Environmental Assessment: Finding of No Significant Impact and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing Related to Amendment of Material License 49-09955-10, University of Wyoming

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 030-01176]

Environmental Assessment: Finding of No Significant Impact and

Notice of Opportunity for Hearing Related to Amendment of Material

License 49-09955-10, University of Wyoming

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Environmental assessment.

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SUMMARY: NRC plans to issue an amendment to NRC License No. 49-09955-

10, authorizing the University of Wyoming to use hydrogen-3 (tritium)

for in-vivo studies on captive pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra

americana) living in fenced pastures at Sybille Wildlife Research and

Conservation Education Unit, Albany County, Wyoming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Donna-Beth Howe, Office of Nuclear

Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,

Washington, DC 20555, Telephone: (301) 504-2636.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

The proposed action is to amend NRC Byproduct Material License No.

49-09955-10, issued to the University of Wyoming and renewed on June

22, 1993. The license currently authorizes personnel from the

University of Wyoming to use byproduct material at the University of

Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming. It does not authorize use of radioactive

materials at Sybille Wildlife Research and Conservation Education Unit

(Sybille Unit) and prohibits the release of radioactive materials for

field studies. The proposed amendment would authorize University of

Wyoming personnel to use hydrogen-3 labeled water (tritiated water) in

studies on approximately six lactating pronghorn antelopes (Antilocapra

americana) and their respective fawns.

The tritiated water portion of the proposed study is part of a

larger scientific study of pronghorn antelope. The larger study focuses

on lactation (the most demanding activity of the female pronghorn

antelope's energy cycle) and examines the factors of female body

condition, milk output, fawn birth weights, and fawn growth rates. The

study will compare fawn milk intake, body-water turnover, and growth

with observed behavioral activities for both mothers and fawns and

physical measurements of the mother's weight, body-water turnover, and

milk composition. This scientific information will also be used in a

comparison with information from similar studies with other native

North American ungulates (hoofed mammals).

The female pronghorn antelopes and their fawns will be located in

two fenced outdoor enclosures at the Sybille Unit, a facility in Albany

County, Wyoming, operated by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The

study involves the injection of tritiated water into the lactating

female pronghorn antelopes, the females' production of tritiated milk,

the ingestion of tritiated milk by their fawns, and the release of

tritiated water, water vapor, and feces directly into the environment,

by both the mothers and the fawns. Accordingly, pursuant to 10 CFR

51.21, NRC has prepared this assessment of the resulting environmental

impact.

The non-site-specific aspects of the pronghorn antelope tritiated

water studies (i.e., possession of the preinjection tritiated water,

use and subsequent laboratory analysis of tritiated biological samples,

analysis of wipe test samples for removable contamination, waste

disposal, and health and safety aspects of tritium use at the

University) are performed under the University of Wyoming's current

authority in License No. 49-09955-10.

Background

By letter dated April 7, 1993 (and attachments), the University of

Wyoming, (applicant) Safety Office requested an NRC amendment to

perform hydrogen-3 labeled water (tritiated water) field studies on

lactating pronghorn antelopes at the Sybille Unit. The Wyoming Game and

Fish Department conditionally authorized the performance of the studies

at the Sybille Unit, pending NRC approval of the amendment request. The

tritiated studies cannot begin until NRC amends the University of

Wyoming's license to authorize the studies.

As the name ``Sybille Wildlife Research and Conservation Education

Unit'' indicates, the Sybille Unit has two missions. The first is to

provide facilities and services for research on hoofed big-game species

and other exotic species considered for reintroduction into the wild.

Pronghorn antelope, elk (Cervus canadensis), white tailed deer

(Odocoileus virginianus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), bighorn

sheep (Ovis canadensis), and other wild animals are maintained at the

facility. Two exotic species (the blackfooted ferret (Mustela nigripes)

and Wyoming toad (Bufo hemiophrys baxteri)) being considered for

reintroduction into the wild are quartered at Sybille Unit and included

in the Federal list of endangered species. Research at the Sybille

research facilities supplements and enhances field work done by Wyoming

Game and Fish personnel and laboratory work done at the Game and Fish

Research Laboratory in Laramie. The research facility is capable of

supporting parasite, disease, nutrition, anatomy, physiology, ecology,

management, research technique, and toxicology projects. All of these

areas are important in managing Wyoming's wildlife.

The second mission is to provide conservation education to

individuals, groups, and the general public. This mission is considered

just as important as the first and is why most of the facilities at the

Sybille Unit are open to the public. The visitors center alone receives

4000 to 6000 visitors, from May to September, when it is open. The

education activities include lectures, tours for individuals and

groups, training professional wildlife personnel in handling captive

wild animals, and providing public recreational activities. Public

hunting, fishing, camping, and sight-seeing are permitted at the

Sybille Unit when they do not jeopardize the wildlife research mission.

