PR 97-083 LICENSE TERMINATION

["Frank E. Gallagher, III" <fegallag@uci.edu>]

This press release from the NRC appears to be good news!

Frank E. Gallagher, III, CHP        |    300 University Tower
Manager, Radiation Protection,      |    Irvine, CA   92697-2725
  and Radiation Safety Officer      |      E-mail: fegallag@uci.edu
Environmental Health and Safety     |      Office: (714) 824-6904
University of California, Irvine    |      Fax:    (714) 824-8539

>Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 13:46:41 -0400
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>Subject: PR 97-083 LICENSE TERMINATION
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>------------------- PR97083.TXT follows --------------------
>
>           United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission
>                     Office of Public Affairs
>                       Washington, DC 20555
>              Phone 301-415-8200   Fax 301-415-2234
>                       Internet:opa@nrc.gov
>                                 
>
>No. 97-083                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>                                       (Wednesday, May 21, 1997)
>
> 
>        NRC APPROVES MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE RADIATION LEVELS 
>                     FOR LICENSE TERMINATION 
>
>
>     The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved an amendment
>to its regulations to establish maximum permissible radiation
>levels when a nuclear facility permanently shuts down, is
>released for other uses, and the license is terminated.
>  
>     The new rules will require licensees of permanently shutdown
>facilities to reduce remaining radioactivity to sufficiently low
>levels to permit the license to be terminated safely.  Release of
>the property may be either:
>
>         Unrestricted, in which case it could be used for any
>          purpose, or
>         Restricted, so that it could not be used for certain
>          purposes, such as residential housing.
>
>     The Commission believes that the new standards are
>consistent with specific recommendations of both national and
>international bodies tasked with the development of guidance for
>radiation protection; are appropriately based on risk, cost-benefit, and
socio-economic standards; provide the needed
>flexibility to accommodate site-specific conditions; and are
>sufficiently conservative to ensure protection of public health
>and safety and the environment.
>
>Unrestricted Release
>
>     Under the new regulations, a site may be released for
>unrestricted use if the radiation dose from contamination
>remaining on the property will be as far below 25 millirems per
>year as is reasonably achievable.  (Twenty-five millirems may be
>compared to a dose of about 5 millirems of background radiation
>from one round-trip cross-country airline flight; 50 millirems
>average per year from medical examinations; and 300 millirems per
>year average in the United States from natural background
>radiation.) 
>
>
>
>
>Restricted Release
>
>     The new regulations permit release of a site for restricted
>use provided that the dose from contamination remaining on site
>is as low as is reasonably achievable and that legally
>enforceable institutional controls (such as deed restrictions)
>will ensure that the dose does not exceed 25 millirems per year.
>
>     In addition, if a site is released for restricted use, the
>licensee must provide financial arrangements to allow an
>independent third party to assume and carry out responsibilities
>for any necessary control and maintenance of the site.
>  
>     Further, a licensee that intends to decommission by
>restricting use of the site must seek advice--from individuals
>and institutions in the community who may be affected by the
>decommissioning--on whether the provisions for institutional
>controls proposed by the licensee (1) will provide reasonable
>assurance that the radiation dose from contamination remaining on
>site will not exceed 25 millirems per year, (2) will be
>enforceable, and (3) will not impose undue burdens on the local
>community or other affected parties. 
> 
>     In obtaining this advice, the licensee must provide for
>participation by a broad cross-section of community interests,
>provide an opportunity for a comprehensive discussion on the
>issues by participants, and make public a summary of the results
>of such discussions.
>
>     The Commission expects that institutional controls will be
>very effective in keeping doses to levels below 25 millirems per
>year.  Nevertheless the Commission has included an additional
>level of protection in the rule to protect against the situation
>where the 25-millirems-per-year level could be exceeded by
>requiring that licensees provide reasonable assurance that, if
>the institutional controls were no longer in effect, the maximum
>yearly radiation dose from contamination remaining on site would
>not exceed 100 millirems per year, and be as low as is reasonably
>achievable.
> 
>     Licensees in rare circumstances could also propose that, in
>the event institutional controls were no longer in effect, the
>residual radioactivity could be as high as 500 millirems per
>year.  However, licensees who propose to use the 500-millirem
>criterion must (1) demonstrate that further reductions in
>remaining radioactivity are not technically achievable, would be
>prohibitively expensive, or would result in net public or
>environmental harm; (2) make provision for durable institutional
>controls, such as engineered barriers or government control or
>ownership; and (3) provide sufficient financial resources to
>enable an independent third party to carry out periodic rechecks
