provisions under 10 CFR part 

52. This is because neither the Backfit 

Rule nor the issue finality provisions 

under 10 CFR part 52—with certain 

exclusions not applicable here—were 

intended to apply to every NRC action 

which substantially changes the 

expectations of current and future 

applicants. If, in the future, the staff 

seeks to impose a position in the 

NUREG in a manner that constitutes 

backfitting or does not provide issue 

finality as described in the applicable 

issue finality provision, then the staff 

would need to address the Backfit Rule 

or the criteria for avoiding issue finality 

as described in the applicable issue 

finality provision. 

3. The staff does not, at this time, 

intend to impose the positions 

represented in the NUREG in a manner 

that would constitute forward fitting. If, 

in the future, the staff seeks to impose 

a position in the NUREG in a manner 

that constitutes forward fitting, then the 

staff would need to address the forward 

fitting criteria in MD 8.4. 

V. Congressional Review Act 

This NUREG is a rule as defined in 

the Congressional Review Act (5 U.S.C. 

801–808). However, the Office of 

Management and Budget has not found 

it to be a major rule as defined in the 

Congressional Review Act. 

Dated: November 25, 2020. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Christopher M. Regan, 

Deputy Director, Division of Fuel 

Management, Office of Nuclear Material 

Safety and Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26516 Filed 11–30–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 70–7005; NRC–2020–0209] 

Waste Control Specialists LLC 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Environmental assessment and 

finding of no significant impact; 

issuance. 

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 

a request from Waste Control Specialists 

LLC (WCS) to continue to store 

transuranic waste that originated from 

the Los Alamos National Laboratory 

(LANL) without an NRC license under 

the terms of a 2014 order. The 2014 

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 

August 24, 2020, to extend the 

possession time to temporarily store 

certain waste at specific locations at the 

WCS Site until December 23, 2022. 

DATES: The EA and FONSI referenced in 

this document are available on 

December 1, 2020. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2020–0209 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 Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0209. Address 

questions about Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 

telephone: 301–287–9127; email: 

Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions, contact the individual listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

• The 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 

‘‘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 (if it is 

available in ADAMS) is provided the 

first time that it is mentioned in this 

document. 

• Attention: The PDR, where you may 

examine and order copies of public 

documents is currently closed. You may 

submit your request to the PDR via 

email at PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 

1–800–397–4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Harry Felsher, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555– 0001; 

telephone: 301–415–6559; email: 

Harry.Felsher@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

Waste Control Specialists LLC 

operates a facility in Andrews County, 

Texas (the WCS Site), that is licensed to 

process and store certain types of 

radioactive material contained in lowlevel waste (LLW) and mixed waste. The 

WCS Site is also licensed to dispose of 

radioactive, hazardous, and toxic waste. 

Under an Agreement authorized by the 

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, 

a State can assume regulatory authority 

over radioactive material. In 1963, Texas 

entered into such an Agreement and 

assumed regulatory authority over 

source material, byproduct material, and 

SNM under critical mass. The WCS Site 

is licensed by the Texas Commission on 

Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for 

possession, treatment, and storage of 

radioactive waste and disposal of LLW 

under Radioactive Materials License 

(RML) R04100. 

Section 70.3 of title 10 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations (10 CFR) requires 

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 first 

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 on the WCS Site 

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 

NRC issued superseding Orders to WCS 

in 2004 (i.e., modified list of reagents) 

and 2009 (i.e., modified sampling 

requirements) that modified the 

conditions in the 2001 Order. 

On February 14, 2014, a radiation 

release event occurred at the U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) Waste 

Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Facility 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 231 / Tuesday, December 1, 2020 / Notices 77269 

(WIPP incident). In response, the DOE 

suspended operations at the WIPP 

Facility. In April 2014, WCS began 

receiving some specific waste from DOE 

that both WCS and DOE understood to 

meet both the U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT) shipping 

requirements and the conditions in the 

2009 Order. WCS began storing that 

waste at the Treatment, Storage, and 

Disposal Facility (TSDF), identified as 

the storage and processing facility in 

RML R04100. The waste was DOE 

transuranic waste that originated at 

LANL that was destined to be disposed 

of at the DOE WIPP Facility (i.e., ‘‘LANL 

Waste’’). In June 2014, WCS received 

information from DOE that some of the 

LANL Waste being temporarily stored at 

the TSDF may be similar to the waste 

that might be the cause of the WIPP 

Incident. In response, WCS moved some 

of the LANL Waste from the TSDF to the 

Federal Waste Facility (FWF) disposal 

cell for temporary storage. 

