ML052660419
| ML052660419 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Saxton File:GPU Nuclear icon.png |
| Issue date: | 11/07/2005 |
| From: | Bernard Thomas NRC/NRR/ADRA/DPR |
| To: | Byrne J Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corp |
| Adams A, NRC/N RR/DRIP/RNRP, 415-1127 | |
| References | |
| TAC MC8350 | |
| Download: ML052660419 (10) | |
Text
November 7, 2005 Mr. J. J. Byrne, Program Director Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation Three Mile Island Nuclear Station P.O. Box 480 Middletown, PA 17057-0480
SUBJECT:
TERMINATION OF SAXTON NUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL CORPORATION FACILITY LICENSE NO. DPR-4 (TAC NO. MC8350)
Dear Mr. Byrne:
On September 15, 2005, the Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation (SNEC) and GPU Nuclear, Inc. (GPU) (the licensees), submitted an application for termination of the SNEC Facility Amended Facility License No. DPR-4. The application states that GPU has completed the remaining radiological decommissioning and final radiation surveys (final site surveys) of the SNEC facility and the associated PENELEC site area in accordance with the NRC-approved license termination plan (LTP) and that the final radiation surveys demonstrate that the facility and site area meet the criteria in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E, for decommissioning and release of the site for unrestricted use.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has completed its review of the final site survey reports (FSSRs) and concludes in accordance with 10 CFR 50.82(a)(11) that (i) dismantlement and decontamination activities were performed in accordance with the approved LTP and (ii) the FSSRs and associated documentation demonstrate that the facility and site have met the decommissioning criteria in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E. Therefore, License No. DPR-4 is terminated, effective November 07, 2005.
The staffs review of the FSSRs is documented in NRC Inspection Report Nos. 50-146/2003-201 (dated November 12, 2003), 50-146/2003-202 (dated December 17, 2003), 50-146/2004-201 (dated February 10, 2005), and 50-146/2005-201 (dated October 31, 2005). is a copy of the Notice of Termination we are sending to the Office of the Federal Register for publication.
We are also sending you two copies of Amendment No. 23 to Indemnity Agreement No. B-5 (Enclosure 2). Please sign and return one copy to this office.
In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of General Applicability," a copy of this letter will be available electronically in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of the NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
If you have any questions, please contact Alexander Adams, Jr., at 301-415-1127.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Brian E. Thomas, Branch Chief Research and Test Reactors Branch Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosures:
- 1. Federal Register Notice
- 2. Amendment No. 23 to Indemnity Agreement No. B-5 Docket No. 50-146 License No. DPR-4 cc w/enclosures: See next page In accordance with 10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's "Rules of General Applicability," a copy of this letter will be available electronically in the NRC Public Document Room or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component of the NRC's document system (ADAMS). ADAMS is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
If you have any questions, please contact Alexander Adams, Jr., at 301-415-1127.
Sincerely,
/RA/
Brian E. Thomas, Branch Chief Research and Test Reactors Branch Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosures:
- 1. Federal Register Notice
- 2. Amendment No. 23 to Indemnity Agreement No. B-5 Docket No. 50-146 License No. DPR-4 cc w/enclosures: See next page DISTRIBUTION:
PUBLIC PRTB r/f MMendonca AAdams TDragoun EHylton WSchuster JQuichocho CLyon HBerkow BThomas CBassett EMcKenna DHarrison PYoung WEresian PIsaac GHill (2)
PDoyle KWitt MVoth DHughes HNieh RidsNrrDrip RidsOgcMailCenter ADAMS ACCESSION NO.: ML052660419 TEMPLATE No.: NRC-102 OFFICE PRTB:PM TechEditor PRTB:LA NAME AAdams PKleene EHylton DATE 9/30/05 9/28/05 9/30/05 OFFICE PFPB:BC OGC PRTB:BC NAME EMcKenna STreby (NLO)
BThomas DATE 11/01/05 10/14/05 11/05/05 C = COVER E = COVER & ENCLOSURE N = NO COPY OFFICIAL RECORD COPY
Saxton Nuclear Docket No. 50-146 Experimental Corporation cc:
Mr. Michael P. Murphy Bureau of Radiation Protection Department of Environmental Protection 13th Floor, Rachel Carson State Office Building P.O. Box 8469 Harrisburg, PA 17105-8469 Mr. Jim Tydeman 1402 Wall Street Saxton, PA 16678 Mr. James H. Elder, Chairman Concerned Citizens for SNEC Safety Wall Street Ext.