The Sybille Unit, itself, is 12.5 square kilometers (3100 acres) of

land operated by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The Sybille Unit

was formed in 1948 to protect an important winter grazing range for

wild deer. The area had historically been range land for white tailed

deer, mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk, and pronghorn antelope. When the

Sybille Unit was established, this winter range was threatened by

cattle overgrazing and ranchers' fences. It physically consists of two

adjacent areas with different primary missions. These areas are

referred to as the 1.2-square-kilometer (300-acre) Sybille Area and the

larger 11.3-square-kilometer (2800-acre) Johnson Creek Area.

The Sybille Area is located in a 3.2-kilometer (2-mile) section of

the open-ended North Sybille Canyon, about 72 kilometers (45 miles)

northeast of Laramie and 55 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of

Wheatland, Wyoming, in Southeastern Wyoming. The Sybille Unit personnel

live at the Sybille Area. The research animals are also quartered

there. The tritiated pronghorn antelope studies will be done at the

Sybille Area. The larger Johnson Creek Area, located north of the

Sybille Area, includes the Johnson Creek and a 26,700-square-meter

(6.6-acre) reservoir on the creek.

The Johnson Creek Area is used for public water recreation,

fishing, camping, and elk and deer hunting. In the Sybille Area,

hunting is not permitted where the research animals are quartered, and

fishing is prohibited. The public has free access to certain areas of

the Sybille Area and may be given guided tours to the normally

restricted areas where the research animals are quartered. It is

estimated that from 1300 to 2000 individuals take guided tours through

the restricted area each year. In the restricted areas, the visitors

may observe, but not come into contact with, research animals or their

quarters.

The pronghorn antelope, a native North American ungulate, is

physically 1- to 1.5-meters (3- to 5-feet) long, 0.8- to 1-meter (2.5-

to 3-feet) high at the shoulder, and weighs from 36 to 70 kilograms (79

to 155 pounds). The females are usually 10 percent smaller than the

males. Their native habitats include grasslands and deserts ranging in

altitude from sea level to 3.3 kilometers (2 miles). They browse and

graze on a wide variety of shrubs, forbs, grasses, cacti, and other

plants. In desert areas, pronghorn antelopes survive not only by

drinking available water, but also by conserving water and getting most

of their water from the plants they eat. They are the fastest

terrestrial mammals in the New World, with a maximum speed, on hard

ground, of 86 kilometers (53 miles) per hour and a cruising speed of 48

kilometers (30 miles) per hour. They have very little body fat and

obtain their speed from their muscular front legs and shoulders that

can produce leaps from 3.5 to 6 meters (12 to 20 feet).

All animals used in the studies are already living in captivity and

no new animals will be taken from the wild for the study. The six

pregnant females for the 1994 study will be selected from surplus

pronghorn antelopes obtained from a group of captive pronghorn

antelopes at the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Foothills Wildlife

Research Facility, Fort Collins, Colorado. The same six adult females

will be bred for the proposed 1995 studies. Each study animal will be

marked with either a color-coded neck collar or fluorescent paint. For

ease of identification, each mother and her fawns will be marked with

the same color. The six pronghorn antelopes from Colorado may either

become part of the Sybille Unit's permanent pronghorn antelope research

herd or be returned to Colorado. Their fawns will probably continue to

live at the Sybille Unit. Any animals that die in the study will be

sent to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory for necropsy and

incineration. No animals in the study will be used for human

consumption.

The animals in the study will be kept in two 4047-square-meter (1-

acre) pastures at the Sybille Area. These pastures will be formed by

extending the 1014-square-meter (0.25-acre) paddock previously

designated for the pronghorn antelope. The field studies are expected

to extend over 4 months (June-October) in both 1994 and 1995. As many

as six pregnant pronghorn antelopes are expected to be available for

the studies each year.

Periodically, during the course of the study, the lactating females

will be injected with tritiated water; tritiated milk samples will be

collected from the mothers; and tritiated urine samples will be

collected from both the mothers and their fawns. The milk and urine

samples are taken to measure milk intake and body-water turnover during

milk production and infant growth. All biological samples will be

returned to the University of Wyoming, for analysis.

Need for the Proposed Action

A number of researchers are studying the effects of observable

physical, behavioral, and environmental parameters on the balance

between neonatal survival and maternal body condition for survival and

future reproductive success in different native North American

ungulates. This will be one of the first studies on the pronghorn

antelope. The study is designed to be comprehensive and include many

interrelated parameters obtained from different scientific approaches

(i.e., observation of nursing behavior, chemical analysis of the milk,

physical measurement of weight gain, and quantitative measurement of

milk intake and body-water turnover).

The pronghorn antelope is unique among the native North American

ungulates for the following reasons: It is the fastest North American

mammal; both males and females are subjected to extremely high energy

demand (e.g., locomotory costs, climatic extremes, and thermal stress)

with minimal body reserves (i.e., body fat); the female has the highest

known relative reproductive effort among ungulates (e.g., the highest

ratio of offspring birth weight to maternal body weight); and the

female may be able to sequentially abort embryos under severe

nutritional conditions. In the wild, the pronghorn antelope continues

to forage during the winter, moving as far as 160 kilometers (100

miles) from summering areas. During winter snow conditions in their

native habitat, they experience high energy expenditures at a time when

available foraging is reduced.

