[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 213 (Friday, November 4, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-27375]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: November 4, 1994]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-364]
Information Meeting on the Remediation of Babcock and Wilcox's
Parks Township Shallow Land Disposal Area in Armstrong County, PA
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Meeting.
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SUMMARY: This notice is to inform the public of a meeting to share
information concerning the decommissioning of Babcock and Wilcox's
Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) located on the Parks Township
Facility in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. The SLDA is an area which
was used by B&W in the 1960's and 1970's to dispose of radioactively
contaminated materials in accordance with the regulations found in the
now rescinded 10 CFR Section 20.304. On September 28, 1994, B&W
submitted to the NRC a remediation proposal for the remediation of the
SLDA. Interested individuals are invited to observe a meeting between
the NRC, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (PADER),
B&W, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), local officials, and citizen
groups to share information concerning the remediation proposal and
future actions related to the remediation of the SLDA.
Background
The Parks Township site is located in Armstrong county,
approximately 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along the
Kiskiminetas River and Route 66. The former owners of the Parks
Township site (NUMEC) disposed of radioactive (primarily uranium and
thorium) and non-radioactive waste in the SLDA during the 1960's and
early 1970's. In 1967, the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) purchased
stock in NUMEC and sold the stock to B&W in 1971.
The materials placed in the trenches by NUMEC, consisted of process
wastes, scrap, and trash from the nearby Apollo nuclear fuel
fabrication facility. This material contained enriched, depleted and
natural uranium and lesser quantities of thorium. At the time,
disposals were authorized under 10 CFR 20.304. This provision has since
been rescinded and at least some of the waste is known to exceed NRC's
existing radiological criteria for decommissioning. Therefore, NRC is
requiring the licensee to remediate the SLDA to met the NRC's
decommissioning criteria, as described in the Site Decommissioning
Management Plan Action Plan (April 16, 1994, 57 FR 3389).
The current owners, B&W and ARCO have performed characterization
activities for the SLDA and submitted a Site Characterization Report
(SCR) for the SLDA, dated October 1993. The NRC reviewed and commented
on the SCR by letter dated March 24, 1994 and received a response to
those comments from B&W by letter dated September 28, 1994.
B&W also submitted for NRC review a proposed method for remediating
the SLDA which involves capping and stabilizing the waste disposal
area. The NRC is currently reviewing this proposal.
Conduct of Meeting
The NRC will conduct the first in a series of meetings on November
10, 1994 in the Leechburg Area High School Cafeteria, 215 First Street,
Leechburg, PA. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and will end at 10 p.m.
The meeting will be facilitated by F. X. Cameron, Special Counsel for
Public Liaison at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The purpose of
this meeting is to share, with representative stakeholders and the
public, information concerning the status of current actions at the
Parks Township Shallow Land Disposal Area, projected schedules and
plans for the remediation of the site, and the responsibilities of the
NRC and other regulatory Agencies in the remediation of the site. The
meeting will involve invited representatives from the following groups:
NRC, PADER, the Licensee, state and local officials, and local citizen
groups.
These representatives will participate in a facilitated round-table
discussion and will present information and views on upcoming actions
concerning the remediation of the SLDA. An agenda for each meeting will
be prepared and distributed to all invited representatives, as well as
placed in the local public document room in advance of the meeting. The
public will be present during the meeting, and time will be provided
for public comment at the end of the meetings. Comments and questions
will be limited to the remediation of the SLDA. An agenda for the
meeting follows. Future Information Meetings will be held periodically
concerning other issues of the remediation of the SLDA.
Agenda
7:00 Opening and Welcome
7:05 Overview of Process and Groundrules
7:15 Overview of NRC's Role and Future Actions concerning SLDA and
Participants' comments
8:00 Overview of PADER's Role and Future Actions concerning the SLDA
and Participants' comments
9:00 Overview of B&W and ARCO's Role and Future Actions concerning the
SLDA and Participants' comments
9:30 Future Meetings
9:40 Open Floor for Questions and Comments
10:30 Adjournment
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Astwood, Division of Waste
Management, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop T-7-F27,
Washington, DC 20555, telephone (301) 415-5819.
Dated at Rockville, MD this 27th day of October, 1994.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
John H. Austin,
Chief, Low-Level Waste and Decommissioning Projects Branch, Division of
Waste Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 94-27375 Filed 11-3-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-M