[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 16, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2251-2254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-1089]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-27]
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact of
License Amendment for BWX Technologies, Inc., and Notice of Opportunity
To Request a Hearing
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Amendment of BWX Technologies, Inc., Materials License SNM-42
to authorize the installation and use of the Metal Dissolution
Facility.
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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering the amendment
of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-42 to authorize the
installation and use of the Metal Dissolution Facility at the BWX
Technologies, Inc., facility located in Lynchburg, VA, and has prepared
an Environmental Assessment in support of this action.
Environmental Assessment
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has received a
license request, dated August 7, 2001, and a revision to that submittal
dated December 18, 2001. The request is to amend SNM-42 to authorize
the installation and use of the Metal Dissolution Facility (MDF) for
the dissolution of high enriched uranium (HEU) metal to support BWXT's
downblending operations. The purpose of this document is to assess the
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environmental consequences of the proposed license amendment.
The BWXT facility in Lynchburg, VA, is authorized under SNM-42 to
possess nuclear materials for the fabrication and assembly of nuclear
fuel components. The facility supports the U.S. naval reactor program,
fabricates research and university reactor components, and manufactures
compact reactor fuel elements. The facility also performs recovery of
scrap uranium. Research and development activities related to the
fabrication of nuclear fuel components are also conducted.
1.2 Review Scope
This environmental assessment (EA) serves to present information
and analysis for determining whether to issue a Finding of No
Significant Impact (FONSI) or to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS). Should the NRC issue a FONSI, no EIS would be prepared
and the license amendment would be granted.
1.3 Proposed Action
The proposed action is to amend NRC Materials License SNM-42 to
authorize the installation and use of the MDF for the dissolution of
HEU metal to support BWXT's downblending operations. The MDF will be
used to receive, store, dissolve HEU metal ranging from 20 to 97
percent uranium-235 (U-235). The MDF will support other processing
areas and will be located within the Bay 15A Material Access Area
(MAA). The building is already in place, so there will be no new
construction on the BWXT site. The building is approximately 37 feet
long, 20 feet wide, and 18 feet high.
The purpose of the MDF is to produce a homogeneous uranyl nitrate
solution with a uranium concentration of approximately 400 grams/liter
(g/l). The first step in the MDF is the weighing out of an appropriate
amount of HEU in a charging basket in a ventilated glove box. The
charging basket is then transferred via a lift to a dissolver digester.
Measured quantities of nitric acid and deionized water are added in the
dissolver to dissolve the HEU. The resulting mixture is then heated to
approximately 180 degrees Fahrenheit and circulated until a homogeneous
uranyl nitrate solution is made. This homogeneous uranyl nitrate
solution is then pumped through filters into a process monitoring
column where the solution is circulated, weighed, and sampled for U-235
concentration. The solution is then transferred via a manually
activated pump to one of five storage columns where it is retained
until required for blending with depleted or low enriched uranium.
1.4 Purpose and Need for Proposed Action
The proposed action would allow the licensee to install and operate
the MDF. The operation of the MDF is needed to downblend HEU in support
of HEU disposition for the Department of Energy. The MDF is expected to
operate for many years.
1.5 Alternatives
The alternatives available to the NRC are:
1. Approve the license amendment request as submitted;
2. Approve the license amendment with restrictions; or
3. Deny the amendment request.
2.0 Affected Environment
The affected environment for Alternatives 1 and 2 is the BWXT site.
A full description of the site and its characteristics is given in the
1995 Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Renewal of the NRC license
for BWXT. The BWXT facility is located on a 525 acre (2 km\2\) site in
the northeastern corner of Campbell County, approximately 5 miles (8
km) east of Lynchburg, Virginia. This site is located in a generally
rural area, consisting primarily of rolling hills with gentle slopes,
farm land, and woodlands.
3.0 Effluent Releases and Monitoring
A full description of the effluent monitoring program at the site
is provided in the 1995 Environmental Assessment for the Renewal of the
NRC license for BWXT. Monitoring programs at the BWXT facility comprise
effluent monitoring of air and water and environmental monitoring of
various media (air, soil, vegetation, and groundwater). This program
provides a basis for evaluation of public health and safety impacts,
for establishing compliance with environmental regulations, and for
development of mitigation measures if necessary. The monitoring program
is not expected to change as a result of the proposed action. The NRC
has reviewed the location of the environmental monitoring program
sampling points, the frequency of sample collection, and the trends of
the sampling program results in conjunction with the environmental
pathway and exposure analysis and concluded that the monitoring program
provides adequate protection of public health and safety.
