Finding of No Significant Impact Related To Amendment To Materials License SUB-1357, Chemetron Corporation, Inc.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No.: 040-08724]

Finding of No Significant Impact Related To Amendment To

Materials License SUB-1357, Chemetron Corporation, Inc.

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact associated with

amendment to Materials License SUB-1357, Chemetron Corporation, Inc.,

Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio, to authorize remediation of Harvard Avenue

site.

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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering issuing an

amendment of Materials License No. SUB-1357, held by Chemetron

Corporation, Inc., to authorize the remediation of the Harvard Avenue

site located on Harvard Avenue in Cuyahoga Heights, Ohio.

Environmental Assessment Summary

Background

By the letter of March 24, 1994, Chemetron Corporation, Inc.,

(Chemetron) requested that NRC amend its license to authorize it to

perform the remediation of the Harvard Avenue and Bert Avenue sites in

accordance with its remediation plan entitled, ``Site Remediation Plan,

Chemetron Remediation Project, Harvard and Bert Avenue Sites, Chemetron

Corporation, Inc., Newburgh Heights, Ohio,'' Revision 1, dated February

25, 1995. This remediation plan also included Chemetron's plans for

remediating buildings, adjacent to the Harvard Avenue site, owned by

the McGean-Rohco, Inc., that are contaminated with radioactive

material. By letter of May 18, 1995, Chemetron requested NRC staff to

expedite and separately review the remediation of the Harvard Avenue

site so that remediation would not be delayed due to the required Ohio

Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) review of the solid waste issues

at the Bert Avenue site, under the jurisdiction of OEPA.

Following the review of the portions of the Chemetron Final

Remediation Plan for Harvard Avenue and Bert Avenue sites that

addressed the McGean-Rohco building remediation, NRC staff published,

in the Federal Register (FR), on August 5, 1994, a Finding of No

Significant Impact (FONSI) and an environmental assessment for the

McGean-Rohco complex remediation. On August 9, 1994, NRC staff issued

Amendment 4 to the Chemetron license authorizing Chemetron to conduct

the McGean-Rohco building remediation. On August 9, 1994, NRC staff

also issued a Safety Evaluation Report for the proposed remediation of

the McGean-Rohco complex.

Proposed Action

In this action, Chemetron is proposing to utilize onsite disposal,

under 10 CFR 20.2002, at the Harvard Avenue facility, for wastes, from

the remediation of the Harvard Avenue site, with concentrations up to

the Option 2 limit in the NRC's Branch Technical Position on ``Disposal

or Onsite Storage of Thorium or Uranium Wastes from Past Operations''

(1981 BTP). If wastes, that exceed the Option 2 concentration limits in

the 1981 BTP, are discovered at the Harvard Avenue site, these wastes

would be shipped offsite, to a licensed low-level waste disposal site.

Need for Proposed Action

The purpose of the proposed action is to decommission the Harvard

Avenue site, by removing depleted uranium contamination in soils and

building rubble, so that the site can be released for unrestricted use.

Remediating the site will allow Chemetron to release the site back to

the site owner, McGean-Rohco, Inc., and to remove the site from

Chemetron's NRC license.

Environmental Impacts of Proposed Action

The NRC staff reviewed the levels of contamination, the proposed

remediation methods, and the radiological and environmental controls

that will be used during the remediation. These controls include worker

dosimetry, the As Low As Is Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) program, air

monitoring, routine surveys, a bioassay program for workers, and

routine monitoring of both airborne and liquid effluent releases to

meet 10 CFR Part 20 radiation protection requirements. Worker and

public doses will be limited so that exposures will not exceed 10 CFR

Part 20 requirements.

