ML20062C235

NRC Staff & Applicant Joint Quarterly Status Rept & Motion to Withdraw Application for Construction Permit & Terminate Proceeding for Carroll County Site.* W/Certificate of Svc. Page Count Encl

ML20062C235
Person / Time
Site:	05000599, 05000600
Issue date:	10/22/1990
From:	Bielawski A, Chan E COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO., NRC OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL (OGC)
To:	Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel
References
CON-#490-10953 ESR, NUDOCS 9010300139
Download: ML20062C235 (9)

Text

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10/22/90 I.)% .

k: UNITED STATES-OF AMERICA C0CKETED-

-) NUCLEAR-REGULATORY COMMISSION USNRC BEFOREt THE ' ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOED.DCT 23 P3 :05 -!

In th'e Matter of Oriv U ! carrtmv

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' COMMONWEALTH-EDISON COMPANY, ) Docket Nos. 50-599-ESR

'31 Al. )- 50-600-ESR.

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-(Carroll County Site) )

l NRC STAFF AND APPLICANT'S JOINT-QUARTERLY-STATUS REPORT }

AND MOTION TO WITHDRAW APPLICATION FOR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT 1 AND TERMINATE THE PROCEEDING'FOR THE CARROLL COUNTY SITE I

,h In supplementing its response to this Board's November i

o c i 8, 1989-request for a statement on the status of this proceeding, )

? its inquiry as_to the steps necessary to conclude it and an ,

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- earlier request for quarterly status reports, the Staff provides i the following information concerning site restoration and -j stabilization activities at the-Carroll County Site and forwards

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the attached October 4, 1990 Memorandum documenting the NRC

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-Staff's inspection of the Carroll County Site. The NRC Staff'and  !

'l Commonwealth Edison Company (" Applicant") jointly move to

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l withdraw the application for the Carroll County site Construction  !-

' Permit without prejudice, and to terminate this proceeding.

i p I. -Oriainal Condition of the' Carroll County Site

.The original Carroll County site purchased by  :

Commonwealth Edison Co. (" Applicant") consisted of rural land suitable for agriculture. The site contained several abandoned I buildings or old foundations and several drinking water wells.

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NN ' II. NRC Staff Seotember 25, 1990 Insoection'of the-Restored l a; Carroll County Site l

On September 25',11990, M. C. LSchumacher and N. : Shah of I the=NRC' Region.II office inspected the Carroll County site with Messrs. B. Shelton, S. Hunsader, and C. McDonough of Commonwealth Edison and Mr. R.. Bull of Iowa Electric Co.; representing the-5 Applicant. The. purpose of the inspection was to verify the

, completion of site restoration activities described in the July 5, 1990 "NRC Staff and Applicant's Joint Status ~ Report on the Carroll County Site in Response to Licensing Board's June 12, 1990-Memorandum."

The observations of the NRC inspectors are detailed in the. attached October 4, 1990 Memorandum and include inspection of l the meteorological tower site'; the former sites of pre-existing '

structures, drinking water wells, and test wells; sites of trash , '

, debris and timber ~ removal; and erosion control measures. The I

~1nspection substantiated ~the Applicant's assertion'that changes oto the site as a result of its activities after restoration and stabilization are minimal. As the. Summary of the attached Memorandum states:

Use of the site was said to be little changed-from that before its acquisition by the applicant. Part was planted in corn and the remainder was mostly wooded. .It appeared essentially'the same in character as the surrounding area. The only portion apparently affected'by the licensee activities was the small area (about 0.08 acre) associated with.the meteorological tower and its access lane.

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,III. Prereauisites'for Withdrawal of Construction Permit

, Anolication Are Met-

'The Commission's regulations at C.F.R. $2.107(a) provide that "the Commission may permit an applicant to' withdraw I

an application.. . . on such terms and conditions as it may prescribe." The Commission's policy and past practice in this regard has been to permit cancellation of a construction permit and termination of the proceeding'once a site restoration and o

stabilization plan is carried out and judged satisfactory by the '

- NRC Staff.

