E5-7297. Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Department of the Army's Transonic Range Facility in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Elizabeth Ullrich, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone [phone], fax [phone]; or by e-mail: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuing a license amendment to the Department of the Army, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, for Materials License No. SMB-141, to authorize release of its Transonic Range in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR Part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate.

II. EA Summary

The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize the release of the licensee's Transonic Range located on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, for unrestricted use. Department of the Army was authorized by AEC/NRC from April 12, 1961, to use radioactive materials for munitions testing and research and development purposes at the site. On January 13, 2005, the Department of the Army requested that NRC release the site for unrestricted use. The Department of the Army has conducted surveys of the site and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20 for unrestricted use.

The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license amendment. The site was remediated and surveyed prior to the licensee requesting the license amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed the information and final status survey submitted by the Department of the Army. Based on its review, the staff has determined that there are no additional remediation activities necessary to complete the proposed action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the site and concluded that since the residual radioactivity meets the requirements in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20, a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the license amendment to release the Transonic Range for unrestricted use. The NRC staff has evaluated the Department of the Army's request and the results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action complies with the criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20. The staff has found that the radiological environmental impacts from the action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3, “Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities” (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). Additionally, no non-radiological or cumulative impacts were identified. On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the action are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the action.

IV. Further Information

Documents related to this action, including the application for the license amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this Notice are: “Environmental Assessment Related to Issuance of a License Amendment of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Materials License No. SMB-141, Department of the Army, Aberdeen, Maryland” [ML053410278], “Remediation and Final Status Survey, Transonic Range Depleted Uranium Study Area—Structures” [ML050280349 and ML050280354], and “Radiological Final Status Survey, Transonic Range-Land Areas, Depleted Uranium Study Area” [ML050280341]. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at [phone] or [phone], or by e-mail to [e-mail].

Documents related to operations conducted under this license not specifically referenced in this Notice may not be electronically available and/or may not be publicly available. Persons who have an interest in reviewing these documents should submit a request to NRC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Instructions for submitting a FOIA request can be found on the NRC's web site at http://www.nrc.gov/​reading-rm/​foia/​foia-privacy.html.

Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 7th day of December, 2005.

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

James P. Dwyer,

Chief, Commercial and R&D Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.