11136 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 49 / Monday, March 16, 2009 / Notices 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 040–08940; NRC–2009–0113] 

Notice of Availability of Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact for License 

Amendment to Source Materials 

License No. STB–1504, for Termination 

of the License and Unrestricted 

Release of the Alpha Q, Incorporated 

Facility in Colchester, CT 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Issuance of Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact for License 

Amendment. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Todd Jackson, CHP, Commercial and R 

& D Branch, Division of Nuclear 

Materials Safety, Region I, 475 

Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA, 

19406; telephone (610) 337–5308; fax 

number (610) 337–5269; or by e-mail: 

Todd.Jackson@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is considering the 

issuance of a license amendment to 

Source Materials License No. STB–1504. 

This license is held by Alpha Q, Inc. 

(the Licensee) for its facility located at 

Colchester Industrial Park, 87 Upton 

Road, Colchester, Connecticut (the 

Facility). Issuance of the amendment 

would authorize release of the facility 

for unrestricted use and termination of 

the NRC license. The Licensee requested 

this action in a letter dated November 

20, 2008. The NRC has prepared an 

Environmental Assessment (EA) in 

support of this proposed action in 

accordance with the requirements of 

Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR), Part 51 (10 CFR Part 51). Based 

on the EA, the NRC has concluded that 

a Finding of No Significant Impact 

(FONSI) is appropriate with respect to 

the proposed action. The amendment 

will be issued to the Licensee following 

the publication of this FONSI and EA in 

the Federal Register. 

II. Environmental Assessment 

Identification of Proposed Action 

The proposed action would approve 

the Licensee’s November 20, 2008, 

license amendment request, resulting in 

release of the Facility for unrestricted 

use and the termination of its NRC 

materials license. License No. STB–1504 

was issued on April 21, 1987, pursuant 

to 10 CFR Part 40, and has been 

amended periodically since that time. 

This license authorized the Licensee to 

possess, store, and use thorium in 

precision machining of magnesiumthorium castings, and chemical 

treatment of filings. 

The Facility is comprised of a 

building approximately 35,000 square 

feet in size, consisting of office space 

and machine shops situated on 

approximately 10 acres of land. The 

Facility is located in a commercial area 

within the town of Colchester, New 

London County, Connecticut. Within 

the Facility, use of licensed materials 

was confined to machining areas of 

approximately 28,500 square feet. 

In August 2001, the Licensee ceased 

licensed activities and subsequently 

initiated a survey of the Facility. A final 

survey, designed using the guidance 

contained in the Multi-Agency 

Radiation Survey and Site Investigation 

Manual (MARSSIM), was conducted on 

August 26 and 29, 2008. Based on the 

Licensee’s historical knowledge of the 

site and the conditions of the Facility, 

the Licensee determined that only 

routine decontamination activities, in 

accordance with their NRC-approved 

operating radiation safety procedures, 

were required after licensed activities 

were stopped. The Licensee was not 

required to submit a decommissioning 

plan to the NRC because cleanup 

activities and procedures are consistent 

with those approved for routine 

operations. The Licensee conducted 

surveys of the Facility and provided 

information in a letter to the NRC, dated 

November 20, 2008, to demonstrate that 

it meets the criteria in Subpart E of 10 

CFR Part 20 for unrestricted release and 

for license termination. 

Need for the Proposed Action 

The Licensee has ceased conducting 

licensed activities at the Facility and 

seeks the unrestricted use of its Facility 

and the termination of its NRC materials 

license. Termination of its license 

would end the Licensee’s obligation to 

pay annual license fees to the NRC. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The historical review of licensed 

activities conducted at the Facility 

shows that such activities involved 

machining of castings made of thoriummagnesium metal, as well as activities 

related to handling of the turnings 

(waste fragments) from machining. 

Thorium is a radioactive material with 

half-life greater than 120 days. Prior to 

performing the final status survey, the 

Licensee conducted decontamination 

activities, as necessary, in the areas of 

the Facility affected by this 

radionuclide. 