Mature females, weighing approximately 50 kilograms (110 pounds),

breed in the fall (October), deliver in early summer (June), and

usually have twins. The fawns have approximately 4 months to grow large

enough and strong enough to survive predatory threats and the rigors of

winter foraging. At the same time that the mother is expending large

amounts of energy to ensure the survival of her current offspring, she

must also replenish her reserves, and expend energy to ensure her own

survival and that of future offspring. The tritiated water studies are

intended to quantify the body-water turnover of the mother during milk

production, quantify the milk transfer from the mother to the fawns,

and quantify the fawns' body-water turnover during a period of rapid

growth and development. The tritiated water injections will be repeated

every 2 weeks, to quantify changes in body-water turnover, with time

and development.

The study is expected to enable researchers to identify critical

physiological compromises in the balance between maximizing neonatal

survival and maintaining good maternal body condition in pronghorn

antelopes. Information from this study can be compared with similar

information obtained from research on other native North American

ungulates (e.g., mule deer, red deer (cervus elaphus), muskoxen (ovibos

moschatus), caribou (rangifer tarandus), and reindeer (rangifer

tarandus)) to identify important factors in their management and

survival.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

The Affected Environment

In general the Sybille Unit terrain is described as rugged and

rocky, with narrow rock-crowned ridges and numerous deep draws. Some

sections have fairly level ridge tops and swales. There are level

stretches of bottom land of various sizes along Johnson Creek and North

Sybille Creek. The soils are young, shallow, rocky, and well-drained.

When the Sybille Unit was started, in 1948, the area was overgrazed and

cattle were removed from the area. The range vegetation consists of

primarily big mountain sage brush and mid-range grasses. Sage brush

provides 20 to 30 percent of the ground cover. The area is considered

semiarid, with moderate to cool summers, and moderate to severe

winters. Precipitation in the area averages between 38 and 50

centimeters (15 and 20 inches) per year. Snowfall can be heavy, but the

spatial distribution ranges from bare to deep drifts.

Wheatland, Wyoming, 55 kilometers (34 miles) away, with a

population of approximately 5000 people, is the nearest community. The

Johnson Creek Area forms the northern boundary of the Sybille Area.

Private cattle ranches form the western, southern, and eastern

boundaries. The 1.2-square-kilometer (300-acre) Sybille Area stretches

for 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) along the North Sybille Creek and Wyoming

State Route 34, near the bottom of the open-ended North Sybille Canyon.

The canyon is 0.4-kilometers (0.25-miles) wide at the widest point,

with steep sides on both the northern and southern boundaries of the

Sybille Area. North Sybille Creek and State Route 34 run roughly

parallel to each other and the sides of the southwest- to northwest-

oriented canyon.

North Sybille Creek flows in a northeast direction toward

Wheatland. Natural drainage areas for the Johnson Creek and the Sybille

areas are physically separated until Johnson Creek flows into the North

Sybille Creek just east of the Sybille Unit boundary on private ranch

land downstream from the Sybille Area. The natural drainage from the

canyon sides along the southern boundary is from the private ranches

onto the Sybille Area. The lowest expected water flow within the

Sybille Area during the summer studies is 167 liters (5.93 cubic feet)

per second. This estimate is based on the 1974 to 1992 monthly

summaries reported for the nearby US Geological Survey Station.

Most of the land immediately south of the Sybille Area drains into

the Middle Sybille Creek, which eventually flows into the North Sybille

Creek farther downstream than Johnson Creek. North Sybille Creek flows

through private cattle ranch land east of the Sybille Area and

eventually flows into the Laramie River, which flows into the Platt

River. Therefore, tritium released into the North Sybille Creek will

not affect either the private ranch lands west and south of the Sybille

Area or the public-use areas in the Johnson Creek Area, but would be

carried through private lands downstream, after it leaves the Sybille

Area.

The Sybille Area, used primarily for big-game research, is

physically divided into eight fenced areas containing pastures,

permanent residences, and wildlife research buildings and shelters.

Currently 11 people (9 adults and 2 children approximately 3 years old)

live in the four permanent residences at the Sybille Area. The

visitor's center and three houses are located on the same side of State

Route 34 as the research animal quarters that include the pronghorn

antelope pastures, but are physically separated from the animal areas

by at least one locked 2.1-meter (7-foot) game fence (i.e., a 2.3-meter

(7.5-foot) woven-wire fence topped with barb wire).

The three houses are the Headquarters building, with attached staff

living quarters, the blackfooted ferret biologist's residence near the

blackfooted ferret facility, and the third house, which is the closest

residence to the tritiated pronghorn antelope quarters. Permanent

buildings on the animal quarter side of the fence include the Wyoming

toad facility, the blackfooted ferret facility, numerous animal

shelters, hay barns, a veterinary lab, and offices. The blackfooted

ferret facility is approximately 460 to 550 meters (500 to 600 yards)

away and on the other side of a hill from the tritiated pronghorn

antelope quarters. The closest residence is 137 to 183 (150 to 200

yards) and downhill from the tritiated pronghorn antelope quarters. The

majority of the buildings and pastures are downstream from the

tritiated antelopes. The fourth residence, some animal shelters, and

hay barns are located on the other side of Wyoming State Route 34.

