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Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: January 16, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 11)]
[Notices]
[Page 2250-2251]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16ja02-111]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Notice of Finding of No Significant Impact
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
has made a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the
potential environmental impact related to the request by Alaron
Corporation to utilize a wet waste processing system to dry high-solids
wet wastes and aqueous liquid wastes in their Wampum, Pennsylvania
facility.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John R. McGrath, Senior Health
Physicist, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia,
Pennsylvania 19406. Telephone 610-337-5069.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Alaron Corporation of Wampum,
Pennsylvania holds a license issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) for performing decontamination of equipment
contaminated with radioactive material. Alaron has requested authority
to add a system for the treatment of wet wastes by installing a system
which includes a concentrate dryer, ultra-filtration, reverse-osmosis,
demineralizers and steam generator on its site in Wampum.
Alaron estimates that approximately 214 curies of radioactive
materials would be processed per year. Environmental radiation safety
concerns include exposure due to airborne releases. To evaluate
airborne releases, the licensee utilized a computer code (COMPLY, an
EPA computer code for calculating the dose to individuals due to
airborne releases) to assess dose from radionuclide emissions. The code
assumed that an activity of 740 millicuries would be released in
effluents to the air and projected a effective dose equivalent of 0.03
millirem/year to an individual at the nearest site boundary.
NRC has reviewed the assumptions used in the above described codes
and concurs with the reported results. The maximum annual dose of 0.03
millirem is well below the regulatory limit of 100 millirem per year.
Copies of the EA and FONSI as well as supporting documentation are
available for review at the NRC offices located at 475 Allendale Road,
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone number (610) 337-5000,
during normal business hours.
John D. Kinneman,
Chief, Nuclear Materials Safety Branch 2, Division of Nuclear Material
Safety, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Region I.
Environmental Assessment of Proposal by Alaron Corporation To
Perform Processing of Wet Wastes Utilizing a Multi-Methodology
Treatment System
1. The Need for the Proposed Action
The Alaron Corporation of Wampum, Pennsylvania holds a license
issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for performing
[[Page 2251]]
decontamination of equipment contaminated with radioactive material.
Alaron uses a variety of techniques to perform the decontamination. In
a letter dated May 31, 2001, Alaron requested an amendment to their
license to authorize a wet waste processing system to dry high-solids
wet wastes and aqueous liquid wastes in their Wampum facility. The
system will be supplied by NUKEM Nuclear Technologies and includes a
concentrate dryer, ultra-filtration units, reverse-osmosis units,
demineralizers, steam generator and holding tanks. The purpose of this
Environmental Assessment is to determine whether or not the proposed
action could contribute to significant impacts on the human
environment.
2. Alternatives to the Proposed Action
The only credible alternative is to not allow Alaron to install and
use the treatment system. Relocation of the unit to another part of the
site would not alter the environmental impact of the operation of the
unit. To allow the use of some components of the system and not others
could actually result in an increase in the amount of activity released
to the environment.
3. The Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action
Alaron is located on a 24 acre site in the Point Industrial Park,
Wampum, Pennsylvania. Building F1 is a 67,800 ft2 steel
frame and steel wall building with a flat synthetic membrane type roof.
The proposed wet waste processing system would be located inside a
curbed area at the east end of the F1 Annex. The F1 Annex is located on
the east side of the F1 Building and is a steel frame, steel walled
building 32 feet wide and 88 feet long. The curbed area in the F1 Annex
is capable of holding all of the contaminated liquid in the wet waste
system. The NUKEM system consists of a number of water treatment
components, including a concentrate dryer (CD), an ultra-filtration
(UF) unit, a reverse osmosis (RO) unit, two demineralizers, and a steam
generator. Wet waste will arrive by truck and will be transferred to
one of two 1400 gallon sludge tanks inside the curbed area of the F1
Annex using a pneumatic pump through a double containment transfer
hose.
Alaron's License No. 37-20826-01 was last renewed in its entirety
on December 3, 1998. As part of that renewal, NRC issued an
Environmental Assessment (NUREG/CR-5549) and published a Finding of No
Significant Impact in the Federal Register on December 2, 1998. The
Environmental Assessment found that no atmospheric emissions containing
radioactive contaminants were expected to be released from the
operation as then licensed. This was based on the fact that potentially
contaminated air within work areas is cycled through HEPA filters and
exhausted back into the building. Alaron recognized, though, that
fugitive emissions, through doors, vents, etc. exist and a conservative
estimate of an annual dose to the nearest residence was calculated to
be 0.26 millirem. 10 CFR 20.1301 requires that each licensee conduct
operations so that the total effective dose equivalent to individual
members of the public from the licensed operation does not exceed 0.1
rem (100 millirem) in a year.
The installation of this waste treatment system would add an
airborne release point at the Alaron facility. Steam from the steam
generator will be vented through an exhaust stack on the roof of the F1
Building. Most of the radioactivity in the wet waste to be processed
will be removed by the various treatment methods in the system and will
be disposed of as solid waste. After being cleaned by passing through
the system, the cleaned or polished water feeds the steam generator.
Steam from the steam generator is exhausted through the stack.
Alaron estimates that the wet waste processing system will process
liquid, sludge and/or resin waste whose isotopic distribution is
typical of waste currently being disposed from nuclear power
facilities. Based on the estimated waste throughput, approximately 214
curies of radioactive material will be processed per year. Assuming
that all of the H-3 activity will become airborne, that the polished
water feed to the steam generator contains other isotopes at 10 CFR
Part 20 effluent limits, and that all of the radioactivity in the feed
is released, the total activity emitted per year would be about 740
millicuries. The licensee performed dose calculations using the
computer code COMPLY (an EPA computer code for calculating the dose to
individuals due to airborne releases) which projects an effective dose
equivalent of 0.03 millirem/year to an individual at the nearest site
boundary as a result of the estimated release. NRC has performed a dose
assessment of the proposal and agrees with the basic assumptions and
results of the licensee's analysis.
With regard to direct radiation exposure, the licensee plans to
conduct cleaning and back flush evolutions that will assure that
accumulation of radioactive material on filter media will not result in
high radiation levels around the unit. In addition, there will be
shielding in place to avoid creation of high radiation levels. The
maximum radiation levels is expected to be 50 millirem per hour one
foot from the Concentrate Dryer, i.e. within the restricted area.
Radiation levels at the closest unrestricted area, including the
contribution from existing operations, will be about 10 microrem per
hour.
4. Conclusion
In view of the fact that the additional dose of 0.03 millirem/year
to an individual at the nearest site boundary as a result of the
proposed amendment is a small fraction of the dose attributed to
fugitive emissions to an individual at the nearest residence as a
result of existing operations, the staff concludes that the proposed
action will have a negligible impact on the environment.
[FR Doc. 02-1090 Filed 1-15-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P