[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52432-52433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-22397]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 70-698]
License No. SNM-770, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, Waltz
Mill Service Center, Madison, PA; Notice of Issuance of Director's
Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206
Notice is hereby given that the Director, Office of Nuclear
Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS), has issued a Directors' Decision
with regard to a petition dated October 30, 2002, filed by Viacom,
Inc., hereinafter referred to as the ``petitioner.'' The petition
concerns the decommissioning of the former Westinghouse Test Reactor
(WTR) at the Waltz Mill Service Center, near Madison, PA. In a letter
dated December 20, 2002, Westinghouse Electric Company LLC
(Westinghouse), the holder of the SNM-770 License at the Waltz Mill
Service Center, responded to the Viacom 2.206 petition. Westinghouse
submitted supplemental information on the petition on April 14, 2003.
Viacom submitted comments on the Westinghouse supplemental information
on April 22, 2003. Westinghouse submitted a second supplemental
response to the Viacom petition on April 28, 2003.
The petition requested NRC issue an Order to Westinghouse, which
would require them to: (1) Provide certain radiological survey data to
NRC which NRC has requested, and (2) accept under SNM-770 certain
residual byproduct materials now held under Viacom license TR-2 and
located at the WTR facility at the Waltz Mill Service Center. As the
basis for the request, Viacom states that Westinghouse's refusals to
provide the survey data and to accept the residual byproduct materials
now held under license TR-2 violates enforceable commitments made to
the NRC.
As an alternative, the petitioner states that Westinghouse's
refusals constitute a violation of 10 CFR 50.5, Deliberate misconduct,
which causes Viacom to be in violation of a license condition, the
approved Decommissioning Plan (DP) for the WTR. The petitioner claims
that granting the petition is necessary for compliance with both the DP
and other commitments under SNM-770 and is needed to abate the
violation of 10 CFR 50.5 to promote public health and safety by
providing for safe completion of decommissioning of the WTR under the
DP.
Lastly, the petitioner requests that NRC interpret certain
requirements in the DP for the WTR and decide whether they have been
met. In a separate letter dated October 29, 2002, Viacom, Inc. applied
to the NRC to issue two orders, requesting that the NRC: (1) Terminate
the TR-2 license, and (2) declare that all of Viacom's obligations
under the DP have been satisfactorily completed, except for the
submission of the survey data and transfer of the TR-2 residual
materials to the SNM-770 license. The petitioner requests that the
interpretation of the DP be resolved as part of the NRC's consideration
of the October 29, 2002 application.
The petitioner and the licensee met with the NMSS petition review
board on February 20, 2003, to discuss the petition. The meeting gave
the petitioner and the licensee an opportunity to provide additional
information and to clarify issues raised in the petition. The results
of that
[[Page 52433]]
discussion were considered in the determination regarding the petition.
The NRC sent a copy of the proposed Director's Decision to the
petitioner and the licensee for comments on June 18, 2003. The
petitioner and the licensee responded with comments on July 11, 2003.
The comments and the NRC staff's response to them are included in the
Director's Decision.
The NMSS Office Director has determined that the request for NRC to
issue an Order to Westinghouse to provide certain radiological survey
data to NRC which NRC has requested, is moot and will no longer be
addressed, and that the request for NRC to issue an Order to
Westinghouse to accept under SNM-770 certain residual byproduct
materials now held under Viacom license TR-2 and located at the WTR
facility is denied. The NMSS Office Director also has denied the
request for NRC to issue an Order to Westinghouse to abate a violation
of 10 CFR 50.5, and has granted the request for NRC to interpret the
Decommissioning Plan for the WTR as part of the response to Viacom's
separate request dated October 29, 2002. The reasons for the decisions
are explained in the Director's Decision pursuant to 10 CFR 2.206 [DD-
03-02], the complete text of which is available in ADAMS for inspection
at the Commission's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint
North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland, and
from the ADAMS public access component on the NRC's Web site, http://www.nrc.gov, under the ``Public Involvement'' icon.
A copy of the Director's Decision will be filed with the Secretary
of the Commission for the Commission's review in accordance with 10 CFR
2.206 of the Commission's regulations. As provided for by this
regulation, the Director's Decision will constitute the final action of
the Commission 25 days after the date of the decision, unless the
Commission, on its own motion, institutes a review of the Director's
Decision within that time.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of August 2003.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Margaret V. Federline,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 03-22397 Filed 9-2-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P