The research animal quarter area consists of a series of large

semi-enclosed animal shelter structures, fenced pens, paddocks, and

corrals. All of these are linked together with both covered and open

lanes. The lanes can be used as temporary holding areas for animals;

confined routes to move animals between buildings, corrals, and

pastures; and pedestrian walkways for the general public on guided

tours, or for Sybille Area workers. The tritiated pronghorn antelopes'

two 4047-square-meter (one-acre) pastures are attached to a 61-meter-

(200-foot-) long semi-enclosed structure. The structure has a center

corridor and four isolation or holding pens on each side of the

corridor. The north half of each pen is roofed with metal sheathing and

galvanized metal and walled with metal. All the floors are concrete and

drain into a waste water disposal system by concrete gutters. The

animals are free to move between the pastures and the shelter. Their

water, feed troughs, and weight scale are located in the shelter.

The Pronghorn antelope shelter is between the office-veterinary

laboratory building on the east and an equally large semi-enclosed

sheep building on the west. The sheep building is north of the elk

corrals and separated from them by a concrete lane that continues

through the pronghorn antelope shelter to the office building. A gravel

lane separates the elk corrals behind the sheep building from the

pronghorn antelope paddocks. The veterinary laboratory office building

is to the east of the corridor. The central corridor serves as the main

walking lane connecting the pens to each other, as well as connecting

the veterinary building and all other corrals in the Headquarters area.

The waste water disposal system consists of the open concrete floor

gutters passing through the animal shelters and veterinary laboratory,

an underground holding tank, and drain tile field. The tile field is

located just north of the veterinary building. This waste water

disposal system was developed as part of the Sybille Unit's animal

quarantine system, to prevent the spread of disease from quarantined

animals to other animals in the area. The pronghorn antelope paddocks

and pastures have the same game-proof fencing found elsewhere at

Sybille Area.

The southern fence of the pronghorn antelope pastures is on the

southern boundary of the Sybille Area. Cattle on the private cattle

ranch south of the Sybille area may graze on the other side of the

fence. Although the cattle could come in nose-to-nose contact with the

pronghorn antelopes, the size of the cattle grazing range makes this

unlikely.

Water for Human and Animal Use

Although animals in pastures with the North Sybille Creek flowing

through them have access to the creek for drinking, the majority of the

animals at the Sybille Area receive all their water from wells. None of

the water used by the residents and visitors at Sybille Area comes from

surface water in the North Sybille Creek. The primary water source for

visitors and residents and animals south of the road are three shallow

wells 7.8- to 9.6-meters (26- to 32-feet) deep, located at the

Headquarters building, at the residence closest to the tritiated

pronghorn antelopes, and at the bighorn sheep corral. The closest well

is approximately 135 to 180 meters (150 to 200 yards) from the proposed

paddock. Water for the supervisor's residence and for animals north of

the road comes from a spring located north of the supervisor's

residence, which is much farther away from the proposed pastures. The

boundaries of the Sybille Area have game-proof fences.

Study Subjects

The Pronghorn antelopes included in the tritiated water studies

will be adult females that have recently given birth and the young they

are nursing. Females that did not give birth or lost their young

shortly after birth will not be used in the study. The study animals

will be free to move in the pasture. Although this is not the same as

free-ranging, the pronghorn antelopes' basic movements and behaviors

should be sufficiently similar to free-ranging animals to provide

scientific data. The mothers and their offspring will be similarly

marked by color-coded neck collars or fluorescent paint, for easy

visual identification. The mothers are expected to be captured every 2

weeks for new tritiated water injections and milk-sample collections.

When the mother receives her tritium injection, the fawns will be given

deuterated water to drink. The biological half-life of tritium in the

pronghorn antelope is expected to be similar to the 2.7-day biological

half-life of tritium in caribou (another North American ungulate living

in arid areas). Both the mothers and the fawns will be weighed

periodically on animal scales. Routine tritiated milk and urine samples

will be collected during the study.

Endangered or Threatened Species

There are two endangered species living in captivity at the Sybille

Area of the Sybille Unit (i. e., the blackfooted ferret (Mustela

nigripes) and Wyoming toad (Bufo hemiophrys baxteri)). Black-footed

ferrets can weigh up to 1.3 kilograms (2.5 pounds), are 50- to 63-

centimeters (20- to 25-inches) long (including their 13- to 15-

centimeters (5- to 6-inch) tail), and have black face mask, black feet,

and black tip to their tails. The blackfooted ferret was officially

placed on the Federal list of endangered species in 1967 and thought to

be extinct in the 1970's, until a group was found in Wyoming. All known

wild blackfooted ferrets were taken into captivity between 1985 and

1987, when canine distemper reduced their numbers to 18. The Sybille

Unit is one of three locations with active breeding programs. The goal

is to reintroduce the animals born in these facilities into the wild.

The blackfooted ferret is a member of the weasel family that preys

primarily on prairie-dogs and in the wild lives in prairie-dog burrows.

Their natural predators are owls, hawks, eagles, coyotes, badgers, and

bobcats. With conversion of the prairies into farmland, prairie-dog

habitats were eliminated and blackfooted ferrets almost disappeared.

