[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 57 (Friday, March 26, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16239-16241]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06301]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-1151; NRC-2021-0062]
Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC; Columbia Fuel Fabrication
Facility; and US Ecology, Inc.; Idaho Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act Subtitle C Hazardous Disposal Facility Located Near Grand
View, Idaho
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: License amendment and exemption; issuance.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing an
exemption and associated license
[[Page 16240]]
amendment related to a request from Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC
(WEC) from NRC regulations with respect to a request for alternate
disposal and exemption for specified low-activity radioactive waste
from the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) in Hopkins, South
Carolina for waste containing byproduct material and special nuclear
material (SNM) under License Number SNM-1107. Additionally, the NRC is
taking the related action of approving exemptions to US Ecology, Inc.
(USEI) from the applicable licensing requirements to allow USEI to
receive and dispose the material from CFFF without an NRC license. The
USEI disposal facility, located near Grand View, Idaho, is a Subtitle C
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste disposal
facility permitted by the State of Idaho to receive low-level
radioactive waste and is not licensed by the NRC. Approval of the
alternate disposal request from WEC, the exemptions and license
amendment requested by WEC and associated exemptions for USEI would
allow WEC to transfer the specific waste from CFFF for disposal at
USEI.
DATES: This exemption is effective on March 12, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2021-0062 when contacting the
NRC about the availability of information regarding this document. You
may obtain publicly available information related to this document
using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking website: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2021-0062. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 301-415-0624; email: [email protected]. For technical
questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS): You may obtain publicly available documents online in the
ADAMS Public Documents collection at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. To begin the search, select ``Begin Web-based ADAMS
Search.'' For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRC's Public
Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or
by email to [email protected]. The Request for Alternate Disposal
Approval and Exemption for Specific Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility
Waste (License No. SNM-1197, Docket No. 70-1151) dated February 8, 2021
is available in ADAMS under Accession No. ML21039A719. The staff's
Safety Evaluation Report dated March 3, 2021 is available in ADAMS
under Package Accession No. ML21053A335.
Attention: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies
of public documents, is currently closed. You may submit your request
to the PDR via email at [email protected] or call 1-800-397-4209 or
301-415-4737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Tiktinsky, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001; telephone: 301-415-8740, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (WEC) is the holder of a Special
Nuclear Materials (SNM) License SNM-1107 under Part 70 of title 10 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), which authorizes the
fabrication of nuclear fuel at the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility
(CFFF). The US Ecology, Inc. (USEI) disposal facility near Grand View,
Idaho is a Subtitle C Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
hazardous waste disposal facility permitted by the State of Idaho to
receive radioactive waste that is not licensed or exempted from
licensing by the NRC.
II. Request/Action
The proposed action would approve the alternate disposal request
and provide exemptions to 10 CFR 70.3 and 10 CFR 30.3, and an
associated WEC license amendment, allowing WEC to transfer and USEI to
receive and dispose specific wastes.
Westinghouse had previously requested and received a corresponding
exemption and license amendment, dated December 9, 2020 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML20302A084) to transfer approximately 1428 m\3\ (50,400
ft\3\) of solid contaminated Calcium Fluoride (CaF2) sludge
to the USEI RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste disposal facility near
Grand View, Idaho for disposal. This material was dredged from the
Calcium Fluoride Lagoons and subsequently placed in a storage pile.
USEI was granted a corresponding exemption to receive and dispose of
this material on December 9, 2020.
After Westinghouse received the December 9, 2020 exemption, it
discovered that the actual volume of CaF2 was less than the
1428 m\3\ (50,400 ft\3\) previously assumed. The actual volume was 694
m\3\ (24,500 ft\3\). In its February 8, 2021 letter, Westinghouse has
requested an exemption and license amendment to dispose of 733 m\3\
(25,900 ft\3\) of similar CaF2 from the ``Operations'' pile.
The total amount of CaF2 material (from the previous
approval the additional material considered here) would not exceed the
previously approved volume of 1428 m\3\ (50,400 ft\3\). In addition,
the CaF2 from the ``Operations'' pile is similar to the
previously approved material, and the total activity and other
parameters for the disposal at USEI will not differ from the initial
approval. The CaF2 sludge was generated as a waste from
uranium recovery waste treatment process and is contaminated with SNM
(low enriched uranium {<5 wt. % U-235{time} ) as well.
