Nuclear Metals, Inc.Concord, Massachusetts: Renewal of Source Material Licenses; Finding of No Significant Impact and Notice of Opportunity for a Hearing (NUREG/CR-6528)

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Licenses SMB-179 and SUB-1452--Dockets 40-672 and 40-8866]

Nuclear Metals, Inc.--Concord, Massachusetts: Renewal of Source

Material Licenses; Finding of No Significant Impact and Notice of

Opportunity for a Hearing (NUREG/CR-6528)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering the renewal

of Source Material Licenses SMB-179 and SUB-1452 for the continued

operation of Nuclear Metals, Inc. (NMI), located in Concord,

Massachusetts.

Summary of the Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

The proposed action is the renewal of NMI's Source Material

Licenses SMB-179 and SUB-1452 for at least 5 years. With these

renewals, the NMI facility will continue to conduct ongoing operations

including the development and manufacture of castings, extrusions,

machined parts, and metal powders comprised of depleted uranium and

natural uranium metal. The proposed action would permit NMI to possess,

under License SMB-179, natural uranium metal, alloy, or oxide; depleted

uranium metal, alloy, oxide, or fluoride; natural thorium metal, alloy,

or oxide; and depleted uranium slab. The licensed uranium may be an

element of any compound except uranium hexafluoride (UF6). The

proposed action would also permit NMI to possess, under License SUB-

1452, depleted uranium as contamination in sand; depleted uranium as

contamination on metallic components, packaging materials or equipment,

or as waste solids; and natural thorium as contamination on metallic

components, packaging materials or equipment, or as waste solids.

Prior to September 1985, liquid and sludge wastes from the

processes were stabilized and emptied into an unlined holding basin and

adjacent bog located on site property. The holding basin was covered by

a special membrane in 1986 to reduce infiltration of rain water and

discharge of contaminants to surface and ground waters. Remediation of

the holding basin and contaminated groundwater is being planned as a

separate decommissioning action; therefore, this action and subsequent

environmental impacts are outside the scope of this EA.

The Need for the Proposed Action

The action is to determine if the licenses should be renewed or

denied. NMI manufactures products composed of depleted uranium and

natural uranium that have military, aerospace, industrial, and medical

applications. Depleted uranium metal is processed to form armor

penetrators, aircraft counterweights and radiation shielding devices.

Denial of the license renewals for NMI is an alternative available to

NRC, but since approximately half of the U.S. demand for these products

is being met by operations at NMI facilities, denying the licenses

would not be in the nation's best interest.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

Both radiological and nonradiological atmospheric emissions occur

and were assessed during normal (incident-free) operations at NMI. The

radiological impacts of the continued operation of the NMI facility

were assessed using atmospheric dispersion modeling to estimate ambient

annual dose to the public resulting from emissions at the NMI facility.

To assess the impact of uranium emissions on atmospheric resources, the

COMPLY computer code was used to determine the maximum annual dose

equivalent received from uranium concentrations in the ambient air (at

or beyond the site boundary). These estimated annual doses were

compared to NRC requirements and EPA standards to gauge impacts to

public health and safety.

Ambient air concentrations (at or beyond the site boundary)

resulting from the primary sources of nonradiological air emissions

were estimated using the Industrial Source Complex--Version 2 (ISC2)

air dispersion model (EPA 1992a). Total predicted concentrations were

compared to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in order

to gauge impacts on air quality.

Doses From Routine Airborne Releases

Small amounts of uranium are emitted from 33 stacks at NMI. The

town of Concord permits depleted uranium emissions of up to 280

Ci per calendar quarter for operations associated with License

Nos. SMB-179 and SUB-1452. NRC's regulations (10 CFR 20.1301) require

licensees to limit doses to members of the public to 100mrem per year.

Emission rates of depleted uranium in 1994 were less than 60 percent of

the 280 Ci per calendar quarter limit. For the modeling,

annual emissions were assumed to be at maximum permitted levels (i.e.,

1,120 Ci/y as by the town of Concord). The assumptions are

conservative in that they result in higher predicted doses than are

expected to occur. The maximum annual committed effective dose

equivalent predicted was 2.5 mrem. This dose was estimated to occur to

a person located 150 m (492 ft) from the nearest building. This is

about one-half the distance to the nearest resident. Therefore, 150 m

(492 ft) is considered a sufficiently conservative distance to form an

upper bound of doses that could be received by the public annually. The

predicted annual dose is 2.5 percent of the NRC limit.