Chemetron proposed to remediate the Harvard Avenue site in

accordance with ``Guidelines for Decontamination of Facilities and

Equipment Prior to Release for Unrestricted Use or Termination of

Licenses for Byproduct, Source, and Special Nuclear Materials,'' dated

August 1987. Chemetron also proposed to dispose of depleted uranium

wastes onsite in accordance with the 1981 BTP. Based on uranium

solubility testing of the Harvard Avenue wastes, the maximum depleted

uranium concentration that is acceptable for disposal in the disposal

cell is 7.4 Bq/gm (200 pCi/gm) total uranium.

The staff also analyzed the radiological impacts to the public from

the disposal of depleted uranium contaminated soils and building rubble

in the proposed onsite disposal cell. Radiological impacts to members

of the public will result from inhalation and ingestion of releases of

radioactivity in air and in water during the remediation operations and

direct exposure to radiation from radioactive materials at the site

during remediation operations. The public will also be exposed to

radiation as a result of the onsite disposal. Decommissioning workers

will receive doses primarily by inhalation and direct exposure during

the remediation activities. In addition to impacts from routine

operations, the potential radiological consequences of accidents were

considered.

The licensee provided an estimate of the dose to the public from

airborne effluents to be generated during the excavation activities

associated with the decommissioning of Harvard Avenue site. The maximum

public dose from airborne effluents is 0.02 mSv (2 mrem) for the

Harvard Avenue site. The staff performed a more conservative,

independent analysis of the potential for public exposure from airborne

effluents. The staff estimated the dose to the nearest resident during

excavation of soil at the Chemetron Harvard Avenue site to be

approximately 0.09 mSv (9 mrem).

The licensee performed dose assessments for the Harvard Avenue

disposal cell using the RESRAD computer code, Version 5.05. The RESRAD

code calculates dose impacts assuming a resident-farmer scenario, where

an individual would construct a residence, live there, grow food, and

consume all drinking water from a conservatively located groundwater

well. Radiation doses were calculated to be 0.132 mSv/yr (13.2 mrem/yr)

at 1000 years and peak at 0.142 mSv/yr (14.2

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mrem/yr) at 2150 years after construction of the disposal cell. These

predicted doses are less than NRC's limit of 1 mSv/yr (100 mrem/yr) for

radiation doses to the public in 10 CFR Part 20. These doses reflect

the worst case scenario with the proposed cover over the disposal cell

assumed to have been removed.

NRC staff verified Chemetron's RESRAD code analyses, using Version

5.05, and obtained the same results as Chemetron. NRC staff also ran

the calculations using an individual groundwater consumption rate of

730 l/yr, as recommended in NRC Policy and Guidance Directive PG-8-08,

``Scenarios for Assessing Potential Doses Associated with Residual

Radioactivity.'' Chemetron assumed a consumption rate of 510 l/yr,

recommended in Argonne National Laboratory's ANL/EAIS-8, ``Data

Collection Handbook to Support Modeling the Impacts of Radioactive

Material in Soil.'' The peak dose, assuming a cover, was computed to be

0.26 mSv/yr (26 mrem/yr) at 2160 years after disposal. At 1000 years

after disposal, the dose would be 0.22 mSv/yr (22 mrem/yr). The peak

dose, assuming no cover, was computed to be 0.20 mSv/yr (20 mrem/yr) at

2150 years after disposal. At 1000 years after disposal, the dose would

be 0.185 mSv/yr (18.5 mrem/yr). The above doses estimated for the

public are substantially less than the 1 mSv/yr (100 mrem/yr) limit for

exposures to the public in 10 CFR Part 20.

During the remediation of the contaminated materials, workers will

receive doses from direct exposure and from the inhalation of dusts

containing depleted uranium. From direct exposure, assuming the maximum

measured background radiation levels at the Harvard Avenue site of 0.2

mSv/month (20 mrem/month) and a 2000 hr exposure, Chemetron computed

the direct exposure dose to be 0.55 mSv (55 mrem). Chemetron computed

the inhalation dose to be 0.03 mSv (3 mrem). NRC staff reviewed and

agrees with these calculations. The above doses are substantially below

the 10 CFR Part 20 limit of 0.05 Sv/yr (5 rem/yr) for routine

occupational exposure.

