20002 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 82 / Thursday, April 30, 2009 / Notices 

from the environment or nonradiological effluents to the 

environment. Therefore, no changes or 

different types of non-radiological 

environmental impacts are expected as 

a result of the exemption. 

Accordingly, the NRC staff concludes 

that there are no significant 

environmental impacts associated with 

the proposed action. 

For more detailed information 

regarding the environmental impacts of 

extended fuel burnup, please refer to 

NUREG/CR–6703. 

The details of the NRC staff’s safety 

evaluation will be provided in the 

exemption that will be issued as part of 

the letter to the licensee approving the 

exemption to the regulation. 

Environmental Impacts of the 

Alternatives to the Proposed Action: 

As an alternative to the proposed 

action, the NRC staff considered denial 

of the proposed action (i.e., the ‘‘noaction’’ alternative). Denial of the 

exemption request would result in no 

change in current environmental 

impacts. The environmental impacts of 

the proposed exemption and this 

alternative are similar. 

Alternative Use of Resources: 

The action does not involve the use of 

any different resources than those 

previously considered in the ‘‘Final 

Environmental Statement Related to the 

Operation of Byron Station, Units 1 and 

2,’’ NUREG–0848, dated April 1982. 

Agencies and Persons Consulted: 

In accordance with its stated policy, 

on February 27, 2009, the NRC staff 

consulted with the Illinois State official, 

Mr. Frank Niziolek of the Illinois 

Emergency Management Agency, 

regarding the environmental impact of 

the proposed action. The State official 

had no comments. 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

On the basis of the environmental 

assessment, the NRC staff concludes 

that the proposed action will not have 

a significant effect on the quality of the 

human environment. Accordingly, the 

NRC staff has determined not to prepare 

an environmental impact statement for 

the proposed action. 

For further details with respect to the 

proposed action, see the licensee’s letter 

dated March 24, 2008 (ADAMS 

Accession No. ML080850235). 

Documents may be examined, and/or 

copied for a fee, at the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR), located at One 

White Flint North, 1555 Rockville Pike, 

Rockville, Maryland 20852. Publicly 

available records will be accessible 

electronically from the ADAMS Public 

Electronic Reading Room on the Internet 

at the NRC Web site: http:// 

www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. 

Persons who do not have access to 

ADAMS or who encounter problems in 

accessing the documents located in 

ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR 

Reference staff by telephone at 1–800– 

397–4209 or 301–415–4737, or send an 

e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 23rd day 

of April 2009. 

For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

Christopher Gratton, 

Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing 

Branch III–2, Division of Operating Reactor 

Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor 

Regulation. 

[FR Doc. E9–9950 Filed 4–29–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[Docket No. 030–32694; NRC–2009–0183] 

Notice of Availability of Environmental 

Assessment and Finding of No 

Significant Impact for Amendment of 

Byproduct Materials License No. 24– 

00513–38, for Unrestricted Release of 

Facilities at University of Missouri in 

St. Louis, MO 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Issuance of environmental 

assessment and finding of no significant 

impact for license amendment. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter J. Lee, PhD, CHP, Health Physicist, 

Materials Control, ISFSI, and 

Decommissioning Branch, Division of 

Nuclear Materials Safety, Region III, 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

2443 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois 

60532; telephone: (630) 829–9870; fax 

number: (630) 515–1259; or by e-mail at 

Peter.Lee@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is proposing to 

amend Byproduct Materials License No. 

24–00513–38. This license is held by 

the Curators of the University of 

Missouri (the Licensee) for its facilities 

located at 8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. 

Louis, Missouri. Issuance of the 

amendment would authorize release of 

certain laboratories, designated by the 

licensee as R–109, R–201, R–411, R– 

412, R–417, R–433, R–435, R–439, and 

S–466 (collectively, the ‘‘Facility’’), for 

unrestricted use. The Facility is located 

at the above address. The Licensee 

requested this action in letter dated 

February 10, 2009 (ADAMS Accession 

No. ML090480210). 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 February 10, 2009, 

license amendment request, resulting in 

the release of the Facility for 

unrestricted use (the criteria for 

unrestricted use is set forth in 10 CFR 

20.1402). The applicable NRC 

decommissioning regulation, under 

which this proposed action would be 

carried out, is 10 CFR 30.36. License No. 

