ML20126D776
| ML20126D776 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000036 |
| Issue date: | 12/21/1992 |
| From: | Keegan E, Tokar M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20126D757 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9212280155 | |
| Download: ML20126D776 (12) | |
Text
- pwaoyk UNITED STATES e
[,
g NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 5
,j WASHINGTON, D. C. 205b5
\\,*...*/
DEC 211992 DOCKET Not 70-36 LICENSEEt Combustion Engineering, Inc. (CE)
Hematite, Missouri DUBJECT:
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR LICENSE AMENDMENT DATED AUGUST 5, 1992, RE CONSOLIDATION OF FUEL MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS Introduction By application dated August 5, 1992, CE requested an amendment'to License SNM-33 to consolidate all nuclear fuel manufacturing operations at the Hematite nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Hematito, Missouri.
Environmental information supporting this amendment was submitted by letters dated June 19, 1992, and November 12, 1992.
This environmental assessment (EA) has been prepared by the staff of the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission'in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, NRC regulations (10 CFR 51), and Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508).
An EA is a concise public document which serves to briefly provide sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether an Environmental Impact Statement or a Finding of No Significant Impact is necessary,-and which includes a brief discussion of the need for the proposed action, alternativea to and environmental impacts from the proposed action, and a list of agencies and persons contacted in preparing the EA.
Proposed Action The proposed action is to consolidate all nuclear fuel manufacturing activities to the Hematite nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Hematito, Missouri.
This action will relocate all nuclear fuel rod and assembly loading activities currently being performed at CE's Windsor,_ Connecticut, facility to Homatite.
Modifications that will be made to the Hematite site as part of this program include increasing the fenced work area by approximately 2 acres, constructing a new rod and bundle assembly manufacturing building, modifying a-portion of the existing warehouse area to include new pellet drying facilities, and expanding the automobile parking area.
Additional changes to be made to the site are relocating and replacing the main storm drain lines, relocating the outfall at the site pond, and adding ground surface drains.
9212200155 921221 PDR ADOCK 07000036 C
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
2 The licensee is authorized to receive, use, possess, store, and transfer up to 8,000 kilograms of uranium enriched to a maximum of 5.0 weight percent in the U-235 isotope in accordance with 10 CFR Part 70 and up to 50,000 kilograms of source material in accordance with 10 CFR Part 40.
The possession limits for low-enriched uranium and source materials will not change with consolidation.
Need for the Proposed Action The proposed action is based on CE's expressed need to improve commercial competitiveness in the marketplace.
Consolidation of the fuel fabrication activities at the Hematite facility will eliminate the need to transport radioactive materials between Connecticut and Missouri.
Consolidating activities at Hematite will eliminate the need for the Windsor license.
The licensee will, therefore, no longer be required to pay the annual fees and associated costs for two special nuclear material licenses.
The licensee is the largest employer, and approval of the proposed action would add new jobs to this area.
Denial of the proposed action may cause CE to shutdown which would create a negative socioeconomic impact on the area.
Alternatives Including the Proposed Action The alternative to the proposed action is to deny the license amendment.
Denial of the proposed action would mean the licensee would have to continue manufacturing the nuclear fuel rods and assemblies at the Windsor facility, if they were to remain in business.
This alternative would only be considered if there were public health and safety issues that could not be resolved to the satisfaction of the NRC.
The environmental impacts of the alternative of the proposed action will be discussed in this document.
Background
The facility is located approximately 35 miles (56 km) south of St. Louis, Missouri, 3/4 of a mile (1.2 km) northeast of the town of Hematite in Jefferson County (Figure 1).
The site is located on approximately 155 acres with licensed activities being conducted in a 6-acre fenced work area.
I 1
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
3 DEC 2 i 32 N
Ii10HW/ Y 21
\\
IlORINE mr4 vias
\\
IUghway
, yg.,,,,,
/^
FESTUS HILLSilORO 3
- - ~
[
k PLANT i
sn1B gggg J
DEERr! ELD
~
j HEMATITE jf
- EN
[
llosPrTAL VICTORIA rAo"Ef0'Ysin OLYMPIA DBSOTO 0B l
FIGURE 1 Area Within 5 Miie Radius of Plant Site
a CEC 21 1932'I Combustion Engineering, Inc.