Gaseous, liquid, and solid wastes are produced at the BWXT site.
These wastes are categorized as low-level radioactive, nonradioactive,
hazardous, or mixed wastes. A description of each of these waste
categories, control strategies, and an estimate of release quantities
is provided in the 1995 Environmental Assessment for the Renewal of the
NRC license for BWXT.
The amendment request is expected to have no impact on the liquid
and solid wastes released from the site. Routine liquid radiological
and chemical releases from the MDF are not planned.
A new exhaust scrubber will be used to maintain airborne releases
from the MDF within NRC limits. The dissolvers will be vented to a
scrubber that will provide removal of uranium and NOX from
the exhaust gases using a two-stage oxidation/absorption system. Local
warning indicators and controls will be provided in the U-Metal
Dissolution area for monitoring and control of the scrubber operation.
BWXT has conservatively estimated that the offsite exposure from
operation of the new exhaust scrubber will be less than 0.005 millirem
per year. The NRC staff has reviewed the exposure estimate and has
determined that it is acceptable.
4.0 Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action and Alternatives
4.1 Occupational and Public Health
Use of the MDF will not include any change in the type or form of
special nuclear material (SNM) or any new or different operations from
those currently authorized under BWXT's license. However, the amounts
of HEU metal that will be processed will be higher but within BWXT's
license limits. A new exhaust scrubber will be used to maintain
airborne releases within NRC limits. The impacts of normal operation of
the site were evaluated in 1995 Environmental Assessment (EA) for the
Renewal of the NRC license for BWXT. The total effective dose
equivalent (TEDE) for members of the public from the normal operations
at the BWXT site was calculated to be 0.024 mrem per year. BWXT has
conservatively estimated that the offsite exposure from operation of
the new exhaust scrubber will be less than 0.005 millirem per year. The
increase in offsite exposure due to operation of the MDF is considered
insignificant because the new predicted TEDE (0.029 mrem/yr) remains
well below the 10 CFR 20 limit of 100 mrem for a member of the public.
Three employees will be working in the MDF. BWXT has conservatively
estimated that the three employees will increase the sites cumulative
exposure by about 6.0 person-rem based on the
[[Page 2253]]
highest individual exposure in 2000 of 2.0 person-rem. Comparing this
to the sites 2000 cumulative exposure of 204.9 person-rem, results in
an insignificant increase of only 2.9 percent.
4.2 Water Resources and Biota
No liquid process effluents will be released by operation of the
facility and there will be no withdrawals from waterways to operate
this process. Thus there will be no impacts to water resources
(including groundwater) or biota from the operation of the MDF, under
normal conditions.
4.3 Geology and Seismology
The operation of the MDF will have no impact on geology or
seismology. The process will be performed in an existing facility on
the site, therefore there will be no new construction as part of this
amendment application. For example, no deep well injection of
wastewater would occur that could modify seismic activity or alter
geology.
4.4 Soils
Soils will not be impacted as a result of the operation of the MDF.
There will be no physical disturbance of soils, and there will not be
any releases of process materials to soils as a result of normal
operations.
4.5 Air Quality
The NRC staff has determined that the proposed amendment will have
minimal impact on air quality. As discussed above, a scrubber system
will be used to maintain radiological airborne releases within NRC
limits. The scrubber system will also be permitted by the State of
Virginia to control non-radiological releases.
4.6 Demography, Cultural and Historic Resources
The NRC staff has determined that the proposed amendment will not
impact demography, or cultural or historic resources. A full
description of these parameters is given in the 1995 Environmental
Assessment for Renewal.
4.7 Impacts Due to Accident Conditions
In accordance with 10 CFR 70.61, BWXT is required to limit the risk
of each credible high or intermediate consequence event through the
application of engineered and/or administrative controls. Also nuclear
criticality events must be limited through assurance that all processes
are maintained at subcritical levels. The analyses for these events
were provided by BWXT in the amendment request submittals dated August
7, and December 18, 2001.
