[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 101 (Tuesday, May 27, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28740-28741]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-13778]
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Save Wills Creek Water Resources Committee Receipt of Petition
and Issuance of a Director's Decision Under 10 CFR 2.206
Notice is hereby given that by Petition dated July 22, 1996,
Sherwood Bauman, on behalf of the Save Wills Creek Water Resources
Committee, requested that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(Commission) take action with regard to Shieldalloy Metallurgical
Corporation and Foote Mineral Company (now Cyprus Foote Mineral
Company). Specifically, the Petitioner requested NRC to take the
following actions:
(1) NRC should reinstate Foote Mineral's original license so
that Shieldalloy and Cyprus Foote become co-responsible licensees
concerning the proper remediation and decommissioning of the
Shieldalloy site;
(2) Any and all parties involved in any wrongdoing, as alleged
in the Petitioner's letter, should be terminated from employment,
and where appropriate, criminal charges pursued;
(3) NRC should terminate the development of the environmental
impact statement (EIS) for the Shieldalloy site;
(4) In place of the EIS, Shieldalloy and Cyprus Foote should be
jointly ordered to submit a decommissioning plan for licensed
material that includes only a plan to remediate licensed material,
including grading and evaluation of all various assorted options.
One option considered should be offsite disposal at a licensed
disposal facility; and
(5) The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) and Ohio
Department of Health should evaluate all unlicensed slag found at
the Shieldalloy site.
As a basis for the request, the Petitioner asserts that there has
been collusion among agencies and responsible parties to remediate
offsite slag, that NRC failed to properly police Foote Mineral for a
period of 12 years, and that NRC then allowed Foote Mineral to retire
its license without investigating the licensee's claims that no
licensable materials remained onsite. The Petitioner also asserts that
NRC illegally allowed Foote Mineral to return slag to a site owned by
Shieldalloy, in the process conspiring with State of Ohio agencies.
The Petitioner further argues that Shieldalloy has a
decommissioning plan that would wrongfully mix licensed and unlicensed
waste. In support of this claim, he states his belief that the material
at the Shieldalloy site is made up of 150,000 tons of licensed material
and 350,000 tons of nonlicensed material. The Petitioner believes that
Shieldalloy's decommissioning plan illegally combined both licensed and
[[Page 28741]]
unlicensed materials, thus greatly reducing the real risk factors from
exposure to licensed material and wrongfully enhancing the company's
own preferred plan for in-situ disposal, which would require the NRC to
waive enforcement rules and regulations. The Petitioner also alleges an
NRC-Ohio conspiracy to allow in-situ disposal to proceed.
The NRC response to the Petitioner's requests have been evaluated
by the Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and
Safeguards. After review of the Petition, the Director has denied the
Petitioner's requests.
The Director's Decision concluded that no health and safety issues
have been raised regarding Shieldalloy or Cyprus Foote that would
require the actions requested by the Petitioner. The Petitioner has not
provided any information in support of his requests of which the NRC
was not already aware. The complete ``Director's Decision under 10
C.F.R. 2.206'' (DD-97-12) is available for public inspection in the
Commission's Public Document Room located at 2120 L Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20555. The Director's Decision is also available on
the NRC Electronic Bulletin Board at 1-(800)-952-9676.
A copy of this Decision will be filed with the Secretary for the
Commission's review, in accordance with 10 CFR 2.206. As provided by
this regulation, the Decision will constitute the final action of the
Commission 25 days after the date of issuance of the Decision unless
the Commission on its own motion institutes a review of the Decision
within that time.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 14th day of May 1997.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Malcolm R. Knapp,
Deputy Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 97-13778 Filed 5-23-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