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 

some LANL Waste in the FWF disposal 

cell. The NRC issued a new order to 

WCS on December 3, 2014 (2014 Order) 

that superseded the 2009 Order. The 

2014 Order was published in the 

Federal Register on December 11, 2014 

(79 FR 73647). The 2014 Order added 

new conditions, primarily related to the 

temporary storage of the LANL Waste 

both at the TSDF and in the FWF 

disposal cell. The State of Texas 

incorporated the 2014 Order Conditions 

into WCS’ (TCEQ-issued license) RML 

R04100. 

By letters dated March 28, 2016, and 

August 30, 2018, (ADAMS Accession 

Nos. ML16095A361 and 

ML18250A289), WCS requested the 

modification of Condition 8.B.4 of the 

2014 Order to extend the timeframe for 

temporarily allowing storage of the 

LANL Waste at the WCS Site from ‘‘two 

years’’ to ‘‘until December 23, 2018’’ 

and ‘‘until December 23, 2020.’’ By 

letters dated September 23, 2016, and 

December 19, 2018, (ADAMS Accession 

Nos. ML16097A265 and 

ML18269A318), the NRC approved 

modifications of the 2014 Order 

Condition 8.B.4, extending WCS’ 

authorization to store the LANL Waste 

at the WCS Site without a license under 

10 CFR part 70 to ‘‘until December 23, 

2018,’’ and subsequently ‘‘until 

December 23, 2020’’ by citing the closed 

status of operations at the WIPP Facility 

in 2016 and the safe temporary storage 

status of the LANL Waste at the TSDF 

and in the FWF disposal cell in both 

2016 and 2018. 

By letter dated August 24, 2020, WCS 

requested that the effectiveness of its 

exemption from NRC requirements in 10 

CFR part 70 be extended with the 

modification of Condition 8.B.4 of the 

2014 Order to extend the timeframe for 

temporarily allowing storage of the 

LANL Waste at the WCS Site for another 

two years, to ‘‘until December 23, 

2022.’’ That proposal is the subject of 

this Environmental Assessment. 

II. Environmental Assessment 

Description of the Proposed Action 

The proposed action is the WCS 

request to modify the 2014 Order 

Condition 8.B.4. to allow WCS to 

continue to store the LANL Waste at 

specific locations at the WCS Site for an 

additional two years, until December 23, 

2022, without an NRC license. 

Need for the Proposed Action 

WCS is making this request to 

continue to store the LANL Waste while 

the DOE-led Interagency Project Team 

(including WCS, DOE, EPA, NRC, the 

State of Texas, and the State of New 

Mexico) works to recommend a path 

forward for disposition of the LANL 

Waste. While the WIPP Facility has 

resumed operations, some of the LANL 

Waste at the WCS Site cannot be 

shipped off the WCS Site at this time 

because it does not meet DOT shipping 

requirements. WCS has indicated that it 

will not be able to ship the LANL Waste 

to another appropriate location by the 

timeframe specified in the 2014 Order 

Condition 8.B.4, as modified by the NRC 

letter dated December 19, 2018. The 

purpose of this EA is to assess the 

potential environmental impacts of the 

WCS request to modify the 2014 Order 

Condition 8.B.4. to allow WCS to store 

the LANL Waste at specific locations at 

the WCS Site for additional two years, 

until December 23, 2022. This EA does 

not approve or deny the requested 

action. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The NRC does not expect changes in 

radiation hazards to workers or to the 

environment. WCS will continue to 

ensure that the LANL Waste in both the 

FWF disposal cell and the TSDF remain 

stored safely and securely, and will 

notify the NRC of any events as 

appropriate, as set out in the 2014 

Order. No changes to its handling or 

associated hazards would occur as a 

result of granting the requested change. 

Other environmental impacts would be 

the same as evaluated in the EA that 

supported the 2014 Order, as applicable 

to the activities associated with the 

continued safe storage of the LANL 

Waste. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action 

As an alternative to the proposed 

action, the NRC staff could deny the 

WCS request and therefore, not issue a 

modification to the Order Condition 

8.B.4. that would authorize continued 

storage of the LANL Waste at the WCS 

Site (i.e., the ‘‘no action’’ alternative). 

Upon expiration of the timeframe in the 

2014 Order Condition 8.B.4., as 

modified by the December 19, 2018, 

NRC letter to WCS, WCS would still be 

required to maintain the material safely. 