4 Currently, uranium hexafluoride (UFs) food material, enriched up to 5 percent in t'io isotope U-235, is converted to uranium dioxiao powdor (U0 ).
The powder is aggregated using either an 2
organic binder and a suitable solvent or a dry powdor slugging press.
The agglomerated powdor is granulated to ensure a consistent press food and then prossed into pollets.
The " green" 4
pollets are processed through a dowaxing furnace to remove additivos and then through a sintering furnaco, where the pollets 4
densify and achieva their desired characteristics.
After being sized using a contorioss grinder, the sintered pollots are dried, inspected, and packaged for shipment to Windsor, Connecticut, to be assembled into fuel rods and assemblies.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action Sito Modifications Preliminary construction associated with consolidation consisted of replacing the existing main storm drain with a larger main, relocating the main approximately 20 feet north of the existing line, and increasing the size of the parking area.
The storm drain outfall into the sito pond was also relocated during preliminary construction.
The larger replacement main will o
accommodate the increased runoff from the roof of the new rod and assembly building and the parkina area (Figure 2).
The now rod and assembly building (Building 230) was constructed on a grassy area immediately west of the fenced manufacturing area (Figure 3).
Building 230 is 190 feet (58 meters) 8by 200 foot (61 motors) and contains approximately 38,000 foot (3,530 meters") of new manufacturing space.
The building is constructed of a free-standing steel frame with poured shallow concreto spread footings.
The concrete-slab floor is poured on grade.
The building was designed to moet the 1990 2uilding Officials and Code Administrators code and should withstand a seismic zone 2 carthquako, a wind loading of 100 miles per hour (161 kilomsters per hour), and a snow loading of 50 pounds per foot (244 8
kilograms por motor ).
Thefoncesurroundingthemanufacturing 8
area will be enlarged by an additional 2.4 acres (9,712 meters )
to include Building 230.
1 r'""'**C
- ' ' " ' ~ *
"#" - " ' ' ' ' ~ ' - '
'~~'"'"#"
W''
" " " ' ~
combustion Engineering, Inc.
5 DEC 211992 Illdg.
115
\\
liydrant
_\\
I l
l IU U
t Tile llarn Wood Barn Dldg.
lYlb.
l
\\ k.....
..\\..- /
~
2 i
p
'f
.1 Bldg.230 l,
Ilk g.
Bldg.
M 254 255 8
Dldg.
/
253
_ Dldg.240 Illdg-Bldg.
/
/ II
/
/
/
2541 256-2
/
.... ]
,f Q
l
_. Existing I
Treat Plant Existing Stonn Drain Line saums Replacement Stonn Drain Main New Storm Drain Line FIGURE 2 Storm Drain Lines
1 i
i i
1 s
1 l
combustion Engineering, Inc.
s
[)EC 211992 I
)
i l
l l
i i
New ONkee
\\
M_......,
u
%,. w.,
....M.......
F8suker,g Last
.....t.;.bd............
- W E
1 g
T,..
//
L i
t.mi.
i c..
4, 3>
~
i i
l g1 Y,V w
y g
N.
. n.e a-' i w ei wa-
- w.,
M%
W1
_4 SS f
mm e-,,,,
(*
uun mf. 'i,.,.
. [
. i; f, i " /,l:N N J,,.a -
- , [N rg
(,.,l e
m s==
W Pre '92 Buildings E Consolidation
~.
---...l..
..........)
O Roadways l
'~....,.
FIGURE 3 New Fenced Area and New Building Layout I
4 t
combustion Engineering, Inc.
7 DEC 211992 Additionally, to accommodata the additional activities associated with consolidating all nuclear fuel manufacturing activition at the Homatito facility, modifications will be made to existing buildings, including the following:
1.
Four existing stacks in the oxido Building will bo eliminated and replaced by a now, single stack.
The flow through the now stack will be through HEPA filtors to remove particulates from the air stream.
2.
The current warehouse (Dullding 256) will be divided into a pollet drying area and a smaller warehouso.
A HEPA-filtered ventilation stack Will be added to the pellot drying area.
3.
A now HEPA filter room will be added to the southwest and cf Building 240 to filter-particulates from the exhaust air.
The two existing stacks in Building 240 1
will be replaced by two now stacks in the filter room.
i 4.
