[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 104 (Tuesday, May 31, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31379-31381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-13362]


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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-03754; NRC-2011-0033]


Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of 
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for ABB, Inc., Windsor, CT

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Nicholson, Project Manager, 
Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 
19406. Telephone: 610-337-5236; fax number: 610-337-5269; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license 
amendment to Material License No. 06-00217-06 issued to ABB, Inc. (ABB 
or, ``the licensee''), to authorize a revision to the previously 
approved (June 1, 2004) Decommissioning Plan (DP) for its CE Windsor 
Site (Facility) located at 2000 Day Hill Road, Windsor, Connecticut. 
The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of 
this amendment in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. 
Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant 
Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following 
the publication of this Notice.

II. EA Summary

Identification of Proposed Action

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to approve a revision, 
Decommissioning Plan Revision (DP) 2, to the previously approved site 
DP for the licensee's facility. The original DP was approved on June 1, 
2004, and revision 1 was approved on July 8, 2009. Specifically, this 
Revision 2 to the approved DP expands the scope of the DP and provides 
the radiological status and remediation plans for select Formerly 
Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) areas, including the 
Site Brook and the adjacent Debris Pile. In addition, site-specific 
derived concentration guideline limits (DCGLs) for thorium-232 (Th-232) 
and radium-226 (Ra-226) are provided in the revised DP. Small 
quantities of Th-232 and Ra-226 were identified during investigational 
sampling of the Burning Grounds area, and DCGLs have been developed and 
submitted for approval as an addendum to the DP, Revision 2 (Derivation 
of the Site-Specific Soil DCGLs Addendum Soil DCGLs for Thorium and 
Radium). The revised DP does not change any previously approved 
remediation activities or DCGLs for uranium or cobalt-60 (Co-60) at the 
site. On February 26, 2010, and as supplemented on August 6, 2010, ABB, 
Inc. requested that NRC approve the proposed amendment. The licensee's 
request for the proposed change, including an opportunity to request a 
hearing or provide comments, was previously noticed in the Federal 
Register on February 15, 2011 (76FR8785).
    The staff has prepared the EA in support of the proposed license 
amendment. The proposed actions will allow the licensee to continue to 
remediate the remainder of the site for eventual unrestricted use 
pending final status survey results. The licensee has obtained the 
proper permits from the State of Connecticut Department of 
Environmental Protection for the planned remediation activities

[[Page 31380]]

impacting the Site Brook. The DCGLs established in the DP Revision 2 
for Ra-226 and Th-232 do not exceed the trigger levels requiring 
consultation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under 
the Memorandum of Understanding between the EPA and the NRC.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action would allow ABB to complete the remaining 
Facility remediation and decommissioning activities, thereby reducing 
residual radioactivity at the Facility to a level that permits release 
of the entire property for unrestricted use and termination of the 
license. The licensee has been successfully remediating and 
decommissioning the Facility since 2004 under the previously-approved 
DP. In order to complete remediation of the entire Facility, the FUSRAP 
areas must be remediated. NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities under 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, to make a decision on a 
proposed license amendment for decommissioning that ensures safety and 
protection of the public and the environment.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

    In preparing this EA, the NRC staff reviewed the 2004 EA issued in 
connection with the initial DP; the 2009 EA issued in conjunction with 
the DP Revision 1; the licensee's Environmental Report submitted on 
February 28, 2010; and the revised DP submitted in February 2010 and 
supplemented in August 2010. Additionally, the staff has continuously 
reviewed the performance of the decommissioning activities conducted by 
the licensee and their contractors through periodic inspections. The 
staff concluded that the bases for the findings of the 2004 and 2009 
EAs remain valid, and are applicable to the revised DP. Regarding 
remediation of the FUSRAP areas, decommissioning methodologies are 
unchanged from the initial approved DP and remain appropriate for the 
contaminant concentrations found in the FUSRAP area soils. The same 
isotopes that were present in the Facility's non-FUSRAP areas (namely, 
those associated with enriched uranium and cobalt-60) exist in the 
FUSRAP areas as well. The FUSRAP areas requiring remediation are 
similar to those already successfully remediated and decommissioned at 
the Facility. The amount of waste in FUSRAP areas that will need to be 
packaged and shipped to a licensed disposal facility is similar to the 
amounts evaluated in the 2004 and 2009 EAs, and this waste will be 
packaged and transported to the same disposal facility previously used 
for non-FUSRAP area remediation activities.
    The revised DP includes new site-specific soil DCGLs for Ra-226 and 
Th-232, to support the unrestricted release of the impacted areas of 
the Burning Grounds. The staff's technical review confirmed that the 
licensee's requested site specific Ra-226 and Th-232 soil DCGLs of 4.5 
and 4.0 picocuries/gram, respectively, would result in a maximum annual 
dose of less than 19 millirem of total effective dose equivalent, 
considering a resident farmer scenario and using the RESRAD 6.4 
computer code to model the input parameters of the scenario and compute 
the dose to an individual. Because this dose is less than 25 millrem 
per year, use of these DCGLs will meet the radiological criteria for 
unrestricted release specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. The conclusions of 
the 2004 and 2009 EAs thus remain valid for the proposed action.
    In summary, NRC staff has reviewed the revised decommissioning plan 
for the Facility, and examined the impact of the proposed additional 
decommissioning activities. Based upon its review, the staff has 
determined that environmental impacts associated with the proposed 
action are not greater than the impacts found in the 2004 and 2009 EAs, 
and are bounded by the impacts discussed in NUREG-1496, ``A Generic 
Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological 
Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities,'' 
Volumes 1-3. The staff finds that there have been no significant 
environmental impacts to date from the use and cleanup of radioactive 
material at the Facility. The NRC staff reviewed the docket file 
records to identify any non-radiological hazards that may impact the 
environment surrounding the Facility, and 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 staff has considered the impact of the proposed FUSRAP area 
remediation at the Facility, and finds that the proposed action will 
not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment.

Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    The Facility is in the process of being decommissioned under an 
approved DP. Although the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has 
responsibility for coordinating the radiological clean up in the FUSRAP 
areas, ABB entered into a formal agreement with the USACE and the NRC 
to conduct the clean up due to extensive comingling of FUSRAP and NRC 
licensed materials from past commercial operations in order to 
facilitate the efficient and effective decommissioning and clean up of 
the Facility. Therefore, the only alternative to the proposed action to 
continue the decommissioning process at the Facility is no action. The 
no-action alternative is not acceptable because it is inconsistent with 
NRC's Timeliness Rule (10 CFR 30.36), which requires licensees to 
decommission their facilities when licensed activities cease and to 
request termination of their radioactive materials license. Although 
termination of the NRC and USACE agreement would result in unnecessary 
remediation and decommissioning delay, the environmental impacts 
created by the action would be unchanged. 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 considered further.

Conclusion

    The NRC staff reviewed the environmental impacts of the proposed 
action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR 51 and NRC's 
unrestricted release criteria specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. The NRC 
staff has determined that incorporating the Facility's remaining FUSRAP 
areas into the site-wide DP would not significantly affect the quality 
of the human environment, and a FONSI is appropriate. Therefore, an 
environmental impact statement is not warranted for the proposed 
action, and pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

    This EA was prepared by NRC staff and coordinated with the 
following agencies: Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection 
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. NRC provided a draft of this 
EA to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection for review 
on April 29, 2011. On May 16, 2011, Michael Firsick of the Connecticut 
Department of Environmental Protection responded by e-mail. The State 
agreed with the conclusions of the EA.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the EA, NRC has concluded that there are no 
significant

[[Page 31381]]

environmental impacts from the proposed amendment and has determined 
not to prepare an environmental impact statement.

IV. Further Information

    Documents related to this action, including the application for 
amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically 
through the NRC Library 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 ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this 
notice are:

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                    Document                        PDR     Web                 ADAMS                 NRC staff
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ABB, Inc. Decommissioning Plan, Revision 2, CE        X       X   ML102310473......................           X
 Windsor Site (Previously Identified FUSRAP
 Areas Including Debris Piles & Site Brook).
 August 2010.
ABB, Inc. Decommissioning Plan, Revision 2, CE        X       X   ML102310512......................           X
 Windsor Site--Figures. August 2010.
ABB, Inc. Decommissioning Plan, Revision 2, CE        X       X   ML102310479......................           X
 Windsor Site--Tables. August 2010.
ABB, Inc. Decommissioning Plan, Revision 2, CE        X       X   ML102310548......................           X
 Windsor Site--Appendix A: RESRAD Reports--
 Resident Farmer Thorium and Radium. August
 2010.
ABB, Inc. Decommissioning Plan, Revision 2, CE        X       X   ML102310553......................           X
 Windsor Site--Appendix B: Probabilistic
 Evaluation Graphical Summary. August 2010.
ABB, Inc. Derivation of the Site Specific Soil        X       X   ML102310539......................           X
 DCGLs, Addendum, Soil DCGLs for thorium and
 radium. August 2010.
Memorandum of Understanding Between the               X       X   ML022830208......................           X
 Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear
 Regulatory Commission, Consultation and
 Finality on Decommissioning and Decontamination
 of Contaminated Sites. October 2002.
Letter to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from U.S.      X       X   ML072210979......................           X
 Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Proposed
 Process to Decommission and Clean Up the ABB
 Windsor Site. August 15, 2007.
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    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 [email protected].
    These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public 
computers located at the NRC's Public Document Room (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 King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 18th day of May 
2011.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Judith A. Joustra,
Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, 
Region I.
[FR Doc. 2011-13362 Filed 5-27-11; 8:45 am]
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