The Wyoming toad is a glacial relic known to live only in Albany

County, Wyoming. The adult is about 5.6-centimeters (2.2-inches) long.

The female is slightly larger than the male. The toads' back is a dark

brown, gray, or greenish color, with small dark blotches, an indistinct

median strip, and rounded warts. The cranial crest is fused. Individual

toads can be identified by the variations in their skin color and wart

patterns, and the Wyoming toad can be distinguished from other species

by the small adult size and the fused cranial crest. The Wyoming toad

was first discovered in 1946 and placed on the Federal list of

endangered species in 1984. Its historical distribution was restricted

to within 48 kilometers (30 miles) of Laramie, Wyoming. It inhabited

floodplain, ponds, and small seepage lakes in the shortgrass

communities of the Laramie Basin. Recent reproduction has been low, and

red-leg bacteria, discovered in 1990, caused a further reduction in the

adult population.

At the Sybille Unit, the toads are kept in hibernation in the

Wyoming toad building and brought out of hibernation in late spring

(May), to be carried to breeding ponds in the Laramie Basin about 97

kilometers (60 miles) southwest of the Sybille Unit, for breeding and

introduction of the tadpoles into the wild. The adults are then

returned to the Sybille Unit. The breeding ponds located at Lake

George, Hutton National Wildlife Refuge in the Laramie Basin (about 16

to 24 kilometers (10 to 15 miles) southwest of Laramie), are not

located in the North Sybille drainage area. They eat ants, beetles, and

other arthropods. Spraying insecticides to control mosquitoes, changes

in agricultural practices, increased predation, diseases, and climatic

changes may have contributed to their declining numbers.

Both endangered species are physically isolated from the other

animals at Sybille Area and neither receives any of its water from the

North Sybille Creek. They are located inside their own adjacent

buildings and not permitted outside unless being reintroduced to areas

away from the Sybille Area.

Study Protocol

The tritiated water will be injected into the adult females.

Routine tritiated milk and urine samples will be collected for

analysis. Tritium concentration in the milk and urine will provide

information on the body-water turnover of the mother and the ingestion

of tritiated milk by the fawn. However, quantitative data on the fawns'

own body-water turnover cannot be determined unless the fawns' body

water is labeled with a different isotope. Therefore, the fawns are

given deuterated water (1 gram of deuterated water per kilogram of body

weight) by mouth tube, each time the mother is injected with tritiated

water. Deuterium is a naturally occurring non-radioactive isotope of

hydrogen. The deuterium concentrations are measured by infrared

spectrophotometry. Because it is not radioactive, the deuterated water

neither involves byproduct material nor results in radioactive releases

at the study site.

The study protocol calls for the initial collection of a body water

sample (urine or milk) from the adult, injection of tritiated water

intramuscularly into each adult, and administration of deuterated water

to each fawn by mouth tube. The following day, and every 2 to 3 days,

for 10 days, urine samples are collected from each animal, using a

small vial on a pole. Most of the tritiated urine will fall to the

ground. The samples are frozen and analyzed later. The process is

repeated at 2 week intervals (approximately 5 effective half-lives),

for up to 4 months. The tritium injections will be stopped once the

fawns are weaned. The researchers expect them to be weaned in less than

4 months.

Each 50 kilogram (110 pound) adult female is expected to receive a

maximum of 8 injections with 11 megabecquerels (300 microcuries) of

tritium in each injection. Six adult females are expected to be in the

tritiated water phase of the study each year. The maximum amount of

tritium in a pronghorn antelope mother and her fawns at any one time is

11 megabecquerels (300 microcuries). The maximum amount of tritium

expected to be released by an adult in a single day is 2.5

megabecquerels (66 microcuries). The maximum amount of tritium released

in 4 months by one mother and her fawns is expected to be 89

megabecquerels (2.4 millicuries).

At any one time, the maximum amount of tritium in all the study

animals is expected to be 67 megabecquerels (1.8 millicuries). This

assumes six mothers are in the study and all deliver healthy fawns. The

maximum amount of tritium expected to be released by all six mothers in

one day is 15 megabecquerels (396 microcuries). The maximum amount of

tritium expected to be released in 4 months by six mothers and their

fawns is 533 megabecquerels (14.4 millicuries).

Pathways to the Environment

The adult lactating pronghorn antelope will lose tritiated water by

respiration (exhaled water vapors), direct losses in urine, milk, and

feces. Some tritium may be lost in saliva during grooming. The

tritiated milk will be ingested by the fawns, who will in turn lose

tritium through respiration, urine, and feces.

In the Sybille Area's semiarid environment, most of the tritiated

water released by feces and urine is expected to evaporate into water

vapor. The dynamic environment in which the tritium is released is

expected to distribute the tritium in water vapor, soil, water, and

plants, within the pronghorn antelope's shelter and pasture, and not

reconcentrate it. Sun, wind, and rain would be expected to disperse the

tritium in and beyond these enclosures. The expected pathway is for

tritium to be released primarily into the air and secondarily into the

North Sybille Creek.

