Notice of Amendment to Certificate of Compliance GDP-1 for the U.S. Enrichment Corporation (Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant) Piketon, Ohio

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket 70-7002]

Notice of Amendment to Certificate of Compliance GDP-1 for the

U.S. Enrichment Corporation (Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant)

Piketon, Ohio

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 shown below.

The 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(c)(19). 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 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: October 14, 1998.

Brief description of amendment: The amendment involves extension of

the PORTS Compliance Plan completion date related to the removal of

residual quantities of highly enriched uranium (HEU) (uranium enriched

to 10 percent by weight U-235 or more) from cylinders and the cleaning

of the emptied HEU cylinders from December 31, 1998, to March 31, 2000.

The amendment also involves extension of the PORTS Compliance Plan

completion date, for transition of regulatory oversight responsibility

from the Department of Energy (DOE) to the NRC, for the section of the

X-705 decontamination building where HEU cylinder cleaning operations

are ongoing, from January 31, 1999, to April 30, 2000. All Compliance

Plan completion date changes require prior DOE approval. As such, USEC

requested DOE approval for the above-mentioned date changes on

September 25, 1998. On October 13, 1998, DOE approved the revision.

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.

The proposed amendment, which involves extensions of the PORTS

Compliance Plan completion dates, does not involve any need for

cleaning of additional HEU cylinders and therefore would not increase

the amounts of any effluents that may be released offsite or result in

any impact to the environment.

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

in individual or cumulative occupational radiation exposure.

The proposed amendment does not involve any need for cleaning of

additional HEU cylinders. Therefore, it will not significantly increase

individual or cumulative occupational radiation exposure.

[[Page 67942]]

3. The proposed amendment will not result in a significant

construction impact.

The proposed change will not result in any construction, nor will

this change effect any planned or existing construction project,

therefore, there will be no construction impact.

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

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

previously analyzed accidents.

The proposed amendment does not involve any need for cleaning of

additional HEU cylinders and 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.

The proposed amendment only involves extensions of the PORTS

Compliance Plan completion dates. Therefore, this change will not

result in the possibility of a new or different kind of accident.

6. The proposed amendment will not result in a significant

reduction in any margin of safety.

The proposed amendment only involves extensions of the PORTS

Compliance Plan completion dates. Therefore, the proposed change does

not represent a 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.

Currently, at PORTS, the X-705 West Annex is the only area leased

by USEC from DOE which has not been certified by the NRC. Based on the

agreement signed between DOE and USEC on October 11, 1995, the

Regulatory Oversight Agreement between DOE and USEC is required to

apply to all areas leased by USEC from DOE but not certified by the

NRC. As such, operations in the X-705 West Annex will continue to be

conducted under regulation of the ROA until the HEU cylinder cleaning

operations have been completed and the X-705 West Annex is certified by

the NRC. While the ROA is in effect, DOE staff has informed the NRC

staff, that they will maintain regulatory staff in Oak Ridge,

Tennessee, and a resident inspector at PORTS, to ensure that HEU

cylinder cleaning is conducted in a safe and secure manner. In

addition, the NRC staff has also reviewed the controls in place in the

X-705 West Annex, which are relied upon by USEC to prevent it from

exceeding the NRC-possession limits by accidentally transferring

significant quantities of HEU from the X-705 West Annex to NRC-

certified areas. The NRC staff has determined these controls, as well

as DOE's regulatory oversight of the X-705 West Annex operations, to be

sufficient for preventing USEC from exceeding its possession limits in

NRC-certified areas at PORTS. Therefore, the Compliance Plan date

extensions will not result in undue risk to the public health and

safety, common defense and security, or the environment.

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

issuance by NRC.

Certificate of Compliance No. GDP-2: This amendment will revise

Issue A.4 of the PORTS Compliance Plan.

Local Public Document Room location: Portsmouth Public Library,

1220 Gallia Street, Portsmouth, Ohio 45662

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2d day of December, 1998.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Carl J. Paperiello,

Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

[FR Doc. 98-32637 Filed 12-8-98; 8:45 am]

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