[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 160 (Friday, August 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48785-48786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4531]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-8027]
Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Sequoyah Fuels
Corporation, Gore, OK
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Myron Fliegel, Project Manager, Fuel
Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards,
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-6629;
fax number: (301) 415-5955; e-mail: mhf1@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license
amendment to Materials License No. SUB-1010 issued to Sequoyah Fuels
Corporation (the licensee), to authorize the licensee to implement a
ground water monitoring plan (GWMP) at its Gore, Oklahoma facility. 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
The proposed action is implementation of the GWMP. The GWMP
identifies well, seep, and surface water locations where samples would
be collected, the schedule for sample collection, and the constituents
that would be analyzed for.
The licensee has been monitoring ground water at the site since the
1970's under requirements in its NRC license and as a result of U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency requirements under the Resource
Conservation Recovery Act. The GWMP would rely in large part on
existing monitoring points. However, 157 existing wells would be
abandoned and plugged and 10 new wells would be installed. Abandoned
wells would be plugged in accordance with Oklahoma requirements to
ensure that they would not provide pathways between aquifers. New wells
would be drilled and completed using standard equipment and techniques
for shallow wells (the deepest well to be drilled would be
approximately 78 feet below ground surface). The licensee estimates
that well drilling and plugging activities would be completed in about
4 months.
Drilling additional groundwater monitoring wells would consist of
using a drill rig to bore holes into the subsurface and then
constructing monitoring wells using PVC piping, with sand and grout
placed in-between the PVC pipe and the soil. The licensee has not
contracted with a drilling company, pending NRC approval of the GWMP,
but expects that the bidder chosen would likely use one or two drill
rigs to accomplish this work. Drill cuttings and the small potential
for a minor amount of dust may occur while drilling with minor surface
disruption. In addition, a number of monitoring wells would be
abandoned in accordance with the State of Oklahoma well abandonment
criteria. A drill rig may also be used to accomplish this and a small
amount of dust may occur. Cement grout would be placed into the
borehole to seal the hole in order to prevent surface runoff from
migrating down the drill hole.
On June 12, 2003, the licensee requested that the NRC approve the
proposed amendment. As a result of NRC staff review, the GWMP was
revised several times, and the final version was submitted on February
25, 2005. The licensee's request for the proposed amendment was
previously noticed in the Federal Register on August 25, 2003, (68 FR
51033) with a notice of an opportunity to request a hearing.
The staff has prepared the EA in support of the proposed license
amendment. The only potential environmental impacts of implementing the
GWMP, would be those associated with the necessary physical activities
of plugging abandoned wells and drilling and completing several new
wells. The drill rigs to be used would generate a moderate amount of
noise (most operators wear ear protection) but as the nearest resident
is about a half a mile away with a buffer zone of trees, noise impacts
are not expected. The drilling and plugging operations may also
generate a small amount of dust but the impact offsite would be minor
to nonexistent. These impacts would only exist for the short period of
time necessary to complete these actions and are very minor.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that there are no
significant 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 at
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room 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:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADAMS accession
Document No. Date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SFC's Amendment Requests................. ML031710847 06/12/2003
SFC's Amendment Requests................. ML050680226 02/25/2005
NRC's Environmental Assessment........... ML052200616 08/09/2005
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 48786]]
If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in
accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC's Public
Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, (301) 415-4737,
or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public
computers located at the NRC's 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 Rockville, Maryland this 10th day of August, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Myron Fliegel,
Project Manager, Fuel Cycle Facilities Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle
Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards.
[FR Doc. E5-4531 Filed 8-18-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P