Additional offico spaces will be built on the east and of Office Building 110 and a now Guard Station will bo built on the west ond.
5.
A now men's locker room will be added to the north and of the Special Polletizing Building 255.
The now locker room will be an insulated pre-fabricated building.
The now rod and assembly building was built on grade so only a minimal amount of excavation was required for construction, There were no forested or votland areas impacted because of the construction.
The impact to the area due to the site modifications has not been significant.
Liquid Effluents There are no planned releases of radioactive liquid wastos from routine production processes.
Uranium contained in the radioactive liquid wastos from mop and cleanup water, the k t recovery process, grinder coolants, and scrubber solution is processed to recover the uranium.
The amount of radioactive liquid waste to be processed for uranium recovery will increase as a result of consolidation.
It is estimated that approximately 250 gallons of waste water will be generated por day in
l N
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
s Building 230.
Waste water potentially contaminated with uranium will be transferred to the pellet production building where it will be processed along with the other radioactive 11guld wastes generated from production processes.
The volume of laundry waste water will slightly increase as a result of the increase in the number of perronnel who will be wearing protective clothing and working in the controlled area.
The site laundry discharges to the sanitary waste water system which discharges to the site creek.
Prior to discharge, the liquid wastes will be sampled and enalyzed for gross alpha and beta activities.
The control 1f3001
""im.?ly in place for the diccharge of liquid effluents to tha A ex t s - will not be t
changed.
There will be no signit aura 'cgeft uv the environment due to liquid discharges.
Solid Waste Contaminated solid waste generated at the sits is expected to increase because of consolidation.
Part of the increase in solid waste will be due to the additional liquid effluents.
Solidification of the liquid waste is a major source of contaminated solid waste.
The liquid waste is heated and concentrated, and the resulting concentrate is solidified, put into drums, and shipped to a commercial licensed disposal facility.
An additional amount of solid waste will be created from fuel rod and assembly production activities in Building 230.
The types of contaminated solids that may be generated are combustible materials used for cleaning, protective clothing, shoes, gloves, contaminated tools, equipment, fixtures, contaminated Zircaloy tubing, end caps, springs, and other scrao production parts.
After the potentially contaminated waste 'is analyzed to determine the U-235 content, the combustible wastes are incinerated on site.
Non-combustible wastes are packaged in 55-gallon drums or metal boxes for shipment to a licensed low-level burial site.
While there will be an increase in the amount of solid waste generated, the amount is expected to be low.
To reduce the amount of waste produced, strict control will be maintained on material brought into the controlled area, combustible wastes will be incinerated to reduce the amount of solid waste to be chipped to a licensed burial site.
The increase in the solid waste produced by consolidation will not have a significant impact on the area.
-me*
e-gy e
wp-r
-o e
w-e
DEC 21Ign Combustion Engineering, Inc.
9 Airborne Effluents Prior to release to the environment, airborne effluents from process areas and process equipment are air filtered.
While the processes are in operation, particulate filters continuously j
collect stack samples.
The filters are changed weekly and are analyzed for gross alpha levels after suitable delay for the decay of the naturally occurring radon daughter products.
The licensee's existing control limits will not change for gross alpha activity in the exhaust air effluents of 4x10*"
ci/cc, when averaged over a 2-week period, and 150 Ci per calendar quarter.
Prior to consolidation there were 17 exhaust stacks, and after consolidation, there will be 16 stacks (Figure 4).
Six of the existing stacks will be eliminated and replaced with three new stacks.
New stacks will be added in the new pellet drying area and in Building 230.
All new stacks will be HEPA-filtered to remove the particulate material in the air stream prior to discharge to the atmosphere.
The ventilation system for the fuel process areas-in Building 230 is designed to move air from uncontaminated to contaminated areas.
The specific operations in Building 230 that will be ventilated using a centralized HEPA-filtered ventilation system are the pellet alignment tables, the pellet / tube loading blocks, the short stack hood, and the scrap packaging hood.
Other operations in the building may also be ventilated through HEPA filters.
The air passing through this system will move through two tandem banks of absolute HEPA filters, which should remove-essentially all of the particulate matter.
The exhaust air will be continuously sampled and analyzed for uranium content.
The air exiting the filter banks can either be recycled back into the work place or exhausted to the outside atmosphere.
