Notice of Amendment to Certificate of Compliance GDP-2 for the U.S. Enrichment Corporation, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Portsmouth, Ohio; Docket 70-7002

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Notice of Amendment to Certificate of Compliance GDP-2 for the

U.S. Enrichment Corporation, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant,

Portsmouth, Ohio; Docket 70-7002

The Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, has

made a determination that the following amendment request is not

significant in accordance with 10 CFR 76.45. In making that

determination, the staff concluded that: (1) There is no change in the

types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may

be released offsite; (2) there is no significant increase in individual

or cumulative occupational radiation exposure; (3) there is no

significant construction impact; (4) there is no significant increase

in the potential for, or radiological or chemical consequences from,

previously analyzed accidents; (5) the proposed changes do not result

in the possibility of a new or different kind of accident; (6) there is

no significant reduction in any margin of safety; and (7) the proposed

changes will not result in an overall decrease in the effectiveness of

the plant's safety, safeguards, or security programs. The basis for

this determination for the amendment request is described below.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has reviewed the

certificate amendment application and concluded that it provides

reasonable assurance of adequate safety, safeguards, and security and

compliance with NRC requirements. Therefore, the Director, Office of

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, is prepared to issue an

amendment to the Certificate of Compliance for the Portsmouth Gaseous

Diffusion Plant (PORTS). The staff has prepared a Compliance Evaluation

Report which provides details of the staff's evaluation. The NRC staff

has determined that this amendment satisfies the criteria for a

categorical exclusion in accordance with 10 CFR 51.22. Therefore,

pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(b), no environmental impact statement or

environmental assessment need be prepared for this amendment.

USEC or any person whose interest may be affected may file a

petition, not exceeding 30 pages, requesting review of the Director's

Decision. The petition must be filed with the Commission not later than

15 days after publication of this Federal Register Notice. A petition

for review of the Director's Decision shall set forth with

particularity the interest of the petitioner and how that interest may

be affected by the results of

[[Page 19537]]

the decision. The petition should specifically explain the reasons why

review of the Decision should be permitted with particular reference to

the following factors: (1) the interest of the petitioner; (2) how that

interest may be affected by the Decision, including the reasons why the

petitioner should be permitted a review of the Decision; and (3) the

petitioner's areas of concern about the activity that is the subject

matter of the Decision. Any person described in this paragraph (USEC or

any person who filed a petition) may file a response to any petition

for review, not to exceed 30 pages, within 10 days after filing of the

petition. If no petition is received within the designated 15-day

period, the Director will issue the final amendment to the Certificate

of Compliance without further delay. If a petition for review is

received, the decision on the amendment application will become final

in 60 days, unless the Commission grants the petition for review or

otherwise acts within 60 days after publication of this Federal

Register Notice.

A petition for review must be filed with the Secretary of the

Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-

0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, or may be

delivered to the Commission's Public Document Room, the Gelman

Building, 2120 L Street, NW, Washington, DC, by the above date.

For further details with respect to the action see: (1) the

application for amendment and (2) the Commission's Compliance

Evaluation Report. These items are available for public inspection at

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

Street, NW, Washington, DC, and at the Local Public Document Room.

Date of amendment request: February 27, 1998.

Brief description of amendment: The United States Enrichment

Corporation (USEC) submitted a certificate amendment request for PORTS

to add four facilities including the conversion shop and cleaning

building (X-700), the maintenance and stores building (X-720), the

chemical and engineering building (X-760) and the storage warehouse

(XT-847) to Technical Safety Requirement (TSR) Section 2.8 entitled

``Specific TSRs for X-710 Laboratory,'' and to delete the associated

operational mode descriptions in TSR Section 2.8.1.

An NRC Inspector Followup Item, 70-7002/97-206-10B, which was

identified in an NRC nuclear criticality safety inspection report for

PORTS dated September 29, 1997, noted that no specific Criticality

Accident Alarm System (CAAS) TSR existed for the X-700, X-720, X-760

and XT-847 facilities even though fissile material operations (FMOs)

involving greater than 700 grams of U235 at an enrichment equal to or

greater than 1.0% U235 could be conducted in those facilities, and CAAS

coverage was being provided. As such, USEC has proposed to apply the

existing NRC-approved CAAS TSRs for X-710 in TSR Section 2.8, to X-700,

X-720, X-760 and XT-847. In addition, USEC has proposed to delete the

three operational modes described in TSR Section 2.8.1, namely (1)

``General Analytical--analyses of production, ES&H, waste management,

technical support, maintenance/fabrication activities,'' (2) ``Uranium

Sampling--subsampling uranium hexafluoride,'' and (3) ``Polybottle

Operations--movement of polybottles to and from labs and storage

areas,'' since there are no specific operational modes associated with

the TSRs for X-700, X-710, X-720, X-760 and XT-847.

Basis for finding of no significance:

1. The proposed amendment will not result in a change in the types

or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may be

released offsite.

This amendment (1) adds the X-700, X-720, X-760 and XT-847

facilities to TSR Section 2.8 entitled ``Specific TSRs for X-710

Laboratory,'' since similar FMOs are conducted in these facilities and

(2) deletes the associated operational modes listed in TSR 2.8.1. This

amendment would enhance safety by adding more rigor to CAAS operability

in terms of maintenance, calibration, testing, etc., in the four

additional facilities. In addition, deleting the current operational

modes in TSR 2.8.1, which do not apply to TSR 2.8.3.1 (CAAS TSR) since

the CAAS is required to be operable at all times when more than 700

grams of U235 at an enrichment equal to or greater than 1.0% U235 is

present in the facility, will have no significant safety impact. As

such, this amendment will not result in a significant change in the

types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may

be released offsite.

2. The proposed amendment will not result in a significant increase

in individual or cumulative occupational radiation exposure.

For the reasons provided in the assessment of criterion 1, the

proposed amendment will not result in a significant increase in

individual or cumulative occupational radiation exposures.

3. The proposed amendment will not result in a significant

construction impact.

The proposed amendment does not involve any construction,

therefore, there will be no construction impacts.

4. The proposed amendment will not result in a significant increase

in the potential for, or radiological or chemical consequences from,

previously analyzed accidents.

For the reasons provided in the assessment of criterion 1, the

proposed amendment will not result in a significant increase in the

potential for, or radiological or chemical consequences from,

previously analyzed accidents.

5. The proposed amendment will not result in the possibility of a

new or different kind of accident.

For the reasons provided in the assessment of criterion 1, the

proposed amendment will not result in new or different kinds of

accidents.

6. The proposed amendment will not result in a significant

reduction in any margin of safety.

For the reasons provided in the assessment of criterion 1, the

proposed amendment will not result in a significant reduction in any

margin of safety.

7. The proposed amendment will not result in an overall decrease in

the effectiveness of the plant's safety, safeguards, or security

programs.

For the reasons provided in the assessment of criterion 1, the

proposed amendment will not result in an overall decrease in the

effectiveness of the plant's safety program.

The staff has not identified any safeguards or security related

implications from the proposed amendment. Therefore, the proposed

amendment will not result in an overall decrease in the effectiveness

of the plant's safeguards or security programs.

Effective date: The amendment to GDP-2 will become effective sixty

(60) days after issuance by NRC.

Certificate of Compliance No. GDP-2: Amendment will revise PORTS

TSR Section 2.8.

Local Public Document Room location: Portsmouth Public Library,

1220 Gallia Street, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of April 1998.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Carl J. Paperiello,

Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 98-10327 Filed 4-17-98; 8:45 am]

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