24–00513–38 was issued on August 21, 

1992, pursuant to 10 CFR part 30, and 

has been amended periodically since 

that time. The license authorizes the use 

of by-product materials for laboratory 

research and development, including 

metabolic labeling and in-vitro 

experiments. The licensee ceased using 

licensed materials in the Facility in 

2008. The Licensee has conducted 

radiological surveys of the Facility (the 

licensee conducted surveys for 

laboratories R–109 and R–201 in 2007, 

and conducted surveys for the 

remainder of the laboratories in 2008). 

The results of these surveys were 

provided to the NRC to demonstrate that 

the criteria in 10 FR 20.1402 for 

unrestricted release have been met. 

Need for the Proposed Action 

The Licensee has ceased conducting 

licensed activities at the Facility and 

seeks the unrestricted use of its Facility. 

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed 

Action 

The historical review of licensed 

activities conducted at the Facility 

shows that such activities involved use 

of hydrogen-3, carbon-14, phosphorus32, phosphorus-33, sulfur-35, 

molybdenum-99, iodine-125, and 

cesium-137. Prior to performing the 

radiological surveys, the Licensee 

conducted decontamination activities, 

as necessary, in the areas of the Facility 

affected by these radionuclides. 

Three radiological survey reports, 

together covering all areas of the facility, 

were attached to the licensee’s 

amendment request dated February 10, 

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 82 / Thursday, April 30, 2009 / Notices 20003 

1The survey for laboratories R–109 and R–201 

relied upon the screening values set forth in NRC 

Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.86, ‘‘Termination of 

Operating Licenses for Nuclear Reactor,’’ (June 

1974). The RG 1.86 screening values are more 

conservative than, and as such are bound by, the 

screening values in NUREG–1757. 

2009. The Licensee elected to 

demonstrate compliance with the 

radiological criteria for unrestricted 

release as specified in 10 CFR 20.1402 

by using the screening values described 

in NUREG–1757, ‘‘Consolidated 

Decommissioning Guidance,’’ Volume 1 

(ML020380209) as the radionuclidespecific derived concentration guideline 

levels (DCGLs) 1. These values provide 

acceptable levels of surface 

contamination to demonstrate 

compliance with the NRC requirements 

in 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted 

release. The Licensee’s survey results 

were below these values and are in 

compliance with the As Low As 

Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) 

requirement of 10 CFR 20.1402. The 

NRC thus finds that the Licensee’s 

survey results are acceptable. 

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 

NRC–Licensed Nuclear Facilities’’ 

(NUREG–1496) Volumes 1–3 

(ML042310492, 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 

available docket file records and the 

survey results to identify any nonradiological 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 issuance of 

the proposed amendment authorizing 

release of the Facility for unrestricted 

use is in compliance with applicable 

NRC regulations. 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. 

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 deny the 

amendment request. This no-action 

alternative is not feasible because it 

conflicts with 10 CFR 30.36(d), 

requiring that decommissioning of 

byproduct material facilities be 

completed and approved by the NRC 

after licensed activities cease. The 

NRC’s analysis of the Licensee’s survey 

data confirmed that the Facility meets 

the requirements of 10 CFR 20.1402 for 

unrestricted release. 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 

Missouri Department of Health and 

Senior Services for review on March 31, 

2009. By response dated April 1, 2009, 

the State agreed with the conclusions of 

the EA, and otherwise provided no 

comments. 

The NRC staff has determined that the 

proposed action is of a procedural 

nature, and will not affect any listed 

species or critical habitat. Therefore, no 

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 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. Steven D. Struck, Curators of the 

University of Missouri, letter dated 

February 10, 2009 (ADAMS Accession 

No. ML091120616); 

2. Title 10 Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 20, Subpart E, 

‘‘Radiological Criteria for License 

Termination;’’ 

3. Title 10 Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 51, ‘‘Environmental 

Protection Regulations for Domestic 

Licensing and Related Regulatory 

Functions;’’ 

4. NUREG–1496, ‘‘Generic 

Environmental Impact Statement in 

Support of Rulemaking on Radiological 

Criteria for License Termination of 

NRC–Licensed Nuclear Facilities’’ 

(ML042310492, ML042320379, and 

ML042330385); 

5. NUREG–1757, AConsolidated 

Decommissioning Guidance@ 

(ML020380209). 

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 Lisle, Illinois, this 23rd day of 

April 2009. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

William G. Snell, 

Acting Branch Chief, Materials Control, ISFSI, 

and Decommissioning Branch, Division of 

Nuclear Materials Safety, Region III. 

[FR Doc. E9–9946 Filed 4–29–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P