The impacts due to accident conditions will be evaluated and
discussed in the Safety Evaluation Report which will be prepared by the
NRC in conjunction with this document. Therefore, impacts due to
accident conditions were not evaluated in this document.
4.8 Alternatives
The action that the NRC is considering is approval of an amendment
request to Materials license SNM-42 issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70.
The proposed action is to amend NRC Materials License SNM-42 to
authorize the use of the MDF. The alternatives available to the NRC
are:
1. Approve the license amendment request as submitted;
2. Approve the license amendment request with restrictions; or
3. Deny the amendment request.
Based on its review, the NRC staff has concluded that the
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action are
insignificant. Thus, the staff considers that Alternative 1 is the
appropriate alternative for selection.
5.0 Agencies and Persons Contacted
The NRC contacted the Director of Radiological Health at the
Virginia Department of Health (VDH) January 2, 2002 concerning this
request. The Director reviewed the draft document and concluded that
the Environmental Assessment does not contain any issues that may be
objectionable to VDH.
Because the proposed action is entirely within existing facilities,
the NRC has concluded that there is no potential to affect endangered
species or historic resources, and therefore consultation with the
State Historic Preservation Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service was not necessary.
6.0 References
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), August 1995,
``Environmental Assessment for Renewal of Special Nuclear Material
License SNM-42.''
BWX Technologies, August 7, 2001, Letter from Arne Olson to
Director of Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards,
Amendment of License SNM-42.
7.0 Conclusions
Based on an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the
amendment request, the NRC has determined that the proper action is to
issue a FONSI in the Federal Register. The NRC staff considered the
environmental consequences of amending NRC Materials License SNM-42 to
authorize the operation of the MDF and have determined that the
approval of the request will have no significant effect on public
health and safety or the environment.
Finding of No Significant Impact
The Commission has prepared the above Environmental Assessment
related to the amendment of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-42. On
the basis of the assessment, the Commission has concluded that
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action would not be
significant and do not warrant the preparation of an Environmental
Impact Statement. Accordingly, it has been determined that a Finding of
No Significant Impact is appropriate.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.790 of the NRC's ``Rules of Practice,''
the Environmental Assessment and the documents related to this proposed
action will be available electronically for public inspection from the
Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of NRC's document system
(ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.html (the Public Electronic Reading Room).
Opportunity for a Hearing
Based on the EA and accompanying safety evaluation, NRC is
preparing to amend License SNM-42. The NRC hereby provides that this is
a proceeding on an application for amendment of a license falling
within the scope of Subpart L, ``Informal Hearing Procedures for
Adjudication in Materials Licensing Proceedings,'' of NRC's rules and
practice for domestic licensing proceedings in 10 CFR part 2. Pursuant
to Section 2.1205(a), any person whose interest may be affected by this
proceeding may file a request for a hearing in accordance with Section
2.1205(d). A request for a hearing must be filed within thirty (30)
days of the date of publication of this Federal Register notice.
A request for hearing or petition for leave to intervene must be
filed with the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission either:
1. By delivery to the Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff of the
Secretary at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD
20852-2738; or
2. By mail or telegram addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Attention:
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
In addition to meeting other applicable requirements of 10 CFR part
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2 of the NRC's regulations, a request for a hearing filed by a person
other than an applicant must describe in detail:
1. The interest of the requester in the proceeding;
2. How that interest may be affected by the results of the
proceeding, including the reasons why the requestor should be permitted
a hearing, with particular reference to the factors set out in Section
2.1205(h).
3. The requester's areas of concern about the licensing activity
that is the subject matter of the proceeding; and
4. The circumstances establishing that the request for a hearing is
timely in accordance with Section 2.1205(d).
In accordance with 10 CFR Section 2.1205(f), each request for a
hearing must also be served, by delivering it personally or by mail to:
1. The applicant, BWX Technologies, Inc., P.O. Box 785, Lynchburg,
VA 24505-0785; and
2. The NRC staff, by delivering to the Executive Director for
Operations, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD
20852, or by mail, addressed to the Executive Director for Operations,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555.
The NRC contact for this licensing action is Edwin Flack, who may
be contacted at (301) 415-8115 or by e-mail at [email protected] for more
information about the licensing action.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of January 2002.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Lidia Roche,
Acting Chief, Fuel Cycle Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle
Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 02-1089 Filed 1-15-02; 8:45 am]
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