The Licensee conducted a final status 

survey on August 26 and 29, 2008. The 

NRC inspected the Facility on August 

26, 2008, and observed portions of the 

final status survey while in progress 

(ML090200015). The final status survey 

covered the 28,500 square feet of 

machining areas in the building where 

licensed materials may have been used. 

In addition, the licensee surveyed 

outside waste storage areas of the 

facility where containers that may have 

held licensed materials were 

temporarily stored. Waste materials 

generated from licensed activities had 

previously been disposed of by the 

Licensee. No airborne or liquid effluents 

containing licensed materials were 

expected to have occurred from the 

Facility and review of records did not 

identify any such releases. The final 

status survey report was submitted to 

the NRC along with the Licensee’s 

amendment request dated November 20, 

2008 (ML083330496). 

The Licensee elected to demonstrate 

compliance with the radiological 

criteria for unrestricted release as 

specified in 10 CFR 20.1402 by using a 

modified version of the screening 

approach described in NUREG–1757, 

‘‘Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning 

Guidance,’’ Volume 2. The Licensee 

modified the radionuclide-specific 

derived concentration guideline levels 

(DCGLs), which comply with the dose 

criterion in 10 CFR 20.1402. The sole 

modification to these screening criteria 

for thorium-232 plus progeny in 

equilibrium consisted of a change to the 

resuspension factor (RFo*) in the DandD 

computer code to a value of 1.00E–6, 

which was approved in advance by NRC 

as an acceptable change to the default 

screening approach (ML081710745). 

The thorium-232 DCGL defines the 

maximum amount of residual 

radioactivity on building surfaces, 

equipment, and materials that will 

satisfy the NRC requirements in Subpart 

E of 10 CFR Part 20 for unrestricted 

release. The Licensee’s final status 

survey results were less than the DCGL 

and are in compliance with the As Low 

As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) 

requirement of 10 CFR 20.1402. 

Based on its review, the staff has 

determined that the affected 

environment and any environmental 

impacts associated with the proposed 

action are bounded by the impacts 

evaluated by the ‘‘Generic 

Environmental Impact Statement in 

Support of Rulemaking on Radiological 

Criteria for License Termination of NRCLicensed Nuclear Facilities’’ (NUREG– 

1496) Volumes 1–3 (ML042310492, 

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 49 / Monday, March 16, 2009 / Notices 11137 

ML042320379, and ML042330385). The 

staff finds there were no significant 

environmental impacts from the use of 

radioactive material at the Facility. The 

NRC staff reviewed the docket file 

records and the final status survey 

report to identify any non-radiological 

hazards that may have impacted the 

environment surrounding the Facility. 

No such hazards or impacts to the 

environment were identified. The NRC 

has identified no other radiological or 

non-radiological activities in the area 

that could result in cumulative 

environmental impacts. 

The NRC staff finds that the proposed 

release of the Facility for unrestricted 

use and the termination of the NRC 

materials license is in compliance with 

10 CFR 20.1402. Based on its review, 

the staff considered the impact of the 

residual radioactivity at the Facility and 

concluded that the proposed action will 

not have a significant effect on the 

quality of the human environment. The 

NRC thus finds that the Licensee’s final 

status survey results are acceptable to 

support free release of the Facility for 

unrestricted use and for termination of 

the NRC license. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action 

Due to the largely administrative 

nature of the proposed action, its 

environmental impacts are small. 

Therefore, the only alternative the staff 

considered is the no-action alternative, 

under which the staff would leave 

things as they are by simply denying the 

amendment request. This no-action 

alternative is not feasible because it 

conflicts with 10 CFR 40.42(d), 

requiring that decommissioning of 

source material facilities be completed 

and approved by the NRC after licensed 

activities cease. The NRC’s analysis of 

the Licensee’s final status survey data 

confirmed that the Facility meets the 

requirements of 10 CFR 20.1402 for 

unrestricted release and for license 

termination. Additionally, denying the 

amendment request would result in no 

change in current environmental 

impacts. The environmental impacts of 

the proposed action and the no-action 

alternative are therefore similar, and the 

no-action alternative is accordingly not 

further considered. 