Based on the above evaluations, radiation exposures of persons

living or traveling near the site due to onsite operations will be well

within limits contained in NRC regulations and will be small in

comparison to natural background radiation. The licensee has a

radiation protection program that will maintain radiation exposures and

effluent releases within the limits of 10 CFR Part 20 and will maintain

exposures as low as is reasonably achievable.

The NRC staff reviewed the licensee's estimated potential

consequences of postulated accidents. The licensee evaluated two worst

case accident scenarios--a truck tipping over releasing its contents

and a truck fire causing radioactivity to be dispersed into the air.

The scenarios assumed the maximum total uranium concentration of 507

Bq/gm (13,700 pCi/gm) total uranium found at the Bert Avenue site in

Chemetron's site characterization. This concentration is substantially

higher than the maximum total uranium concentration of 5.9 Bq/gm (160

pCi/gm) at the Harvard Avenue site. Receptors 10 meters away would

receive a dose of 4.3E-4 mSv (4.3E-2 mrem) from the truck spill

accident and 0.04 mSv (4 mrem) from the truck fire accident. These

postulated accidents do not have the potential for onsite or offsite

radiation doses that exceed the minimum Protective Action Guide level

of 1 Rem, recommended in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's

``Manual of Protective Action Guides and Protective Actions for Nuclear

Incidents,'' or above the 10 CFR Part 20 limit of 0.05 Sv (5 Rem/yr)

for routine occupational exposure.

No wastes that exceed the Option 2 limits in the 1981 BTP are

expected at the Harvard Avenue site. However, if wastes that exceed the

Option 2 limits are discovered, the wastes will be shipped offsite to a

licensed low-level waste disposal site. Wastes will be packaged and

shipped in containers or covered railcars or trucks in accordance with

NRC and Department of Transportation requirements. Wastes will be

disposed of in accordance with the disposal site license conditions.

Therefore, there are no expected impacts from the transportation or

offsite disposal of radioactive materials.

The NRC staff also considered nonradiological impacts and concluded

that all such impacts are negligible.

Chemetron has identified, at the Harvard Avenue site, no solid

wastes and hazardous wastes, as defined under the Resource,

Conservation, and Recovery Act (RCRA) that will need to be managed in

accordance with the requirements of the OEPA. If such wastes are

encountered, the wastes will be managed in accordance with OEPA

requirements. Any impacts for handling RCRA solid and hazardous wastes,

if identified, are expected to be small.

Based on the very low minority populations in Cuyahoga Heights,

Ohio, and in Newburgh Heights, Ohio, which borders the Harvard Avenue

site, and income statistics that show no significant low-income

populations compared with those in Cuyahoga County and in the State of

Ohio, there will be no significant impacts to minorities and low-income

households from the proposed activities.

The proposed remediation of the Harvard Avenue site will enable

Chemetron to release the site for unrestricted use. On the basis of the

NRC staff's evaluation of Chemetron's proposed remediation approach for

the Harvard Avenue site, and analysis of the environmental impacts of

the proposed action, the staff concludes that the proposed remediation

activities will not result in any significant environmental or

radiological impact.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

The staff evaluated the following alternatives to the proposed

action: (1) leaving the depleted uranium in place; (2) delaying the

remediation; (3) disposing of contamination at an existing licensed

low-level radioactive disposal site; (4) applying volume reduction

methods to the contaminated materials; and, (5) onsite disposal.

Alternatives 1 and 2 would not allow the license to be terminated and

would be unacceptable. There are no significant environmental impacts

associated with Alternatives 3, 4, and 5. However, Alternatives 3 and 4

are substantially more expensive than Alternative 5, the licensees

proposed option. Based on this evaluation, NRC staff concludes that

there are no reasonably available alternatives to the licensee's

proposed plan that are obviously superior.

