98-22190. Notice of License Termination of the Cintichem, Inc. New York Facility  

  • [Federal Register Volume 63, Number 159 (Tuesday, August 18, 1998)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 44293-44294]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 98-22190]
    
    
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    NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
    
    
    Notice of License Termination of the Cintichem, Inc. New York 
    Facility
    
        This notice is to inform the public that the U. S. Nuclear 
    Regulatory Commission (NRC) is terminating Special Nuclear Materials 
    License SNM-639 issued to Cintichem, Inc. for its Tuxedo, New York 
    facility. NRC staff has completed its review of the information 
    submitted by Cintichem, Inc., to support the decommissioning of its 
    Tuxedo, New York facility including: Cintichem's Final Radiological 
    Surveys and Dose Assessments, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and 
    Education's Confirmatory Survey for the facility, the results of NRC 
    inspections, and radiological evaluations by the New York State 
    Department of Environmental Conservation. Based on this review, NRC 
    staff has concluded that decommissioning actions at the Cintichem 
    facility are complete and Cintichem's Tuxedo, New York facility meets 
    the unrestricted release criteria prescribed in Cintichem's radioactive 
    materials license.
        Based on these conclusions, no further remediation or actions with 
    respect to NRC regulated material is required. NRC does not plan to 
    take any further actions regarding this site and will not require any 
    additional decontamination in response to future NRC criteria or 
    standards, unless additional contamination is found, indicating a 
    significant threat to public health.
    
    Background
    
        Cintichem used radioactive materials at its Tuxedo, New York 
    facility from 1961 through 1990 in the production of radioisotopes and 
    services for a variety of research, production, medical, and 
    educational institutions and groups. Cintichem currently holds two 
    licenses issued by the NRC, SNM-639 issued pursuant to 10 CFR Part 70 
    for operations involving special nuclear material and R-81, which was 
    issued by the NRC pursuant to 10 CFR Part 50 for the operation of a 5-
    megawatt (thermal) test reactor. In addition to the licenses issued by 
    the NRC, Cintichem held a byproduct materials license issued by the 
    State of New York, an NRC Agreement State.
        Six principal buildings were located at the facility including a 
    reactor building, a hot laboratory building, a maintenance/engineering 
    building, an administration building, a heating plant and a low-level 
    waste storage building. On February 9, 1990, Cintichem reported the 
    identification of an unmonitored release of radioactively contaminated 
    water from the reactor building to an on-site retention pond. It was 
    determined that this release resulted from the failure of a concrete 
    wall in a water-filled pool that was used for the temporary storage of 
    radioactive materials. Cintichem voluntarily ceased operations on 
    February 9, 1990. On February 12, 1990, Cintichem informed NRC that 
    another concrete vessel on site also had apparently developed a leak. 
    On February 13, 1990, NRC issued an order requiring that the Cintichem 
    facility remain shutdown until existing leaks at the facility were 
    identified and repaired. On May 31, 1990, Cintichem informed the NRC 
    that it had decided to decommission the reactor and radiochemical 
    processing facilities and was preparing a decommissioning plan.
        On April 17, 1991, NRC received a request from Cintichem to amend 
    SNM-639 to decommission the facilities and areas associated with the 
    activities authorized under this license. On May 22, 1991, NRC noticed 
    in the Federal Register (56 FR 23601, May 22, 1991) that it was 
    considering amending Cintichem's license and offered the public the 
    opportunity to request a hearing pursuant to 10 CFR Part 2. NRC did not 
    receive any requests for a hearing pursuant to the Federal Register 
    notice.
        On January 16, 1992, NRC amended SNM-639 to authorize 
    decommissioning and required Cintichem to develop residual soil 
    contamination criteria for use as unrestricted release criteria for the 
    facility. These criteria were submitted on October 22, 1992, and 
    approved on August 26, 1993. On February 1, 1994, Cintichem requested 
    approval of residual contamination criteria for five additional 
    radionuclides that were not included in the original submittal. NRC 
    approved the criteria for the five additional radionuclides on October 
    17, 1994. Unrestricted release criteria for surfaces are described in 
    NRC Regulatory Guide 1.86. These criteria were modified in October 1994 
    to increase the limits for tritium (H-3) and iron-55 (Fe-55) in 
    accordance with NRC guidance. Cintichem was also required to 
    demonstrate that the dose to a critical member of the public from all 
    residual radioactive material on site did not exceed a few millirem per 
    year. In addition, the dose via the water pathway alone could not 
    exceed 4 millirem per year in conformance with EPA's Clean Water Act 
    requirements.
        Since deciding to permanently cease operations, Cintichem has been 
    decommissioning its facility under its existing license and the 
    approved decommissioning plan for the facility. As Cintichem completed 
    decommissioning portions of the facility, Cintichem performed final 
    radiological surveys to demonstrate that the facility met the criteria 
    for unrestricted use. In order to ensure that remediated areas were not 
    re-contaminated, Cintichem instituted controls to prevent 
    recontamination of the surveyed areas. Due to the large geographical 
    size of the site and the considerable number of radiation survey data 
    points recorded, the Final Radiation Surveys were divided into five 
    sequential phases. For each phase, Cintichem conducted radiation 
    surveys using techniques recommended in NUREG/CR-5849 ``Manual for 
    Conducting Radiological Surveys in Support of License Termination'' to 
    show that unconditional release criteria were satisfied. The Final 
    Radiation Survey data was reviewed by NRC, and the Oak Ridge Institute 
    for Science and Education (ORISE). After all questions or comments were 
    resolved, confirmatory surveys were conducted to verify Cintichem's 
    Final Radiation Survey results. Results of Cintichem's surveys and the 
    ORISE confirmatory surveys demonstrate that the facility meets the 
    criteria for unrestricted use prescribed in the approved 
    decommissioning plan for the site. On May 27, 1998, Cintichem affirmed 
    that all radioactive material had been removed from site. This was 
    confirmed by inspection of the site by NRC and the State of New York on 
    June 15, 1998.
        NRC staff has concluded that decommissioning actions at the 
    Cintichem facility are complete and Cintichem's Tuxedo, New York 
    facility meets the unrestricted release criteria prescribed in 
    Cintichem's radioactive materials license. NRC does not plan to take 
    any further actions regarding this site and will not require any 
    additional decontamination in response to future NRC criteria or 
    standards, unless additional contamination is found, indicating a 
    significant threat to public health.
        For further details with respect to this action, documents are 
    available for inspection at NRC's Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, 
    NW., Washington, DC 20555-0001.
    
    
    [[Page 44294]]
    
    
        Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 11th day of August 1998.
    
        For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
    John W. N. Hickey,
    Chief, Low-Level Waste and Decommissioning Projects Branch, Division of 
    Waste Management, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.
    [FR Doc. 98-22190 Filed 8-17-98; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
    
    
    

Document Information

Published:
08/18/1998
Department:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Entry Type:
Notice
Document Number:
98-22190
Pages:
44293-44294 (2 pages)
PDF File:
98-22190.pdf