[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 91 (Wednesday, May 10, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30140-30141]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-11663]



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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No: 040-8794]


Finding of No Significant Impact Related to Approval of 
Decommissioning Plan for the Molycorp, Inc. Facility York, 
Pennsylvania, License No. SMB-1408

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuing 
an amendment to Source Materials License No. SMB-1408, held by 
Molycorp, Inc. (Molycorp or licensee), to authorize decommissioning of 
its facility in York, Pennsylvania. The objective of the 
decommissioning is to remediate the areas contaminated with thorium, 
uranium, and their daughter products, to allow the NRC to release 
Molycorp's York property for unrestricted use and to terminate the NRC 
radioactive materials license.

Environmental Assessment Summary

Proposed Action

    In connection with the decontamination and decommissioning of its 
York facility, the licensee proposed the following activities: 
Decontamination and removal of buildings and other above-grade 
structures, with the exception of an office building and a warehouse, 
removal of concrete slabs and associated drains and sumps, excavation 
of the contaminated material exceeding the Site Decommissioning 
Management Plan (SDMP) Action Plan unrestricted use criteria (46 FR 
52061), restoration of excavated areas with clean overburden, and 
transportation of the radioactively contaminated materials to an NRC 
approved interim storage or disposal facility. Further details are 
provided in the Environmental Assessment (EA).
    Based on the NRC staff evaluation of the Molycorp's final 
Decommissioning Plan (DP), it was determined that the proposed 
decommissioning can be accomplished in compliance with the NRC public 
and occupational dose limits, effluent release limits, and residual 
radioactive material limits. In addition, the approval of the proposed 
action (i.e., decommissioning of Molycorp's, York, Pennsylvania, 
facility in accordance with the commitments in the NRC license SMB-1408 
and the final DP) will not result in a significant adverse impact on 
the environment.

Need for Proposed Action

    The proposed action is necessary to remove the radioactive material 
attributable to licensed operations at the site to levels that permit 
unrestricted use of the site and termination of the radioactive source 
materials license SMB-1408.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    NRC staff reviewed the levels of contamination, the proposed 
remediation and decommissioning methods, and the radiological release 
criteria that will be used during the remediation and decommissioning. 
The radiological criteria are specified so that decommissioning 
activities will meet the 10 CFR part 20 radiation protection 
requirements. Worker and public doses will be limited so that exposures 
will not exceed Part 20 requirements and are as low as is reasonably 
achievable (ALARA).
    The licensee will perform remediation in accordance with NRC's 
Action Plan to ensure timely cleanup of SDMP sites (57 FR 13385) and 
transportation of the excavated materials to an NRC approved interim 
storage or disposal facility.
    The information for the York DP includes additional analyses of 
worker exposures from normal operations and an assessment of the 
potential for accidents. Because of the limited nature of activities 
planned for the York facility, potential worker exposures will most 
likely result from inhalation of airborne dust and shine from direct 
radiation. Potential public exposures are limited to inhalation of 
contaminated airborne dusts.
    Information provided by the licensee indicates that past activities 
resulted in no measurable internal or external dose to any workers. The 
past activities included radiological characterization and building 
decontamination similar to the proposed activities. Therefore, 
radiation doses to workers from these activities are expected to be 
well within the limits of Part 20. Separate dose calculations to assess 
the impacts indicated that the excavator at the York site will receive 
an estimated maximum annual dose of 10.6 millirem (mrem) (predominantly 
from external exposure). The Part 20 annual worker dose limit is 5 rem 
(5000 mrem). As the estimated dose is well below the limit, no adverse 
impacts are expected based on the exposure calculations.
    NRC staff analyzed the radiological impacts to the public from the 
planned decommissioning activities. Potential radiological impacts to 
the public from the decommissioning operations at the York facility are 
limited to similar release mechanisms pertaining to worker exposures 
(decontamination and excavation dusts), but require transport over 
greater distances to reach potential receptors. Therefore, much lower 
concentrations and doses are expected for members of the public in 
comparison to workers. The licensee estimated the public exposure at 
the York site boundary due to excavation to be about 0.059 mrem/yr. 
This dose is well below the NRC public dose limit (Part 20) of 100 
mrem/yr, providing confidence that the potential for adverse 
environmental impacts is low. The licensee has included in its DP, 
further groundwater sampling and characterization to reduce uncertainty 
in current estimates and to assure that mitigative measures are not 
warranted. Therefore, NRC staff concludes that the licensee has 
provided adequate plans to ensure that potential radiological impacts 
to members of the public from the proposed decommissioning activities 
will not exceed NRC limits and are unlikely to result in adverse 
environmental impacts.
    NRC staff also assessed the radiological impacts from 
transportation of contaminated soil and other wastes from the York site 
to an NRC approved interim storage or disposal facility. The most 
significant exposure pathway for the truck driver was estimated to be 
from direct exposure. The total radiation dose to the truck driver was 
estimated to be from direct exposure. The total radiation dose to the 
truck driver was estimated at 5.42 mrem for all shipments and 3.33 mrem 
during transport only (for comparison, the Part 20 occupational dose 
limit is 5000 mrem/yr). Other scenarios, such as transporting the 
wastes to another storage facility (example: Envirocare waste facility 
in Clive, Utah), were also considered and the resulting dose to the 
worker was found to be well below the NRC occupational dose limit. 
Also, the public dose from transport would be far less than that for 
the driver. NRC staff reviewed the calculations and found the doses and 
intakes are well within Part 20 limits.
    NRC staff evaluated the radiological impacts from potential 
accidents. The information in the York facility DP states that 
potential site accident scenarios are unlikely to lead to doses that 
exceed 1 percent of the Part 20 dose limits. Potential accident 
scenarios considered include fire and loading or transfer mishaps. 
Considering the low potential for fire or explosion in existing 
building structures, the low quantities of material used during 
transfer operations, and the lack of highly concentrated radioactive 
materials at the site, NRC staff concludes that accidental releases of 
radioactive materials in quantities that could affect public health and 
safety are unlikely. The licensee has a procedure in place for 
emergency