Agencies and Persons Consulted, and Sources Used

This environmental assessment was prepared by staff of the U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards, Rockville, MD, and Region III, Lisle, IL.

During the review of Chemetron's Final Site Remediation Plan, NRC

requested comments from the Mayor of Newburgh Heights, the Ohio

Department of Health (ODH), the OEPA, and the Cuyahoga County Board of

Health (CCBH). NRC received formal comments from ODH and CCBH, and

informal comments from OEPA. The principle comments received from ODH

and OEPA were that NRC should require post-closure controls and

monitoring, for the radiologic components in the waste, after

completion of the onsite disposal cells. These controls would be

consistent with the post-closure controls required by OEPA for solid

waste landfills. NRC staff indicated that under the conditions

[[Page 28908]]

of onsite disposal under the Option 2 limits of the 1981 BTP the

Harvard Avenue site could be released for unrestricted use, and doses

to hypothetical intruders, who might construct homes and consume

groundwater and foodstuffs grown in the wastes, would be acceptable.

The principle comments made by CCBH were to correct technical

inconsistencies, in the Site Remediation Plan, related to the design of

the proposed Bert Avenue disposal cell.

A draft of this environmental assessment was also transmitted to

ODH, OEPA, CCBH, and the Mayor of Newburgh Heights, Ohio. The CCBH,

OEPA, and the Mayor of Newburgh Heights had no comments on the draft

EA. ODH concurred with the dose assessment modeling results, and

indicated that the proposed action will be protective of public health.

ODH also commented that they desired a mechanism for detecting disposal

cell failure and deed restrictions that would limit any type of

activity that might jeopardize disposal cell integrity. As indicated

above, NRC staff consider that under the Option 2 disposal conditions,

the Harvard Avenue site can be released for unrestricted use, without

post-closure controls related to radioactive materials.

The NRC staff requested a review by the Ohio Historic Preservation

Office (OHPO) of the Harvard Avenue property. The OHPO concluded that

the project, if completed as proposed, would have no effect on

properties listed on or eligible for the National Register of

Historical Places.

No other sources of information were used beyond those which are

referenced in the report.

Finding of No Significant Impact

Based on the environmental assessment, the Commission concludes

that the issuance of the license amendment will not have a significant

impact on the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the

Commission has determined not to prepare an environmental impact

statement for the proposed action.

Opportunity for a Hearing

On April 11, 1994, the NRC published in the FR a notice of

Consideration of Amendment to Chemetron Corporation License and

Opportunity for Hearing (59 FR 17124) with respect to the matters

covered in the amendment that is the subject of this notice. In

response to that notice, Earth Day Coalition submitted a petition for

hearing. On July 7, 1994, the Presiding Officer granted a three week

period for Earth Day Coalition to supplement a deficient hearing

request. The Coalition's petition failed to demonstrate that the NRC's

standing requirements were met and that its concerns were germane to

the subject matter of the proceeding. Because the Coalition did not

file the supplemental information, on September 1, 1994, the Presiding

Officer dismissed the proceeding. Accordingly, the agency has complied

with its rules in 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart L, and no further offer of an

opportunity for a hearing is made regarding the subject matter of this

notice.

The environmental assessment and the documents related to this

proposed action are available for public inspection and copying at the

NRC's Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20555,

and the NRC's Local Public Document Room at the Garfield Heights Branch

Library, 5409 Turney Road, Garfield Heights, Ohio, (Docket No. 040-

08724).

For additional information, contact Timothy C. Johnson, Section

Leader, Materials Decommissioning Section, Low-Level Waste and

Decommissioning Projects Branch, Division of Waste Management, Office

of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, (310) 415-7299.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 31st day of May 1996.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Robert A. Nelson,

Acting Chief, Low-Level Waste and Decommissioning Projects Branch,

Division of Waste Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 96-14236 Filed 6-5-96; 8:45 am]

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