In addition, the NRC authorization of 

any change to the current storage of the 

LANL Waste at the WCS Site would still 

be required and WCS has submitted no 

such proposal to the NRC. As a result, 

under this alternative, there would be 

no environmental impacts different 

from the proposed action, although 

WCS would be required to secure a 

license or other regulatory authorization 

for the storage of the material or 

potentially be in violation of 10 CFR 

part 70 upon the expiration of the term 

in the 2014 Order Condition 8.B.4. 

Thus, the ‘‘no action’’ alternative 

would not result in changes to the 

environmental impacts evaluated in the 

NRC’s prior EAs that supported the 

2014 Order or the previous NRC orders. 

Those prior EAs concluded that there 

would be no significant radiological or 

non-radiological environmental impacts 

associated with the storage of SNM at 

the WCS Site, consistent with the 

conditions in those NRC Orders. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

On November 9, 2020, the staff 

consulted with TCEQ by providing a 

draft of the EA for review and comment. 

By email dated November 13, 2020 

(ADAMS Accession No. ML20321A189), 

TCEQ provided comments on and 

recommended corrections to the draft 

EA. The NRC staff modified the EA to 

appropriately address the TCEQ 

comments and recommended 

corrections. 

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 

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 adversely affect cultural 


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77270 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 231 / Tuesday, December 1, 2020 / Notices 

resources because 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 the WCS 

August 24, 2020, request to supplement 

the 2014 Order again to extend the 

possession time of the LANL Waste at 

specific locations at the WCS Site. 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 this environmental assessment, 

the NRC concludes that the proposed 

action will 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: November 24, 2020. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Patricia K. Holahan, 

Director, Division of Decommissioning, 

Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, 

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 

Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26427 Filed 11–30–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2020–0259] 

Monthly Notice; Applications and 

Amendments to Facility Operating 

Licenses and Combined Licenses 

Involving No Significant Hazards 

Considerations 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Monthly notice. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 189.a.(2) 

of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as 

amended (the Act), the U.S. Nuclear 

Regulatory Commission (NRC) is 

publishing this regular monthly notice. 

The Act requires the Commission to 

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 

or combined license, as applicable, 

upon a determination by the 

Commission that such amendment 

involves no significant hazards 

consideration (NSHC), notwithstanding 

the pendency before the Commission of 

a request for a hearing from any person. 

This monthly notice includes all 

amendments issued, or proposed to be 

issued, from October 16, 2020, to 

November 12, 2020. The last notice was 

published on November 3, 2020. 

DATES: Comments must be filed by 

December 31, 2020. A request for a 

hearing or a petition for leave to 

intervene must be filed by February 1, 

2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods; 

however, the NRC encourages electronic 

comment submission through the 

Federal Rulemaking website: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: 

Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0259. Address 

questions about NRC Docket IDs in 

Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges; 

telephone: 301–287–9127; email: 

Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical 

questions, contact the individual listed 

in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section of this document. 

• Mail comments to: Office of 

Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN–7– 

A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001, ATTN: Program Management, 

Announcements and Editing Staff. 

For additional direction on obtaining 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shirley Rohrer, Office of Nuclear 

Reactor Regulation, telephone: 301– 

415–5411, email: Shirley.Rohrer@

nrc.gov, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission, Washington, DC 20555– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2020– 

0259, facility name, unit number(s), 

docket number(s), application date, and 

subject when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information for this 

action. You may obtain publicly 

available information related to this 

action by any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2020–0259. 

• 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 

‘‘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 (if it is 

available in ADAMS) is provided the 

first time that it is mentioned in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. 

• Attention: The PDR, where you may 

examine and order copies of public 

documents, is currently closed. You 

may submit your request to the PDR via 

email at PDR.Resource@nrc.gov or call 

1–800–397–4209 between 8:00 a.m. and 

4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

B. Submitting Comments 

The NRC encourages electronic 

comment submission through the 

Federal Rulemaking website (https://

www.regulations.gov). Please include 

Docket ID NRC–2020–0259, facility 

name, unit number(s), docket 

number(s), application date, and 

subject, in your comment submission. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC will post all comment 

submissions at https://

www.regulations.gov as well as enter the 

comment submissions into ADAMS. 

The NRC does not routinely edit 

comment submissions to remove 

identifying or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment into ADAMS. 

II. Notice of Consideration of Issuance 

of Amendments to Facility Operating 

Licenses and Combined Licenses and 

Proposed No Significant Hazards 

Consideration Determination 

For the facility-specific amendment 

requests shown below, the Commission 

finds that the licensees’ analyses 

provided, consistent with title 10 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 

section 50.91, are sufficient to support 

the proposed determinations that these 

amendment requests involve NSHC. 


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