Once an applicant has completed the site restoration and stabilization, the only remaining prerequisiteLfor withdrawal of the application for a construction permit for the Carroll County Site is a NRC: inspection of the site to verify that ,

restoration and stabilization are complete.and that no additional action is-necessary.

3 The Applicant has completed and the NRC Staff has-verified all site restoration activities reasonably necessary to permit withdrawal of the construction permit application for-the Carroll Cour.ty -Site and on these bases hereby jointly move the Board to grant the withdrawal of the construction permit

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h,3-application::for the Carroll County site, without prejudice', and-

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to: terminate thi's proceeding..

Respectfully' submitted,

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Elaine'I.'Chan Counsel for NRC Staff Alan Bielawski aa,f _l Counsel for Commonwealth Edison Co.

Dated < t Rockville, Maryland' l

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~this 22nd. day =of October, 1990 j l

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h' , OCT a 1990:

KIM0RANDUM-FOR: Elaine Chan, 0GC

'THROUGHi Bruce Berson, Rill Counsel ,

.FROM: M. C. Schumacher, RIII DRSS .

N.,-Shah, RIII, DRSS

SUBJECT:

. . INSPECTION AT CARROLL COUNTY SITE, SEPTEMBER 25, 1990 '

I. Introduction l'. C. Schumacher and N. Shah of the Region-III office toured the Carroll '

m County. site ~with. Messrs. -B. Shelton, S. Hunsader, and C. McDonough' of Commonwealth Edison, and Mr. R. Bull of Iowa Electric Co. representing. ,'

" the-applicant.- The purpose of the~ visit was to examine > evidence of.the site restoration activities described in' the July 5,.1990, joint memorandum 2to'the'ASLB from the applicant and the NRC.

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11. Inspector Observations

a. Meteorological Tower

-:The. strongest visible evidence of the applicant's activities at the site was associated withia. meteorological tower formerly located on a i small-parcel across West Airport Road from the main property...The "a. tower had been removed leaving only a cleared tower base = area about.

20 feet by 20 feet:and an access lane approximately 300 feet long >

and 10 feet wide leading to it from West Airport Road.- The lane i appeared to be grass interspersed with residual embedded. gravel.

-The tower base area appeared to be mainly sandy soil with some grass, what appeared to be concrete dust a. few pieces of embedded

.,' aggregate and weeds.. These areas were a noticeable contrast with the corn field occupying the remainder of the parcel.

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b. Preexisting Structures and Drinking Water Wells Applicant... representatives pointed out former locations of. six i preexisting structures said to have been demolished by the applicant after acquiring the site. The inspectors observed no remaining  !

evidence 'of structure except for the building sites. Drinking water i u

x well locations said to have been associated with these sites were

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$. -Elaine Chan. 2- OCT 4 1990' I:.

noticeab.le'only by the dearth'of vegetation. These observations'are consistent with the applicants description of sealing and capping of these walls in early-1990 which included removal of the upper three feet of casing. They were also consistent with Water Well Sealing-Forms' of the Illinois Department of Public- Health signed in May-1990~ by Jonas Martin Well Drilling of Oregon, Illinois, who was a subcontractor to Steve Benesh and Son for the well work.

l' c. Test Wells

. Applicant representatives showed the inspectors photographs of approximately 70 test wells taken before and after their removal in-the spring of 1990. ' Again little tangible evidence of the wells remained. Small cleared areas with little vegetation were seen at visited locations.not under cultivation but no physical evidence of-wells could be discerned at locations which had been subsequently planted in corn. The observations were consistent with the applicant'.s described well closure-method which included removal of the upper six feet of casing and which would not be expected to interfere with cultivation. The-closure method for both the test and' the drinking water wells was described in a letter from Jones Martin to Steve Benesh and Sons dated May 21, 1990,

d. Trash and Debris Clearance Applicant representatives pointed out the ravine from which trash and debris were said to have been removed. The only debris observed by the inspectors were an old sewing machine and some scattered trash consisting mainly of plastic. soft drink containers.