The primary sources of nonradiological air emissions at NMI are two

boilers, which burn #4 fuel oil, and which emit the following criteria

pollutants: SO2, NO2, PM-10, and CO. Short-term emission

rates, calculated using the maximum monthly fuel usage rates, were used

in ISC2 for periods of 24 hr or less. Long-term emission rates,

calculated using the maximum annual fuel usage rates, were used in ISC2

for the annual time period. Both site specific data and conservative

assumptions were used in the modeling analysis. Total predicted

concentrations were compared to the NAAQS in order to gauge impacts on

air quality. The results of the analysis show that maximum 3-hr and 24-

hr average SO2 concentrations are about twice their respective

NAAQS. For all other criteria

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pollutants, maximum concentrations are within the NAAQS, and impacts to

local air quality associated with these pollutants would be minor. NMI

is prepared to undertake mitigative action to prevent potential

exceedances of the short-term SO2 NAAQS, and the Massachusetts

Department of Environmental Protection is prepared to resolve the

issue.

Accident Evaluation

The EA evaluated one accident as the bounding accident: the

potential quantities of uranium and nonradiological materials that

might be released to the atmosphere in the unlikely event of a major

fire at the NMI facility. The regulatory analysis documented in NUREG-

1140 (McGuire 1988), which assessed the accident potential for doses

exceeding EPA protective action guides, was used to evaluate potential

impacts. For uranium, NUREG-1140 found that the highest doses come from

the inhalation pathway. The analysis shows a committed effective dose

equivalent of 0.89 rems at 100 m (330 ft) might occur to a nearby

downwind individual that would result from a fire involving the

limiting value quantities agreed to by NMI of 454,000 kg (1,000,000 lb)

of depleted uranium in any one building. This value is less than the

EPA-recommended lower limit for consideration of protective actions

(i.e., a dose of 1 rem). Therefore, radiological impacts resulting from

exposure to natural uranium during a severe fire would not be major.

NMI's operations with licensed material involve use of several

acids. The evaluation of the potential impacts of these nonradiological

materials was based on a release to the atmosphere using the same

accidental fire scenario as for the radiological materials. The results

were compared to the Emergency Response Planning Guidelines (ERPGs)

established by the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the

immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) threshold value,

established by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

(NIOSH), and the LC50, the concentration which would result in

fatalities to 50 percent of the exposed population. Of the acids, only

sulfuric (H2SO4) caused concern as the predicted

concentration of H2SO4 is below the LC50 but higher than

the ERPG levels. These results were discussed with Commonwealth of

Massachusetts staff and NMI is prepared to discuss the potential for an

accidental H2SO4 release with local emergency response

officials.

Conclusion

The NRC staff concludes that the environmental impacts associated

with the proposed license renewal for continued operation of the NMI's

Concord, Massachusetts facility are expected to be insignificant.

Finding of No Significant Impact

The Commission has prepared an EA related to the renewal of Special

Nuclear Material Licenses SMB-179 and SUB-1452. On the basis of the

assessment, the Commission has concluded that environmental impacts

that would be created by the proposed action would not be significant

and do not warrant the preparation of an Environmental Impact

Statement. Accordingly, it has been determined that a Finding of No

Significant Impact is appropriate.

The EA is being made available as NUREG/CR-6528. Copies of NUREG/

CR-6528 may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S.

Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328.

Copies are also available from the National Technical Information

Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. A copy is also

available for inspection and copying for a fee in the NRC Public

Document Room, 2120 L Street, NW. (Lower Level), Washington, DC 20555-

0001.

Opportunity for a Hearing

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

renewal 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 the publication of

this notice in the Federal Register; be served on the NRC staff

(Executive Director for Operations, One White Flint North, 11555

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852), and on the licensee

(Nuclear Metals, Inc., 2229 Main Street, Concord, MA 01742); and must

comply with the requirements for requesting a hearing set forth in the

Commission's regulations, 10 CFR Part 2, Subpart L, ``Information

Hearing Procedures for Adjudications in Materials Licensing

Proceedings.''

These requirements, which the request must address in detail, are:

1. The interest of the requestor in the proceeding;

2. How that interest may be affected by the results of the

proceeding (including the reasons why the requestor should be permitted

a hearing);

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 hearing is

timely--that is, filed within 30 days of the date of this notice.

In addressing how the requestor's interest may be affected by the

proceeding, the request should describe the nature of the requestor's

right under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, to be made a

party to the proceeding; the nature and extent of the requestor's

property, financial, or other (i.e., health, safety) interest in the

proceeding; and the possible effect of any order that may be entered in

the proceeding upon the requestor's interest.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 20th day of February, 1997.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Larry W. Camper,

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

Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, Office of Nuclear Material

Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 97-5385 Filed 3-4-97; 8:45 am]

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