Saxton, PA 16678 Mr. Ernest Fuller 1427 Kearney Hill Road Six Mile Run, PA 16679 Saxton Borough Council ATTN: Judy Burket 707 9th Street Saxton, PA 16678 Mr. David J. Thompson, Chair Bedford County Commissioners County Court House 203 South Juliana Street Bedford, PA 15522 Mrs. Alexa Cook, Chairman Huntingdon County Commissioners County Court House Huntingdon, PA 16652 Saxton Community Library P.O. Box 34 Saxton, PA 16678 Carbon Township Supervisors ATTN: Penny Brode, Secretary R. D. #1, Box 222-C Saxton, PA 16678 Hopewell Township - Huntingdon County Supervisors ATTN: Reba Fouse, Secretary RR 1 Box 95 James Creek, PA 16657-9512 Mr. D. Bud McIntyre, Chairman Broad Top Township Supervisors Broad Top Municipal Building Defiance, PA 16633 Mr. Don Weaver, Chairman Liberty Township Supervisors R. D. #1 Saxton, PA 16678 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District ATTN: S. Snarski/P. Juhle P.O. Box 1715 Baltimore, MD 21203 The Honorable Robert C. Jubelirer President Pro-Temp Senate of Pennsylvania 30th District State Capitol Harrisburg, PA 17120 Mr. James J. Byrne Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station P.O. Box 480 Middletown, PA 17057 Mr. Robert F. Saunders First Energy Corp.
76 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308 Ms. Mary E. OReilly First Energy Legal Department 76 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308
Mr. Manuel Delgado 2799 Battlefield Road Fishers Hill, VA 22626 Mr. Eric Blocher 216 Logan Avenue Wyomissing, PA 19610 Mr. David Sokolsky 1000 King Salmon Avenue Eureka, CA 95503 Mr. Gene Baker 501 16th Street Saxton, PA 16678 Mr. Dick Spargo 1004 Main Street Saxton, PA 16678 Mr. G. A. Kuehn, Jr.
Vice President SNEC and Program Director SNEC Facility GPU Nuclear, Inc.
P.O. Box 480 Middletown, PA 17057-0480 James Fockler, Chairman Saxton Citizens Task Force 1505 Liberty Street Saxton, PA 16678 Rodger W. Granlund Saxton Independent Inspector 133 Old Mill Road State College, PA 16801 Mr. Gareth McGrath Altoona Mirror 301 Cayuga Avenue Altoona, PA 16603 Dr. William Vernetson Director of Nuclear Facilities Department of Nuclear Engineering Sciences University of Florida 202 Nuclear Sciences Center Gainesville, FL 32611 Mrs. Bunny Barker Box 143, RR 1 James Creek, PA 16657 Mr. Gary Leidich Executive Vice President First Energy Nuclear Operating Corp.
76 South Main Street Akron, OH 44308
[7590-01-P]
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION SAXTON NUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL CORPORATION GPU NUCLEAR, INC.
DOCKET NO. 50-146, LICENSE NO. DPR-4 NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF SAXTON NUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL CORPORATION FACILITY AMENDED FACILITY LICENSE NO. DPR-4 ACTION: Notice of Termination of the Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation (SNEC) and GPU Nuclear, Inc., SNEC Facility Amended Facility License No. DPR-4.
SUMMARY
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is noticing the termination of Amended Facility License No. DPR-4 (NRC Docket No. 50-146) for the SNEC facility near Saxton, Pennsylvania.