The applicant representatives- stated that these had apparently been:

discarded since the area'was cleared in the spring of 1990,

e. Timber Removal An inspector walked throug'h the wooded area where licensee

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representatives indicated timber had been harvested and sold. Only a few widely separated stumps of indeterminate age amid scrub timber and undergrowth were noted. Their_ presence had little effect on-the appearance of the area.

.f. Erosion Control Applicants representatives pointed out newly planted grasses on the steepest section of a field that they stated were erosion control measures. The.. inspectors noted that the grasses referred to by the 1

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00T. 4 isso applicant, were dissimilar to the surrounding prairie grasses. In.

addition, the applicant representatives stated that winter wheat had been planted by some of the leasing 1 farmers as an erosion control measure.

- 1II . Sumary In summary,.the-inspectors' observations appeared to substantiate the applicant's assertion that changes in the site as a result of its activities had been minimal. Use of-the site was said to be little changed from that before its acquisition by the applicant. Part was

. planted in. corn and.the remainder was mostly wooded.-'It appeared essentially the:same'in character as the surrounding area. The only portion apparently affected by licensee activities was the small area (about 0.08 acre) associated with the meteorological tower and its access lane.

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M. C. Schumacher, Chief Radiological Controls and' Chemistry Section cc: C. E. Norelius L. R.'Greger 6-j

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{ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ' '

L.  : NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION libc BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSI9ill MDP3 :05 In the Matter of' ) h'F51CF Oi SECRL7tJY ocKnggj htHVIM

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l COMMONWEALTH EDISON. COMPANY, ) Docket Nos. 50-599 ESR si Al. ) 50-600 ESR

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(Carroll County Site) -)

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby ecrtify that copies of "NRC STAFF AND APPLICANTS JOINT STATUS REPORT AND MOTION TO WITHDRAW APPLICATION FOR CONSTRUCTION e PERMIT AND TERMINATE THE PROCEEDING FOR THE CARROLL COUNTY.

. SITE" in the above captioned proceeding have been served on the following by deposit in the United States mail, first class or, as' indicated by an asterisk, by deposit in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's internal mail system, this 22nd day of October 1990:

Atomic Safety and Licensing Paul A. Furest Appeal. Board

• Dubuque Fellowship of' U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Reconciliation Commission- 809 Dodge Street Washington, DC 20555 - Dubuque, IA 52001 Glenn O. Bright

• Cordell Reed Administrati_ve Judge Assistant Vice-President

' Atomic Safety and Licensing Commonwealth Edison' Company Board .P.O. Bnx 767 '

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Chicago, IL E 60690-Commission Washington, DC 20555 Thomas J. Sorg Carroll County Environmental Alan P. Bielawski, Esq. Coalition Mark Kerber, Esq. 305 West Cole Sidley & Austin Mount Carroll, IL 61053 One First National Plaza Chicago, IL ' 60603 1

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a B. Paul Cotter, Chairman

• Clifford E. Patterson, Esq.

Administrative Judge Assistant Attorney General Atomic Safety and Licensing State Capitol Complex i Board Des Moines, IA 50319

- U.S. Nuclear Regulatory

' Commission John W. Cox, Jr.

Washington, DC 20555 The Joe Davies County Ad Hoc Committee on Nuclear Energy Jerry R. Kline* Information Administrative Judge 906 Compbell Street -

- Atomic Safety and Licensing Galena, IL 61036 Board

' U.S. Nuclear Regulatory James C. Schwab Commission State Coordinator, Iowa PIRG Washington, DC _ 20555 Iowa State University '

36 Memorial Union-Jan L Kodner, Esq. Ames, IA 50010 L Pitler and Mandell i 230 West Monroe Street Nancy J. Bennett, Esq.

. Suite 2026 Assistant Attorney General q Chicago, IL 60606 State of Illinois 188 West Randolph Street ,

Richard Worm,. President Suite 2315  ;

Environmental Coordinating Chicago, IL 60601 Organization, Inc.

_3555 Hillcrest .

Dubuque,'IA 52001 Office of the Secretary

, Attn: Docketing and Service L Nettie Post ,

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission -

382 East 21st Street Washington, DC 20555 Dubuque, IA 52001 ljlaine 1. Chan i

,e Counsel for NRC Staff

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