[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 134 (Thursday, July 11, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36585-36586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17652]
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[[Page 36586]]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. 40-6354]
Notice of NRC Consideration of Removing the Aberdeen Proving
Ground, Maryland, Site From the Site Decommissioning Management Plan
SUMMARY: This notice informs the public that the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission is considering the removal of the U.S. Department
of the Army, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, site from the list of
contaminated sites contained in NRC's Site Decommissioning Management
Plan (SDMP). The NRC intends to remove the site from the SDMP list if
it determines that the environmental impact of the continued use of
munitions containing depleted uranium (DU) at this location is small
and acceptable.
DATES: The NRC hereby provides notice of an opportunity to comment on
the proposed NRC action. Comments must be submitted by no later than
August 12, 1996. Comments received after this date will be considered
if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to assure
consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to USNRC, Region I, Attn:
Anthony Dimitriadis, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
19406. Hand deliver comments to 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA
19406 between 7:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Dimitriadis, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety, USNRC, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of
Prussia, PA 19406, Telephone: (610) 337-6953.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of the Army site at Aberdeen
Proving Ground, Maryland, was identified in 1990 by the NRC as a site
where significant residual radioactive contamination was present as a
result of licensed operations. The Army has tested munitions containing
depleted uranium (DU) at the Aberdeen Proving Ground since the 1950's
under a license issued under the Atomic Energy Act. DU munitions have
been test-fired on an outdoor testing range and have become commingled
with unexploded ordnance. Environmental monitoring performed by the
Army identified measurable amounts of uranium in some samples, but the
existing information was not sufficient to determine if this uranium
was naturally occurring or the result of the licensed activities.
The NRC included the Aberdeen site on the list of contaminated
sites in the Site Decommissioning Management Plan (SDMP) in 1990
because it satisfied the criterion of large amounts of contaminated
soil that may be difficult to decommission. Since the site was included
in the SDMP, NRC has reviewed further the licensee's contention that
the uranium contamination is environmentally of low consequence and the
licensee's request to continue testing DU munitions at the site. The
Department of the Army submitted a study of the long term fate of DU at
the Aberdeen site, which was performed by Los Alamos National
Laboratory. The study evaluated the current distribution of DU in
environmental media (e.g., soil, surface water, groundwater,
vegetation) at the Aberdeen site and assesses environmental transport
of DU that may result in exposures to humans and wildlife. The study
concludes that radiological doses to the environment due to current and
projected DU testing at Aberdeen are minimal and acceptably low.
On June 26, 1996, the Department of the Army requested by letter
that NRC remove the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland site from the
SDMP. The request before the NRC at this time is to authorize continued
use of DU at the Aberdeen site based on existing information that shows
minimal environmental impact from the Army's DU testing program. Since
1990, the NRC staff has reviewed and approved various actions proposed
by the Army including ``recovery operations'' for all future testing of
DU munitions, an Environmental Radiation Monitoring Plan, and the Los
Alamos National Laboratory Long Term Fate Study.
The SDMP describes four criteria that make a site eligible for
removal from the SDMP list, including (1) termination of a license
after successful remediation, (2) completion of remediation of an area
and modification of an active license to reflect the remediation, (3)
completion of remediation at an unlicensed site, or (4) transferral of
regulatory jurisdiction for remediation. Aberdeen does not qualify for
removal from the SDMP list under any of these criteria. However, the
NRC staff has concluded that the Army has established acceptable
procedures for controlling and monitoring the DU testing and that
unacceptable environmental impacts are not occurring at the Aberdeen
site. In addition, the Army has stated its intent to pay for
decommissioning of the firing range and other facilities at Aberdeen in
the event that the license is terminated at some point in the future.
With these controls in place, little benefit would be gained by
continuing to include the Aberdeen site in the SDMP. Consequently, the
NRC staff is considering whether the Aberdeen site should be removed
from the SDMP.
For further details with respect to this action, documents are
available for inspection at the NRC's Region I offices located at 475
Allendale Road, King of Prussia, PA 19406. Persons desiring to review
documents at the Region I Office, should call Ms. Cheryl Buracker at
(610) 337-5093 several days in advance to assure that the documents
will be readily available for review.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 5th day of July, 1996.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Michael F. Weber,
Chief, Low-Level Waste and Decommissioning Projects Branch Division of
Waste Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
[FR Doc. 96-17652 Filed 7-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
