[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 14, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74035-74036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-7298]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 040-07354]
Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of
No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Department of the
Army's Bomb Throwing Device (BTD) Area in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Ullrich, Commerical and R&D
Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale
Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone (610) 337-5040,
fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: exu@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuing a
license amendment to the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Aberdeen
Test Center, for Materials License No. SUB-834, to authorize release of
its Bomb Throwing Device (BTD) area in Aberdeen Proving Ground,
Maryland, for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental
Assessment (EA) in support of this action 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.
II. EA Summary
The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize the release of
the licensee's BTD area located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen,
Maryland, for unrestricted use. The Department of the Army was
authorized by AEC/NRC from June 4, 1965, to use radioactive materials
for munitions testing and research and development purposes in the BTD
area. On January 13, 2005, the Department of the Army requested that
NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. The Department of the
Army has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to
the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination
criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20 for unrestricted use.
The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license
amendment. The BTD area was remediated and surveyed prior to the
licensee requesting the license amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed
the information and final status survey submitted by the Department of
the Army. Based on its review, the staff has determined that there are
no additional remediation activities necessary to complete the proposed
action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of the residual
radioactivity in the BTD area and concluded that since the residual
radioactivity meets the requirements in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20, a
Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact
The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the
license amendment to release the BTD area for unrestricted use. The NRC
staff has evaluated the Department of the Army's request and the
results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action
complies with the criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20. The staff
has found that the radiological environmental impacts from the action
are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3,
``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on
Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed
Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). Additionally,
no non-radiological or cumulative impacts were identified. On the basis
of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from
the action are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to
prepare an environmental impact statement for the action.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action, including the application for the
license 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:
``Environmental Assessment Related to Issuance of a License Amendment
of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Materials License No. SUB-834,
Department of the Army, Aberdeen, Maryland'' [ML053410059],
``Radiological Final Status Survey Report, Bomb Throwing Device Site--
Soils'' [ML052770370], and Remediation and Final Status Survey, Bomb
Throwing Device Site--Structures'' [ML052770376]. Persons who do not
have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the
documents located in ADAMS,
[[Page 74036]]
should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at (800) 397-
4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
Documents related to operations conducted under this license not
specifically referenced in this Notice may not be electronically
available and/or may not be publicly available. Persons who have an
interest in reviewing these documents should submit a request to NRC
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Instructions for
submitting a FOIA request can be found on the NRC's Web site at http://
www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia/foia-privacy.html.
Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 7th day of December,
2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer,
Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety,
Region I.
[FR Doc. E5-7298 Filed 12-13-05; 8:45 am]
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