ML20056C311
| ML20056C311 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/30/1993 |
| From: | Joseph Austin NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Stern R NEW JERSEY, STATE OF |
| References | |
| REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 9305170030 | |
| Download: ML20056C311 (2) | |
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APR 0 L 1993 Robert Stern, Ph.D., Chief Bureau of Environmental Radiation State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy CH 415 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0415 Dear Dr. Stern I am responding to your letter dated March 5,1993, in which you requested a statement of, and the rational for, the Nuclear Reculatory Commission's position on the regulatory authority for the " combined tailings pile" at the Heritage Minerals facility in Newfield, New Jersey.
In addition, you requested, as part of NRC's efforts to revise 10 CFR Part 40, that NRC consider deleting or substantially revising the current exemption for unimportant quantities of source material at 10 CFR Part 40.13(a).
Regarding the latter request, I have forwarded your comments to NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research for consideration in response to the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which appeared in the Federal Reaister on October 28, 1992 (57 FR 48749).
Regarding your request for NRC's position on the appropriate regulatory authority for the combined tailings pile at the Heritage minerals facility, NRC's position remains that the combined tailings pile does not fall within NRC's regulatory authority under the Atomic Energy Act (AEA).
As outlined in your March 5, 1993 letter, prior operations at the Heritage Minerals facility produced a monazite waste stream containing uranium and/or thorium above the source materiel concentrations outlined at 10 CFR Part 40.
The comingling of the waste from this process with waste from other processes occurred prior to NRC licensing of the site.
During the licensing process this issue was discussed with the NRC Office of the General Counsel and it was determined that the conibined tailings constituted a preexisting unimportant quantity under 10 CFR Part 40.13(a). Although the tailings pile may have been contaminated with material from a process that was subsequently licensed by NRC, the material in the combined tailings pile is exempt from NRC regulation under 10 CFR Part 40.13(a) because it contains source material in concentrations that are less than 0.05 weight percent.
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I hope that this responds to your request.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 301 504-2560.
i Sincerely, IT1.131 ned lig John H. Austin, Chief Decommissioning and Regulatory Issues Branch Division of low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning, NMSS U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Ticket D-9320001 DISTRIBUTION:
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