Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech Research Reactor; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37817-37819]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17747]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

[DOCKET NO. 50-160]


Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech Research Reactor; 
Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is 
considering the issuance of a license amendment to Facility Operating 
License No. R-97, issued to the Georgia Institute of Technology (the 
licensee) that would allow decommissioning of the Georgia Tech Research 
Reactor (GTRR) located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Environmental Assessment

Identification of the Proposed Action

    The GTRR is on the 330-acre campus of the Georgia Institute of 
Technology. The campus is just north of the center of downtown Atlanta 
in a residential and commercial area. The GTRR is in a containment 
building at the Neely Nuclear Research Center. The Neely Nuclear 
Research Center also has a high bay area, and a laboratory and office 
building.
    The high bay area contains a hot cell facility, radio-chemistry 
laboratory, decontamination room and storage facility. The three-story 
laboratory and office building adjoins the containment building. The 
GTRR is designed for isolation from the rest of the Neely Nuclear 
Research Facility.
    The heavy water moderated, cooled and reflected GTRR was licensed 
and first operated in 1964. The 5-megawatt thermal reactor was shut 
down on November 17, 1995. This shutdown was in preparation to remove 
the high-enriched uranium fuel. All fuel was removed by the end of 
February 1996, to allow conversion to low-enriched uranium fuel. Also, 
the reactor was defueled during the Olympic Games which were held in 
Atlanta, in the summer of 1996. Since that time no new GTRR fuel has 
been received. By letter dated July 1, 1997, the Georgia Institute of 
Technology informed the NRC that the GTRR would be permanently shut 
down. The licensee applied for a possession only status on August 7, 
1997. By License Amendment No. 12 on April 2, 1998, the NRC removed the 
authority to operate and authorized possession of the residual 
radioactive materials.
    The licensee submitted a decommissioning plan in accordance with 10 
CFR 50.82(b) on July 1, 1998, as supplemented on February 8, 1999. 
Decommissioning, as described in the

[[Page 37818]]

plan, will consist of transferring licensed radioactive equipment and 
material from the site, and decontamination of the facility to meet 
unrestricted release criteria (this is called the DECON option). After 
the Commission verifies that the release criteria have been met, the 
reactor license will be terminated.
    A ``Notice and Solicitation of Comments Pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1405 
and 10 CFR 50.82(b)(5) Concerning Proposed Action to Decommission 
Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Tech Research Reactor'' was 
published in the Federal Register on February 1, 1999, (64 FR 4902). It 
was also published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on February 14, 
1999, and in the Georgia Technique on February 12, 1999. Comments were 
received from an individual and from the Georgians Against Nuclear 
Energy. The NRC staff plans to consider and respond to these comments.
    Further, 10 CFR 51.53(d) provides that each applicant for a license 
amendment to authorize decommissioning of a production or utilization 
facility shall submit an environmental report that reflects any new 
information or significant environmental change associated with the 
proposed decommissioning activities. By letter dated May 28, 1999, the 
Georgia Institute of Technology provided their environmental report.

Need for the Proposed Action

    The proposed action is necessary because of Georgia Institute of 
Technology's 1997 decision to cease operations permanently. As 
specified in 10 CFR 50.82, any licensee may apply to the NRC for 
authority to surrender a license voluntarily and to decommission the 
affected facility. The Georgia Institute of Technology is planning to 
use the area for other purposes once it is released for unrestricted 
use.