Conclusion 

The NRC staff has concluded that the 

proposed action is consistent with the 

NRC’s unrestricted release criteria 

specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. Because 

the proposed action will not 

significantly impact the quality of the 

human environment, the NRC staff 

concludes that the proposed action is 

the preferred alternative. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted 

NRC provided a draft of this 

Environmental Assessment to the 

Connecticut Department of 

Environmental Protection for review on 

January 22, 2009. On February 17, 2009, 

the Connecticut Department of 

Environmental Protection responded. 

The Connecticut Department of 

Environmental Protection agreed with 

the conclusions of the EA and otherwise 

had no comments. 

The NRC staff has determined that the 

proposed action is of a procedural 

nature and will not affect listed species 

or critical habitat. Therefore, no further 

consultation is required under Section 7 

of the Endangered Species Act. The 

NRC staff has also determined that the 

proposed action is not the type of 

activity that has the potential to cause 

effects on historic properties. Therefore, 

no further consultation is required 

under Section 106 of the National 

Historic Preservation Act. 

III. Finding of No Significant Impact 

The NRC staff has prepared this EA in 

support of the proposed action. On the 

basis of this EA, the NRC finds that 

there are no significant environmental 

impacts from the proposed action and 

that preparation of an environmental 

impact statement is not warranted. 

Accordingly, the NRC has determined 

that a Finding of No Significant Impact 

is appropriate. 

IV. Further Information 

Documents related to this action, 

including the application for license 

amendment and supporting 

documentation, are available 

electronically at the NRC’s Electronic 

Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/ 

reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, 

you can access the NRC’s Agencywide 

Document Access and Management 

System (ADAMS), which provides text 

and image files of NRC’s public 

documents. The documents related to 

this action are listed below, along with 

their ADAMS accession numbers. 

1. Letter from Alpha Q to NRC dated 

April 21, 2008, submitting a proposed 

final site status survey plan 

(ML081350674); 

2. Letter from NRC to Alpha Q dated 

June 19, 2008, approving a modification 

to the default DCGLs and requesting 

additional information regarding the 

proposed final survey plan 

(ML081710745); 

3. Letter from Alpha Q to NRC dated 

June 30, 2008, providing additional 

information regarding the proposed 

final status survey plan (ML082000589); 

4. Letter from NRC to Alpha Q 

approving final survey plan, dated July 

11, 2008 (ML081960062); 

5. Letter from Alpha Q to NRC 

submitting final survey results and 

requesting license termination, dated 

November 20, 2008 (ML083330496); 

6. NRC Inspection Record dated 

January 9, 2009 (ML090200015); 

7. NUREG–1757, ‘‘Consolidated 

NMSS Decommissioning Guidance;’’ 

8. Title 10 Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 20, Subpart E, 

‘‘Radiological Criteria for License 

Termination;’’ 

9. Title 10, Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 51, ‘‘Environmental 

Protection Regulations for Domestic 

Licensing and Related Regulatory 

Functions;’’ and 

10. NUREG–1496, ‘‘Generic 

Environmental Impact Statement in 

Support of Rulemaking on Radiological 

Criteria for License Termination of NRCLicensed Nuclear Facilities.’’ 

If you do not have access to ADAMS, 

or if there are problems in accessing the 

documents located in ADAMS, contact 

the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) 

Reference staff at 1–800–397–4209, 301– 

415–4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. 

These documents may also be viewed 

electronically on the public computers 

located at the NRC’s PDR, O 1 F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR 

reproduction contractor will copy 

documents for a fee. 

Dated at Region I, 475 Allendale Road, 

King of Prussia, PA this 6th day of March 

2009. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

James P. Dwyer, 

Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division 

of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I. 

[FR Doc. E9–5601 Filed 3–13–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2009–0110] 

Interim Staff Guidance on Disposition 

of Review of Evaluation To Address 

Adverse Flow Effects in Equipment 

Other Than Reactor Internals 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Solicitation of public comment. 

SUMMARY: The NRC is soliciting public 

comment on its Proposed Interim Staff 

Guidance (ISG) DC/COL–ISG–010 

(Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management System (ADAMS)