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response and notifications that provides additional safety assurance 
and, therefore, NRC staff concludes that the licensee has adequately 
addressed the potential for radiological accidents.
    NRC staff also considered nonradiological impacts, such as 
transportation accidents, air quality and noise, chemicals and 
hazardous materials, and concluded that such impacts are negligible and 
will not result in adverse impacts. NRC staff also concludes that there 
are no environmental justice issues associated with the decommissioning 
of the York site, because there are no disproportionately high minority 
or low-income populations near the site. The licensee contacted the 
Pennsylvania Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 
determined that there are no endangered species on the York site.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    The following alternatives, and the associated impacts and 
conclusions are described in the EA.
    --No Action
    --Cleanup for Unrestricted Use and Shipment to an Approved Disposal 
Site;
    --On-Site Storage at the York site; and,
    --On-Site Disposal at the York site.

Conclusions

    Based on NRC staff evaluation of the final DP for the York site, it 
was determined that the proposed decommissioning can be accomplished in 
compliance with NRC's public and occupational dose limits, effluent 
release limits, and residual radioactive material limits. In addition, 
the approval of the proposed decommissioning of the York site will not 
result in a significant adverse impact on the public health and the 
environment.
    NRC staff concludes that there are no reasonably available 
alternatives to the licensee's preferred action that are obviously 
superior.

Agencies and Individuals Consulted

    NRC staff consulted with the Pennsylvania Department of 
Environmental Protection (PADEP) in the preparation of this EA. PADEP 
provided comments and questions on the draft EA. Appropriate comments 
and responses to the questions were incorporated into the final EA.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    Based upon the EA, the Commission concludes that the proposed 
action will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human 
environment. Accordingly, the Commission has determined not to prepare 
an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed action.

Additional Information

    For further details with respect to the proposed action, see: (1) 
Molycorp's license amendment application dated August 14, 1995, and 
Molycorp's supplemental information and responses to NRC comments dated 
November 24, 1999; and (2) the complete EA. These documents are 
available for public inspection at web site http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 3rd day of May 2000.
    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Larry W. Camper,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Waste Management, Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 00-11663 Filed 5-9-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P