Environmental Impact of the Proposed Action

    The Commission has completed the environmental assessment of the 
proposed action and concludes that the associated radiological effects 
of the decommissioning will be acceptable. As noted in section 3.1.5 of 
the Decommissioning Plan submitted on July 1, 1998, the collective 
total effective dose equivalent to all onsite workers for the entire 
decommissioning program is estimated to be 7.74 person-rem. The 
licensee established controls to ensure occupational exposure remains 
below NRC regulatory limits for decommissioning personnel. No estimated 
exposure to the public from the proposed action was provided, but the 
licensee established that decommissioning activities will not exceed 10 
CFR 20.1301, ``Dose Limits for Individual Members of the Public,'' and 
established an As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) program to 
minimize exposure. Further, the only potential radiological accident 
scenarios involve contaminations that could occur during 
decontamination and decommissioning activities. These scenarios would 
not result in release of radioactive material outside the facility nor 
in occupational exposures greater than 10 CFR part 20 limits.
    Occupational and public exposure may result from offsite disposal 
of the low-level residual radioactive material from the GTRR. The 
handling, storage, and shipment of this radioactive material are 
specified to meet the requirements of 10 CFR 20.2006, ``Transfer for 
Disposal and Manifest,'' 49 CFR parts 100-177, ``Transportation of 
Hazardous Materials,'' 10 CFR part 61, ``Licensing Requirements for 
Land Disposal of Radioactive Waste,'' 40 CFR part 261 ``Identification 
and Listing of Hazardous Waste,'' and applicable disposal site license 
conditions. Experience with such disposal has shown that occupational 
and public exposure associated with such disposal is minimal.
    Based on the review of the specific proposed activities associated 
with the dismantling and decontamination of the GTRR, the Commission 
has determined that the proposed action will not increase the 
probability or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in 
the types of any effluents that may be released off site, and there is 
no significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. 
Therefore, no significant radiological environmental impacts are 
associated with the proposed action.
    With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not involve any historic sites. It does not affect non-
radiological plant effluents and has no other environmental impact. 
Therefore, no significant non-radiological environmental impacts are 
associated with the proposed action.
    Accordingly, the Commission concludes that no significant 
environmental impacts are associated with the proposed action.

Alternatives to the Proposed Action

    The three alternatives to the proposed action for the GTRR are 
SAFSTOR, ENTOMB, and no action. SAFSTOR is the alternative in which the 
nuclear facility is placed and maintained in a condition that allows 
the nuclear facility to be safely stored and subsequently 
decontaminated (deferred decontamination) to levels that permit release 
for unrestricted use. ENTOMB is the alternative in which radioactive 
contaminants are encased in a structurally long-lived material, such as 
concrete, the entombed structure is appropriately maintained and 
continued surveillance is carried out until the radioactivity decays to 
a level permitting release of the property for unrestricted use. The no 
action alternative would leave the facility in its present 
configuration. However, the regulations in 10 CFR 50.82(b) only allow a 
limited time for this condition to exist.
    The radiological impacts of SAFSTOR would be less because of 
radioactive decay prior to DECON. The ENTOMB option would result in 
lower radiological exposure but continued use of resources. Georgia 
Institute of Technology has determined that the proposed action (DECON) 
is the most efficient use of the existing facility, since it wants to 
use the space that will become available for other academic purposes. 
The SAFSTOR, ENTOMB and no action alternatives would entail continued 
surveillance and physical security measures to be in place and 
continued monitoring by licensee personnel.

Alternative Use of Resources

    The action does not involve the use of resources different from 
those previously committed for construction and operation of the GTRR.

Agencies and Persons Contacted

    In accordance with its stated policy, the NRC staff consulted with 
the State of Georgia. In response to the NRC's notice and solicitations 
for comments on the GTRR decommissioning, Thomas E. Hill, Manager of 
the Radioactive Materials Program for the Georgia Department of Natural 
Resources wrote, in part, that ``[w]e fully support Georgia Tech's goal 
of decommissioning the facility to provide for license terminations and 
release of the facility for unrestricted use.''

Finding of No Significant Impact

    On the basis of the environmental assessment, the Commission 
concludes that the proposed action will not have a significant effect 
on the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has 
determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the 
proposed action.

[[Page 37819]]

    For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's letter dated July 1, 1998, as supplemented by letter dated 
February 8, and May 28, 1999, which are available for public inspection 
at the NRC's Public Document Room, the Gelman Building, 2120 L Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20555.

    Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of July, 1999.

    For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Ledyard B. Marsh,
Chief Events Assessment, Generic Communications and Non-Power Reactors 
Branch, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. 99-17747 Filed 7-12-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P