Consideration of License Renewal Request for Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. 70-143]

Consideration of License Renewal Request for Nuclear Fuel

Services, Inc.

AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Finding of no significant impact for the renewal of license for

Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. Facility in Erwin, Tennessee.

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

of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-124 to authorize processing of

highly enriched uranium (HEU) into a classified fuel product for the

U.S. Naval Reactor Program, processing of HEU scrap to recover uranium,

and various decommissioning activities at the Nuclear Fuel Services,

Inc. (NFS) facility located in Erwin, Tennessee.

Summary of the Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

The proposed action is to renew License No. SNM-124, so as to

continue operations and to perform certain decommissioning activities

at the NFS Erwin Plant. The principal operations expected during the

renewal period include the processing of HEU into a classified fuel

product and processing HEU scrap to recover uranium, as well as support

operations. The principal decommissioning activities expected during

the renewal period include excavation, sampling, segregation,

packaging, and offsite disposal of radioactive materials from two

burial areas, the North Site Radiological Burial Ground and the

Southwest Burial Trenches.

Impacts from final decommissioning of the North Site to meet

unrestricted release criteria are also included in the Environmental

Assessment (EA). The North Site refers to all NFS property north of the

manufacturing facilities and covers approximately 10 hectares (24

acres). However, NRC approval of these activities will be considered as

a separate licensing action.

In addition to the Proposed Alternative, a No-action Alternative

was also assessed. Under this alternative, HEU production and scrap

recovery operations would not be authorized. Instead, the license for

the NFS plant would be renewed to only allow ongoing decommissioning

activities. Eventually NFS would be required to initiate final

decommissioning of the entire site. These decommissioning operations

would be conducted in accordance with an approved decommissioning plan

prepared by NFS after a thorough site survey. The NRC would assess the

environmental impacts of site-wide decommissioning activities during

review of this plan.

Need for the Proposed Action

The NFS Erwin Plant provides unique fuel material fabrication and

uranium recovery services for the United States. NFS is the sole

fabricator of classified fuel material for the United States Naval

Reactor Program and is also involved in U.S. Department of Energy

uranium recovery projects.

Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action

Normal Operations

Normal operations will involve discharges to the atmosphere and to

surface water. Radionuclides that may be released include isotopes of

the actinide elements uranium, thorium, plutonium, and americium and

lesser amounts of fission products, including technicium. Sources of

releases to the atmosphere are the main plant stack, secondary stacks

in process buildings, and fugitive dust emissions from decommissioning/

remediation activities. Sources of releases to surface water include

the waste water treatment system, the secondary cooling system, and the

sanitary sewer system.

A dose assessment was performed to estimate the impact from

radiological releases to the air. Atmospheric release exposure pathways

included inhalation, ingestion of contaminated crops and resuspended

dirt, and external exposure to the airborne plume and contaminated

ground. For these atmospheric releases, the largest tissue dose is to

the lung from inhalation of 234U, with minor contribution

from the crop ingestion and external-exposure pathways. For the

maximally exposed individual, the committed effective dose equivalent

(CEDE) for combined releases from production operations and

decommissioning/remediation activities was estimated as

2.7 x 10-5 Sv/yr (2.7 mrem/yr). Doses from remediation

activities are about an order of magnitude less than doses from

production activities.

A dose assessment was also performed to estimate the impact from

radiological releases to surface water. Liquid effluents are released

directly or indirectly into the Nolichucky River. Small creeks

receiving portions of the liquid discharge, Banner Spring Branch and

Martin Creek, are not used as a drinking water supply for area

residents. The analysis assumes that an individual along the Nolichucky

River and the surrounding population out to a distance of 80 kilometers

(50 miles) use this potentially contaminated water. Liquid-release

exposure pathways included ingestion of drinking water, fish, and

irrigated crops and external exposure during recreational activities.

The largest tissue doses are to the bone surface from ingestion of

thorium-232, and external doses are a factor of 2500 smaller than

internal doses. Fish, crop, and drinking-water consumption account for

49, 37, and 14 percent of the dose, respectively. The CEDE for the

maximally exposed individual was estimated as 9.7 x 10-7 Sv/

yr (0.10 mrem/yr).