The open waste water gutter in the pronghorn antelope shelters will

be covered and sealed during the study. Therefore, tritium in surface

run off or deposited on the concrete, or in the soil, will not enter

the waste water holding tank and drain tile system. The effective half-

life of tritium within any particular part of the environment will be

on the order of 3 days, as it moves through biological systems at

Sybille Area and beyond. If it were trapped in the holding tank, the

expected half-life of tritium would be the same as its 12-year physical

half-life. In the drain field, the effective half-life would have

depended on the molecular and biological stability of the molecules

containing the tritium.

Pathway to Humans

Several factors, such as the exclusion of visitors and guided

tours, in the restricted areas, from the pronghorn antelope shelters,

pastures, and corridor for the pronghorn antelope shelter, make it

unlikely that the tritium and tritiated animals will come in direct

contact with the general public.

In the semiarid environment of the Sybille Unit, most of the

tritiated water vapor and tritiated water released is expected to

evaporate. Tritium left in the ground is expected to commingle with

surface water run-off with very little, if any, migration into the

aquifer. Well water provides all the drinking water at the Sybille

area. Well water calculations, for the worst case scenario assuming one

percent of the tritium entered the aquifer and migrated to a single

well with an average water usage of (50 gallons) per day (very

conservative and unlikely assumptions), resulted in a concentration of

74 becquerels (2,000 picocuries) per liter. This concentration is an

order of magnitude less than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's

drinking water standard 740 becquerels (20,000 picocuries) per liter.

This concentration would be minuscule if more realistic assumptions

were made for the probability of tritium penetrating the aquifer, its

dispersion in the aquifer, and total water usage from the well.

Therefore, neither the general public nor the Sybille residents are

expected to ingest tritiated water.

Surface water calculations, for the worst case scenario assuming

all the tritium injected from June to September went into the North

Sybille Creek and the flow rate for the creek was only half its lowest

flow rate (very conservative and unlikely assumptions), resulted in a

concentration of 0.6 becquerel (17 picocuries) per liter. This

concentration is three orders of magnitude less than the EPA's drinking

water standard. This concentration becomes even smaller when water

flowing through the Sybille Area is further diluted with water from

Johnson Creek, Middle Sybille Creek, and other tributaries.

No one is expected to eat tritiated meat from the study pronghorn

antelopes. The licensee has prohibited the use of the study animals for

human consumption; hunters are not permitted to hunt where the animals

are quartered; and the animals are not able to jump the fences and

escape into areas where hunting is permitted.

The animals are permitted to move freely between their roofed

shelter and the open pasture. Since the roofed shelter is not air-

tight, the tritium released in exhaled water vapor or evaporating

tritium in urine of feces deposited within the shelter is expected to

disperse into the atmosphere and not concentrate in the shelter. Air

inhalation calculations, for the worst case scenario assuming all the

tritium injected between June and September was inhaled by a single

individual standing one meter above and downwind of the tritium with an

average wind velocity of 0.25 meters per second (very conservative and

extremely unlikely assumptions), resulted in a total dose equivalent to

the individual for the year of 0.027 millisievert (2.7 millirem). This

is ten percent of the total dose equivalent permitted for the general

public (10 CFR 20.1301). When realistic occupancy factors, distances,

and wind velocities are used the total effective dose equivalent to any

one individual becomes minuscule.

The tritium released as tritiated water is expected to evaporate

and mix with water and water vapor present in the semiarid environment.

Therefore, concentration in any particular water, plant, or animal

segment of the environment is unlikely. Tritium may enter the food

chain in minute amounts, through commercially grown food crops or

domestic live stock animals downwind or downstream from the site. If

this occurred, the total dose equivalent for a member of the general

public would be significantly less than the worst-case calculations

discussed above. They would be insignificant.

University of Wyoming personnel who handle the tritiated water,

collect samples, and inject the pronghorn antelopes have procedures and

equipment to minimize their exposure to tritium and to ensure exposures

are below the 10 CFR part 20 limits. Instruction and written procedures

address proper receipt, survey, transportation, and handling of tritium

and tritium-contaminated waste, and how to handle spills and other

emergency situations. Further, these individuals are subject to the

University of Wyoming's bioassay program, to monitor their tritium

uptake from all sources.

Dose and Effect on the Pronghorn Antelopes

The adult pronghorn antelope will receive injections of 11

megabecquerels (300 microcuries) of tritiated water. The initial

concentration of tritiated water is expected to be 0.2 megabecquerels

(6 microcuries) per milliliter of body water. The biological half-life

of tritium for the adult pronghorn antelope is estimated to be 2.7

days, and the estimated maximum radiation dose to a single adult is

approximately 0.56 millisieverts (56 millirem). The dose to an

individual fawn is dependent upon the tritium concentration in the

mother's milk, amount of milk ingested, tritium retention in the fawn,

and the weight of the fawn. With all these factors taken into

consideration, the dose to the fawn is probably between 0.1 and 10

times the dose to the mother.

