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
| Published date | 16 December 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 81525 |
| Record Number | 2020-27608 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 242 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81525-81527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27608]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-1151; NRC-2020-0265]
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 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
[[Page 81526]]
(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 possess 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 December 9, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID NRC-2020-0265 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-2020-0265. Address
questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Jennifer Borges;
telephone: 301-287-9127; 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) is available in ADAMS
under Package Accession No. ML20129J934. The Response to Request for
Additional Information--Alternate Disposal Approval and Exemptions for
Specific Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility Waste (License No. SNM-
1107, Docket No. 70-1151) dated September 22, 2020 is available in
ADAMS under Accession No. ML20266G551. The Response to Request for
Additional Information--Alternate Disposal Approval and Exemptions for
Specific Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility Waste (License No. SNM-
1107, Docket No. 70-1151) dated October 13, 2020 is available in ADAMS
under Accession No. ML20287A545. The staff's Safety Evaluation Report
dated November 30, 2020 is available in ADAMS under Package Accession
No. ML20329A352.
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
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.
The East Lagoon is a treatment/settling pond that is approximately
160' x 130'. The East Lagoon receives liquid inputs such as effluent
from the Deionized Water Building (primarily from regeneration water
from resin beds) and rainwater from containment areas such as the
chemical tank farm. The East Lagoon also provides extra capacity for
overflow from other lagoons or for containment in the event of a spill
or emergency. Current East Lagoon operations are regulated under
Westinghouse's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit
for the Columbia site. However, based on past wastewater treatment area
operations and the age of the East Lagoon liner, a Wastewater Treatment
Area Operable Unit was established under the South Carolina Department
of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) Consent Agreement signed
on February 26, 2019. As part of the Consent Agreement, the East Lagoon
is planned for closure and remediation. The East Lagoon contains
approximately 3 to 4 feet of radiologically contaminated sludge. The
East Lagoon was originally lined in the early 1980's. While this liner
is still in place, WEC assumes it may have lost some integrity.
Therefore, there is the possibility of soil contamination under and
around the East Lagoon due to leaching that would also be excavated and
disposed of as part of this action. Approximately 45,000 ft\3\ of
sludge, soil and debris will be generated from the closure of the East
Lagoon. The waste from the East Lagoon being considered under this
request is contaminated with SNM (low enriched uranium {2 sludge
previously dredged from the Calcium Fluoride Lagoons and subsequently
placed in a storage pile. The CaF2 sludge was generated as a
waste from uranium recovery waste treatment process and is contaminated
with SNM (low enriched uranium {2 sludge to USEI
using a combination of trucks and railcars.
WEC also intends to dispose of up to 526 obsolete UF6
Cylinders, which represent a disposal volume of approximately 651 m\3\
(23,000 ft\3\) prior to downsizing. The UF6 Cylinders are
transportation containers that are no longer in service. The
UF6 Cylinders are solid form (steel), approximately 1.8 m (6
ft) in length and 0.76 m (2.5 ft) in diameter. The UF6
Cylinders are empty and have been through the UF6 Cylinder
internal wash/rinse process following their last use and prior to being
placed into storage pending disposal. The UF6
[[Page 81527]]
Cylinders will be downsized to eliminate void space prior to packaging
for shipment offsite for disposal. While emptied and cleaned, the
UF6 Cylinders are still internally contaminated with SNM.
The UF6 Cylinders will be transported to the USEI site
by trucks, separate from the aggregated waste shipments described
above.
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 described above 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 aggregated waste and UF6
Cylinders at 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. 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 exemptions 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 consistent with the consent agreement
between CFFF and SCDHEC, 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 December 9, 2020 (85 FR 79228).
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: December 10, 2020.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Damaris Marcano,
Acting Chief, Fuel Facility Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel
Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 2020-27608 Filed 12-15-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