Under the proposed action, about 2874 shipments of contaminated

soil would be transported offsite to the Envirocare disposal facility

in Utah. The reference value used for estimating radiological exposure

to the public from transporting contaminated soil from a

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uranium fuel fabrication plant is 8.00 x 10-6 person-rem per

shipment. Multiplying this dose rate by the number of waste shipments

yields 23 person-mrem. Thus, a small fraction of one person-rem would

be received by the public from transporting waste offsite.

NRC regulations in 10 CFR 20.1301(a)(1) require that the total

effective dose equivalent (TEDE) for members of the public not exceed

1.0 x 10-3 Sv (100 mrem) per year. In addition, 10 CFR

20.1101(d) requires licensees to implement a constraint on atmospheric

releases other than radon such that an individual member of the public

will not be expected to receive a dose in excess of 1 x 10-4

Sv (10 mrem)/yr from these releases. Although not applicable to the NFS

Erwin Plant because it does not process uranium for the production of

electric power, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations

(40 CFR 190) require that for routine releases, the annual dose

equivalent for all pathways not exceed 2.5 x 10-4 Sv (25

mrem) to the whole body, 7.5 x 10-4 Sv (75 mrem) to the

thyroid, and 2.5 x 10-4 Sv (25 mrem) to any other organ.

Doses related to NFS Erwin Plant operations are dominated by releases

to the atmosphere. For the maximally exposed individual, the annual

TEDE was estimated as 2.7 x 10-5 Sv (2.7 mrem), well within

the limits established by NRC and EPA. The largest annual tissue dose

was estimated as 2.1 x 10-4 Sv (21 mrem) to the lung.

Although this tissue dose approaches the 40 CFR 190 limit, it is based

on conservative estimates of atmospheric dispersion and of releases

from process vents to bound all possible activities. The actual impacts

are expected to be less than these estimates. The estimated dose from

all other releases are small fractions of applicable limits.

The impact analysis considers individuals living near the plant and

the surrounding population out to a distance of 80 kilometers (50

miles). The total population dose (about 0.4 per-Sv/yr) is a small

addition to a background dose for the affected population of 950,000,

which is approximately 1000 per-Sv/yr.

Impacts from releases of non-radiological contaminants to air,

surface water, and groundwater were also assessed. Air quality is

protected by enforcing emission limits and the maintenance of pollution

control equipment, as required under several operating permits issued

by the Tennessee Air Pollution Control Board, Department of Environment

and Conservation. The primary nonradiological emissions are expected to

include volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen

oxides. Normal emissions of gaseous effluents from process stacks are

not expected to have a significant impact on offsite nonradiological

air quality, because the estimated concentrations at the nearest site

boundary are two to three orders of magnitude less than the most

stringent State of Tennessee primary air-quality standards. The

emission rate reported for hydrogen fluoride (HF) is estimated to

result in a concentration that is at least 50 to 60 percent less than

the most stringent State of Tennessee standard.

Several chemical contaminants have been detected in Banner Spring

Branch at levels which exceed site-specific criteria. NFS has proposed

the removal of contaminated soils, sediments, and piping, which are

believed to be the source of the contamination. In addition, NFS will

routinely monitor Banner Spring Branch for cyanide and zinc as

recommended in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Facility

Investigation Report for Areas of Concern #2 (Building 111 boiler

blowdown and backwash water) and #4 (storm sewer system). No

contamination of other surface waters due to plant activities has been

identified.

Surface water quality is expected to be protected from future site

activities by enforcing release limits and monitoring programs, as

required under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

(NPDES) permit. Annual average concentrations of parameters regulated

by the NPDES permit have generally been below discharge limits

established for outfalls 001 and 002 from 1990 to 1996 when either

production operations or decommissioning activities were being

performed. Therefore, these parameters are expected to remain below the

discharge limits during the license renewal period. Furthermore,

discharges are not expected to have significant impact on the surface

water quality in the Nolichucky River because of the dilution volume in

the river.