Although most reported radiation biology studies used external

gamma radiation and small mammals, some studies on larger mammals such

as burros, pigs and sheep were done. No specific information is

currently available for pronghorn antelopes. The internal beta dose

from the tritiated water to each pronghorn antelope is well below the

7.7 millicoulombs per kilogram (30 roentgens) (gamma) that may cause

reduced reproductive potential in mammals (which varies with age,

species, and sex) and the 1.5 to 2.5 sieverts (150-to 250-rads) (gamma)

radiation dose expected to kill 50 percent of a burro, pig, or sheep

population, the LD-50 (lethal dose-50). The radiation doses to the

pronghorn antelopes and their fawns are not expected to cause either

acute or latent effects.

Effects on Endangered Species

The tritiated mothers and fawns are not expected to come in direct

contact with the two endangered species (the blackfooted ferret and the

Wyoming toad) because both of these species are kept in buildings

isolated from the other animals at the Unit. If any tritium is released

into North Sybille Creek, it is not expected to come into contact with

these endangered species, because they receive their water from wells.

They also have very different biological life cycles and habitats.

Effects on Other Species

Other plant and animal species in the area should not be adversely

affected by the release of tritiated water into the environment. The

pronghorn antelopes are kept in a fenced area that will keep out most

predators. Although coyotes have attacked and killed adult pronghorn

antelopes in their pastures, coyotes are not hunted for food and the

tritium ingested by the coyote is not expected to enter the human food

chain. Eagles may attempt to take young fawns in the wild, but the

fenced areas are not expected to provide the birds enough open space to

attempt a landing and escape. Pronghorn antelopes that die during the

study will be sent to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory for

necropsy and incineration and would not be available for scavengers.

The pronghorn antelopes are expected to be free of tritium within 4 to

8 weeks of the end of the last tritium injection, because of the 2.7-

day biological half-life of tritium in the animals.

Since the tritium exposure levels in the pronghorn antelopes are

not high enough to cause either short- or long-term effects in the

pronghorn antelopes, the even lower levels of tritium dispersed in the

environment are not expected to have acute or long-term effects on

other species in the area.

Conclusions

Based on the foregoing assessment, the NRC staff concludes that the

environmental effects of using tritium for the in-vivo studies of the

nursing pronghorn antelope and her fawns are expected to be extremely

small. The concentrations of tritium released by the pronghorn antelope

into the unrestricted areas will be well below the limits specified in

10 CFR part 20. Thus, the estimated doses to residents, other members

of the general public, and the University of Wyoming personnel at the

Sybille Wildlife Research Center are insignificant. Based on these

considerations, this action will not result in significant effects on

the quality of the human environment.

The estimated doses to the pronghorn antelope are too low to result

in acute effects in the animals and are not expected to cause long-term

effects. Additionally, dispersion in the environment would expose other

species to even lower levels of tritium.

Neither of the two endangered species (i.e., the blackfooted ferret

and the Wyoming Toad) living at the Sybille Area are expected to come

in direct contact with the tritiated pronghorn antelopes, tritium-

contaminated soil in the pronghorn antelope pastures, or tritiated

water in North Sybille Creek. Further, the probability of them coming

into contact with tritium-contaminated food products, soil, water, or

air is quite small.

Therefore, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.31, a Finding of No

Significant Impact is considered appropriate for this proposed action.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

As required by section 102(2)E of the National Environmental

Protection Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4322 (2) E),

possible alternatives to the proposed action have been considered. The

first alternative is to confine the animals to an indoor laboratory or

environmental chamber to quantify the metabolic and energy

expenditures. These experiments, however, cannot duplicate the

metabolic rates and energy expenditures of the pronghorn antelopes when

they are grazing and involved in other natural behaviors in the wild.

Because they are not easily restrained and their movement would be

restricted in laboratory conditions, data obtained under these

conditions would not be meaningful. Although the 4046-square-meter (1-

acre) pastures cannot replicate free-ranging conditions, the pronghorn

antelopes' diet of sagebrush and grasses is the same, the animals

appear to move normally, and the mother-fawn interactions are not

expected to be adversely affected by the confinement of the pasture.

Therefore, this alternative cannot be used in this study to quantify

milk production and body-water turnover in both the mothers and the

fawns.

A second alternative is to use only deuterium in either the mother

or the fawns. In the mothers, it would provide data on milk uptake in

the fawn and body-water turnover in the mother, but without the second

isotope, the body-water turnover in the fawns could not be determined,

and this is an critical parameter in the study. In the fawns, it would

provide body-water turnover data, but not quantify milk uptake. If the

six mother-fawn sets were divided evenly into 2 groups of either just

mothers or just fawns receiving the deuterium, data could be collected

for all the mother-fawn parameters. This is not an acceptable

alternative because there may not be enough measurements for each data

point to overcome individual mother-fawn dynamic differences,

especially, if one or more groups are not able to complete the study.

A third alternative is to collect milk-production data and fawn

body-growth data from carefully weighing the mother and fawns before

and after feeding. The scales that would be used are not located in the

Pronghorn antelope paddock and pastures. The animals would have to be

captured after each feeding session and moved to the scales. This

activity is considered to be too disruptive to the mothers and their

fawns to result in meaningful data. Therefore, this alternative cannot

be used in this study.