The previously exempted sludge, soil, and debris associated with
the closure of the East Lagoon will be shipped with the CaF2
sludge to USEI using a combination of trucks and railcars.
III. Discussion
Pursuant to 10 CFR 70.17 and 10 CFR 30.11, the Commission may, upon
application of any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant
such exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR part 70 and Part 30
respectively, as it determines are authorized by law and will not
endanger life or property or the common defense and security and are
otherwise in the public interest.
The Exemption Is Authorized by Law
The proposal provides that the material previously described, would
be transported in compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation
regulations to USEI in Idaho, which is a Subtitle C, RCRA hazardous
waste disposal facility permitted by the State of Idaho. As such, the
material will be removed per State and local regulations, will be
shipped per existing Federal regulations to a location approved by the
State of Idaho to receive the material, and such disposal is not
otherwise contrary to NRC requirements, and is therefore authorized by
law.
The Exemption Will Not Endanger Life, Property and Is Consistent With
The Common Defense and Security
NRC staff reviewed the information provided by WEC to support their
10 CFR 20.2002 alternate disposal request and for the specific
exemptions from 10 CFR 30.3 and 10 CFR 70.3 and associated license
amendment in order to dispose of CaF2 sludge from the
``Operations pile'' as aggregated waste at
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USEI. As documented in the Safety Evaluation Report, the NRC staff
concludes that, consistent with 10 CFR 20.2002, WEC provided an
adequate description of the materials and the proposed manner and
conditions of waste disposal. The NRC staff also concluded that the use
of the site-specific dose assessment methodology to evaluate the
projected doses associated with the transportation and disposal of the
waste streams at USEI are acceptable. The NRC staff reviewed the input
parameters included in this modeling and found that they are
appropriate for the scenarios considered. The NRC staff also evaluated
the potential doses associated with transportation, waste handling, and
disposal and found that the projected doses have been appropriately
estimated and are demonstrated to meet the NRC's alternate disposal
standard of contributing a dose of not more than ``a few millirem per
year'' to any member of the public and are as low as is reasonably
achievable. The NRC staff also concluded that the projected doses from
the post-closure and intruder scenarios at USEI are also within ``a few
millirem per year'' over a period of 1,000 years. Lastly, because of
the presence of SNM, the NRC evaluated potential criticality in its
SER, and found no concerns. This subsequent disposal request remains
bounded by the parameters of the previous request and approval.
Therefore, the NRC concludes that issuance of the exemption is will not
endanger life, property, and is consistent with the common defense and
security.
The Exemption Is in the Public Interest
Issuance of the exemption to WEC and USEI is in the public interest
because it would provide for the efficient and safe disposal for the
subject waste material, would facilitate the decommissioning of the
East Lagoon at the CFFF site, and would conserve low-level radioactive
waste disposal capacity at licensed low-level radioactive disposal
sites, while ensuring that the material being considered is disposed of
safely in a regulated facility. Therefore, based upon the evaluation
above, an exemption is appropriate pursuant to 10 CFR 30.11 and 10 CFR
70.17.
IV. Environmental Considerations
As required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC performed an environmental
assessment (EA) that analyzes the environmental impacts of the proposed
exemption in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 and NRC implementing regulations in 10 CFR part 51. Based on that
EA, the NRC staff has determined not to prepare an environmental impact
statement for the proposed exemption and has issued a finding of no
significant impact (FONSI). The EA and FONSI were published in the
Federal Register on March 11, 2021 (86 FR 13915).
V. Conclusions
Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR
70.17 and 10 CFR 30.11, the exemptions for WEC and USEI and associated
WEC license amendment are authorized by law, will not present an undue
risk to the public health and safety, is consistent with the common
defense and security, and is in the public interest. Therefore, the
Commission hereby grants WEC and USEI exemptions from 10 CFR 70.3 and
10 CFR 30.3 to allow WEC to transfer the specifically identified
byproduct material and SNM waste described above from the WEC CFFF for
disposal at the USEI disposal facility located near Grand View, Idaho,
and issues WEC a conforming license amendment.
Dated: March 23, 2021.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Jacob I. Zimmerman,
Chief, Fuel Facility Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel Management,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2021-06301 Filed 3-25-21; 8:45 am]
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