BACKGROUND: The SNEC facility is in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The SNEC facility operated from 1962 to 1972. It was mainly used for research in various aspects of power reactor technology and to train personnel. The reactor was licensed at 23.5 megawatts of thermal energy. Electric power was produced by sending steam produced by operation of the reactor to a nearby coal-fired power station (because the SNEC facility did not have its own turbine or generator). The nuclear steam supply system was a one-loop pressurized water reactor. After shutdown, the reactor fuel was removed from the facility and shipped to what is now the Department of Energy Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Some minor decommissioning activities were done from 1972 to 1974. The facility was then placed in a monitored storage condition. Support structures and buildings were decontaminated and removed between 1987 and 1992. Full-scale decommissioning activities started in May 1998.
In February 2000 the licensees submitted their license termination plan (LTP) for the SNEC facility. Under the provisions of 10 CFR 50.82(a)(10), the NRC approved the LTP by a license amendment dated March 28, 2003. In accordance with the approved LTP, the licensees conducted final status surveys (FSSs) to demonstrate that the facility and site met the criteria in 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted release. The licensees presented the FSS results to the NRC in FSS reports (FSSRs).
The licensees submitted an application for termination of SNEC Amended Facility License No. DPR-4 on September 15, 2005. The application states that GPU Nuclear, Inc., has completed the remaining radiological decommissioning activities and the final radiation surveys of the SNEC Facility and the associated PENELEC site in accordance with an NRC-approved LTP and the final radiation surveys demonstrate that the facility and site area meet the criteria in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E, for the decommissioning and release of the site for unrestricted use.
The NRC did a number of performance-based in-process inspections of the licensees FSS program during the decommissioning process. The purpose of the inspections was to verify that the FSSs were being done in accordance with the licensees commitments in the LTP and to evaluate the quality of the FSSs by reviewing the FSS procedures, methodology, equipment, surveyor training and qualifications, document quality control, and survey data. The NRC also did independent confirmatory surveys to verify the licensees FSS results. The confirmatory surveys consisted of surface scans for beta and gamma radiation, direct measurements for total beta activity, and smear sampling for determining removable-radioactivity levels.
The NRC staff reviewed the FSSRs and concludes that (i) dismantlement and decontamination activities were performed in accordance with the approved LTP; and (ii) the FSSRs demonstrate that the facility and site have met the criteria for decommissioning in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E. NRC is therefore terminating SNEC Facility Amended Facility License No. DPR-4.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: See the application for license termination dated September 15, 2005 (ML052640047) and NRC Inspection Report Nos. 50-146/2003-201, dated November 12, 2003 (ML033090608), 50-146/2003-202, dated December 17, 2003 (ML033420687), 50-146/2004-201, dated February 10, 2005 (ML050380407), and 50-146/2005201, dated October 31, 2005 (ML052730465). They are available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR) at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMSs) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (use the ADAMS ML numbers given above).
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who have trouble accessing the documents in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 7 day of November 2005 FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
Brian E. Thomas, Branch Chief Research and Test Reactors Branch Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Docket No. 50-146 AMENDMENT TO INDEMNITY AGREEMENT NO. B-5 AMENDMENT NO. 23 Effective November 7, 2005, Indemnity Agreement No. B-5 between the Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (formerly the Atomic Energy Commission), dated November 15, 1961, as amended, is hereby terminated.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
Eileen McKenna, Branch Chief Financial, Policy and Rulemaking Branch Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Accepted: 2005 By:
Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation
Docket No. 50-146 AMENDMENT TO INDEMNITY AGREEMENT NO. B-5 AMENDMENT NO. 23 Effective November 7, 2005, Indemnity Agreement No. B-5 between the Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (formerly the Atomic Energy Commission), dated November 15, 1961, as amended, is hereby terminated.
FOR THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
/RA/
Eileen McKenna, Branch Chief Financial, Policy and Rulemaking Branch Division of Policy and Rulemaking Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Accepted: 2005 By:
Saxton Nuclear Experimental Corporation