>of the site at least every 5 years to make sure that the
>institutional controls remain in place, and to assume and carry
>out responsibilities for any necessary controls and maintenance
>of those controls.
>     
>Alternate Criteria for License Termination
>
>     The Commission expects the vast preponderance of licensees
>to reduce residual radioactivity to levels that meet the new
>criteria for unrestricted or restricted release.  However, the
>Commission is concerned about the possible presence of certain
>difficult sites that could present unique decommissioning
>problems.
>  
>     Because it is preferable to have provisions in the rule to
>deal with these sites rather than have licensees seek an 
>exemption process outside the rule, the rule contains provisions
>under which the Commission may terminate a license using
>alternate criteria, greater than 25 millirems per year, if the
>licensee provides assurance that public health and safety would
>continue to be protected, and that it was unlikely that the
>radiation dose from all potential man-made sources combined would
>be more than 100 millirems per year.  The licensee must also
>place restrictions on site use to the extent practical and reduce
>the radiation dose to levels that are as low as reasonably
>achievable.
>
>     The Commission expects the use of alternate criteria to be
>confined to rare situations.  To ensure that this is the case,
>the Commission is requiring that licensees who propose to use
>alternate criteria must seek advice or comment from affected
>parties and, as in the case where restricted release is sought,
>provide for participation by representatives of a broad cross-section of
community interests who may be affected by the
>decommissioning, an opportunity for a comprehensive, collective
>discussion on the issues, and a publicly available summary of the
>results of all such discussions.
>
>     In addition, the use of alternate criteria to terminate a
>license will require the approval of the Commission, after
>consideration of NRC staff recommendations that address any
>comments provided by the Environmental Protection Agency and by
>the public.
> 
>Public Input
>
>     To provide ample opportunities for public comment, when the
>Commission receives a license termination or decommissioning
>plan, or a proposal for restricted release of a site or release
>using alternate criteria, the agency will publish a notice in the
>Federal Register.  In addition, it will provide local
>notification via a notice in local newspapers, letters to state
>or local organizations, or other appropriate means.  It will also
>notify the Environmental Protection Agency, appropriate local and
>state governments and Indian Nations and solicit their comments.
> 
>     Specific additional requirements for public input are
>described above for the restricted use and alternate criteria
>cases.
>
>Proposed and Final Rule
>
>     A proposed rule on this subject was published for public
>comment on August 22, 1994.  The full text of the final rule and
>a description of specific changes made as a result of the
>comments received on the proposed rule, and additional NRC
>analysis, will be contained in a Federal Register notice to be
>published soon.
> 
>     The Commission did not adopt a separate groundwater
>protection standard, as recommended by the Environmental
>Protection Agency.  NRC agrees with the need to control exposures
>from drinking groundwater that is potentially contaminated and
>agrees that the environmental integrity of the nation's
>groundwater needs to be protected.  However, NRC has concluded
>that protection of public health and safety in the use of this
>valuable resource is achieved by limiting exposure to persons
>from all potential pathways of exposure (i.e., radiation from the 
>ground, eating food from soil or fish from surface water,
>inhalation of dust, etc.), including the groundwater pathway, to
>as far below 25 millirems per year as is reasonably achievable
>and that imposition of a separate standard for groundwater would
>not provide any significant enhancement of public health and
>safety and is therefore unnecessary.
>  
>     Yesterday Shirley Ann Jackson, Chairman of the NRC, met with
>Fred Hansen, Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection
>Agency (EPA), to discuss the proposed final rule.  At that
>meeting, she discussed the features of the rule, and NRC's
>position on the adequacy of the 25-millirems-per-year all
>pathways standard, the concept of "as low as is reasonably
>achievable" (ALARA) included in the NRC's rule, and the NRC's
>position that, in light of the all pathways standard and ALARA,
>there is no need for a separate groundwater standard.  Hansen
>expressed EPA's interest in continuing discussions with NRC
>regarding timely notice to EPA of proposed NRC license
>termination in some specific categories of cases.  The Commission
>has agreed to continue a dialogue with EPA following finalization
>of the rule.
>
>     The new cleanup criteria for decommissioning will not apply
>to sites already covered by a license termination or
>decommissioning plan approved previously by the Commission or
>approved within 24 months of the effective date of the rule
>(which will be announced in the Federal Register).
>
>     The final rules that the Commission has promulgated will
>generally apply to most NRC licensees and to most licensees
>regulated by Agreement States (which are states that have
>assumed, by mutual agreement, part of the NRC's regulatory
>authority).  An Agreement State may implement more stringent
>standards if it finds a need to impose such standards for local
>conditions.
>
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