The last alternative to the proposed action is the denial of the

license amendment request. This would result in the University of

Wyoming having to abandon its attempt to study body-water turnover and

milk production in the Pronghorn antelope, which, in turn, provides

quantitative data on the role of adult body condition and neonatal

survival. Although some of this information may be available for other

ungulates, it is not available for the Pronghorn antelope, and the

uniqueness of the Pronghorn antelope makes it important to

scientifically understand its survival strategies.

The Pronghorn antelope is the only member of its family and genus,

and it may have survival strategies that have not been measured in

other species. Data on lactation strategies of the adult female and the

growth rate of the fawns will increase the scientific understanding of

herd recruitment and contribute to effective management of the species.

There are no currently available alternatives to quantifying the

milk production and body-water turnover data determinations for the

mothers and fawns, obtained from the study. The applicant will do

double-labeled studies, using tritium in the mother and deuterium in

the fawns, measuring the amount of tritium in the milk and urine of the

mother, and measuring the amount of tritium and deuterium in the fawns'

urine. The deuterium portion of the study does not involve byproduct

material. Both the tritium and the deuterium data are needed to

interpret the milk production and body-water data.

The benefit of denying the license amendment request would be no

excess radiation exposure above normal background at Sybille Area to

the individual Pronghorn antelope mothers and their fawns involved in

the study. The benefit and the risk, to the Pronghorn antelopes, from

the additional radiation exposure, have to be weighed against the

scientific information, needed to manage and protect the species, that

is to be obtained from this study (i.e., quantitative milk production

and body-water turnover information for the Pronghorn antelope during

lactation and nursing). Further, this benefit has to be weighed against

the scientific information obtained clarifying the physiological

compromises between maximizing neonatal survival and maintaining good

maternal body condition for survival of future reproductive success in

Pronghorn antelopes and other ungulates.

The benefits to be gained from denial would be no release of

radioactive material to the environment. This is not a significant

benefit, because the estimated concentrations in unrestricted areas and

resulting doses to humans from the studies will be insignificant.

Agencies and Persons Contacted

In performing this assessment, the staff contacted the University

of Wyoming and the Sybille Wildlife Research and Conservation Education

Unit.

Finding of No Significant Impact

The Commission has determined, under NEPA and the Commission's

regulations in 10 CFR part 51, that this proposed amendment to

Byproduct Material License No. 49-09955-10 to permit the injection of

tritiated water into six nursing Pronghorn antelopes, if granted, would

not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment

or the tritiated Pronghorn antelopes, and that an environmental impact

statement is not required. This determination is based on the foregoing

environmental assessment performed in accordance with the procedures

and criteria in 10 CFR Part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations

for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.''

For further details of this action, see the license application

dated April 7, 1992, and other related correspondence. The documents

(in Docket No. 030-01176) may be examined or copied, for a fee, in the

Commission's Region IV Public Document Room, 611 Ryan Plaza Drive,

suite 400, Arlington, Texas 76011-8064.

Notice of Opportunity for a Hearing

Any person whose interest may be affected by the issuance of this

amendment may file a request for a hearing. Any request for hearing

must be filed with the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

Commission, Washington, DC 20555 within 30 days of publication of this

notice in the Federal Register and must be served on the NRC staff by

mail addressed to the Executive Director for Operations, U.S. Nuclear

Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 or by delivery to the

Executive Director for Operations, One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852; and must be served on the

applicant by mail or delivery to the University of Wyoming, Safety

Office, P. O. Box 3413, room 312, Merica Hall, Laramie, Wyoming 82071-

3413. The request for a hearing must comply with the requirements set

forth in the Commission's regulations, 10 CFR part 2, subpart L,

``Informal Hearing Procedures for Adjudications in Material Licensing

Proceedings.'' Subpart L of 10 CFR part 2 may be examined or copied for

a fee in the Commission's Region IV Public Document Room, 611 Ryan

Plaza Drive, suite 400, Arlington, Texas 76011-8064, or in the

Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman Building, 2120 L Street,

NW., Washington, DC 20555.

As required by 10 CFR part 2, subpart L (10 CFR 2.1205), the

request for hearing must describe in detail: (1) The interest of the

requestor in the proceeding; (2) how that interest may be affected by

the results of the proceedings, including the reasons why the requestor

should be permitted a hearing, with particular reference to the factors

set out in paragraph (g) of 10 CFR 2.1205; (3) the requestor's areas of

concern about the licensing activity that is the subject matter of the

proceeding; and (4) the circumstances establishing that the request for

a hearing is timely in accordance with paragraph (c) of 10 CFR 2.1205.

The factors in 10 CFR 2.1205(g) that must be addressed in the

request for hearing include: (1) The nature of the requestor's right

under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to be made a party to the

proceeding; (2) the nature and extent of the requestor's property,

financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (3) the possible

effect of any order that may be entered in the proceeding upon the

requestor's interest.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 7th day of February 1994.

For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

John E. Glenn,

Chief, Medical, Academic, and Commercial Use Safety Branch, Division of

Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS.

[FR Doc. 94-3059 Filed 2-9-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7590-01-P