A dose assessment was performed to evaluate if the proposed action would significantly increase the dose to the nearest-residence from activities conducted at the site.
The nearest private residence is located 290 meters east-southeast of the plant site.
The calculated effective dose equivalent to the nearest adult resident is 0.024 mrem.
For uranium exposure, the critical organ is the bone surface.
The calculated dose to the.
bone surface is 0.36 mrem.
The calculated doses are well below the annual whole body dose limits set in 40 CFR 190.10 of 25 mrem and 10 CFR 20.105 of 500 mrem.
The addition of the fuel rod and assembly work to the
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
lo DEC 211992 l
--q r
I Dullding 115 L
l sieme 121 Huseet m
Odde Buildin's L/
o,/c3g
's.
E PenePwUs I
Building 2t$
Inuilding 256-2 O5b!o
,\\
o sosa mg ass Pensea, A=e sasa seg ass rumswo Area 3
MO airt osansunene o
szre nee moam psy se p-
?o[3 o#
501 s240 med neem wet nede ar4i oreen neom. houwow fluildin 110 301 305 o l
saos was au sees Peast u% Power Paparesan, Pmens g
Building 2361 saca W4 and ween Poest uno, Pownw Preseresen. Pren*g 304 I
saos as and tes Penesune, Pumene Ane 302 saos me as4 wee:Peass une,Pwnese Aree liiallding 253 saos sede ese m Peas:Lameng s4oi seg ass necysse Loseg 401 ssot sie zu Penosor m ane sect mag. rio Pena na*
o lluildinn 2
/
j I
228 I
/
240 oQ 241 o
7 1
~yo I
f' e
Building 230
+ o Stack Locations
~~
Figure 4 New Exhaust Stack Locadons
D EC 2 1 1992 Combustion Engineering, Inc.
11 the current fuel manufacturing operations will not significantly increase the doses to the nearest resident.
Chemical Usage Because of consolidation, the amount of ammonia used annually will increase.
Currently, approximately 600,000 pounds of ammonia are used each year.
The new pellet drying operation will add approximately 20,000 pounds of ammonia to the total volume used per year.
The ammonia is currently stored in a 10,000 gallon tank.
An additional 8,000-gallon storage tank will be installed to facilitate handling of the ammonia.
New activities associated with consolidation will require the use of nitrogen, helium, and alcohol.
Nitrogen and helium are non-toxic, inert gases.and their use will'be inconsequential.
Nitrogen will be used as a curtain gas in the pellet drying furnace, and helium will be used in the rod end cap welding process.
The alcohol will be used to clean components in some of the pellet plant and rod line operations and as a quality. control check in pellet processing.
It is estimated that approximately.
350 gallons of alcohol will be used per year.
Environmental Monitoring To verify that the construction site had not been contaminated with radioactive material, a survey of the soil was conducted in the field prior to constructing the new Assembly Building.
According to available information, the construction area was never used for processing, storing, or disposing of-special nuclear material.
The survey results indicate that the maximum value is 11.6 pci/gm, the averago value is 6.2 pci/gm, and the standard deviation is 2.8 pCi/gm.
The maximum value is less than the 30 pCi/gm value recommended in the Branch Technical Position.
Because the current environmental monitoring program is adequate to determino if expanded plant activities are having an impact on the surrounding environment, the program will not be revised.
Agencies and Persons contacted In completing this assessment, the staff contacted CE personnel.
DEC21;;;;
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
12 Conclusion The staff concludes that consolidating all nuclear fuel manuf acturing activities at the !!ematite f acility will not significantly impact the environment surrounding the site.
If the proposed action in approved, the licensee will be able to terminate the Windsor special nuclear material license and decommission those buildings that had been used for fuel fabrication.
This would result in a not positivo impact to the environment.
Onpad Sigud Br.
Elaine Keegan Uranium Fuel Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, NMSS NN N#d bT Approved by:
Michael Tokar, Section Leader OFC IMUF:CfI. ([
IMUF:,
b IMUF:
/Z IMSph M
NAME EKeegan:
VThh:
7MTb:
Jilikky:
DATE 12/ $/92 12/IN92 12//T/92 12/c2h92
/
C = COVER E = COVER & ENCLOSUilY N = NO COPY (G:\\CECONSOL.EA) i l
--