Previous operation of the plant has resulted in localized chemical

and radiological contamination of groundwater. Groundwater monitoring

conducted by NFS indicates that plumes of uranium, tetrachloroethylene,

trichloroethylene, 1,2-dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride could

migrate offsite in the direction of the Nolichucky River. To address

this contamination, NFS has removed much of the source of the

contamination through extensive remediation projects including

excavation of contaminated areas in the North Site. In addition, NFS is

currently engaged in decommissioning of the Radiological Burial Ground

and has proposed a final decommissioning plan for the entire North Site

to remove more of the source term. NFS is also working with the

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the

Environmental Protection Agency to design remedial strategies and to

investigate the offsite extent of these plumes.

Groundwater modeling conducted by NFS also indicates that

contamination from the NFS site should not have an impact on local

drinking water because contaminant plumes are not expected to intersect

the capture zone for this water. However, NFS will be required by the

NRC to continue routine groundwater monitoring to assess the nature and

extent of groundwater contamination and will be required to conduct

remediation, if necessary, to prevent offsite impacts to human health

and safety.

If the license is renewed to allow both production operations and

decommissioning/ remediation activities, approximately 39,100 cubic

meters (1,380,000 cubic feet) of waste would be shipped offsite to

Envirocare in Utah. Assuming that each waste shipment contains 13.6

cubic meters (480 cubic feet) of waste, 2874 shipments of soil would be

transported to Envirocare. To estimate the number of fatalities from

transporting waste, the fatal accident risk rate was multiplied by the

distance traveled, where the distance traveled is the round trip

between the facility and the disposal site. A fatal accident rate of

3.8 x 10-8 per kilometer (6.1 x 10-8 per mile)

traveled was assumed. Multiplying this fatal accident rate by a round

trip distance of 6560 kilometers (4100 miles) between the NFS plant in

Erwin, Tennessee, and Envirocare in Clive, Utah, and the number of

shipments yields a risk of less than one (0.72) fatality.

No impacts are expected on land use, biotic resources, or cultural

resources. And a small positive socioeconomic impact is expected

through the employment of 350 people at the site.

Accident Conditions

The handling, processing, and storage of material containing

radioactive constituents at the NFS Erwin Plant could result in

uncontrolled release of radioactive material to the environment from

accidents. Therefore, the NRC staff conducted an accident analysis. A

drop of contaminated dirt during remediation activities, failure of a

high efficiency particulate air filter as a consequence of fire, and a

generic criticality event were selected as representative accidents.

The

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TEDE to the maximally exposed individual from accidents involving a

spill of contaminated soil or a facility fire were estimated to be less

than 0.05 mSv (5 mrem), a small fraction of annual background exposure.

The prompt, external, and internal doses due to an inadvertent

criticality were estimated to be 5.0 x 10-3,

1.5 x 10-2, and 2.6 x 10-1 Sv (0.5, 1.5, and

0.026 rem), respectively, for the maximally exposed nearest resident.

Because two independent, concurrent failures must occur before

initiation of a nuclear criticality, the possibility of such an event

occurring is considered by the NRC staff to be extremely low.

Therefore, the overall risk from such an accident is acceptable.

Agencies and Persons Consulted

The State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

(DEC) was contacted concerning renewal of the NFS license. DEC had not

identified any environmental issues associated with renewal and did not

object to renewal.

Conclusion

The NRC has determined that the issuance of the renewal to allow

NFS to process HEU into a classified fuel product, to process HEU scrap

to recover uranium, and to conduct specified decommissioning activities

will not result in significant impact to human health or the

environment.

Finding of No Significant Impact

The Commission has prepared an Environmental Assessment related to

the renewal of Special Nuclear Material License SNM-124. On the basis

of the Assessment, the Commission has concluded that the environmental

impacts associated with 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 Environmental Assessment and the documents related to this

proposed action are available for public inspection and copying at the

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

NW, Washington, DC.

The NRC contact for this licensing action is Thomas Cox. Mr. Cox

may be contacted at (301) 415-8107 or [email protected] for more information.

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th day of January 1999.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Charles W. Emeigh,

Acting Chief, Licensing Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and

Safeguards, NMSS.

[FR Doc. 99-2628 Filed 2-3-99; 8:45 am]

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