ML20129F266

SER Determining That Activities Conducted Under License SNM-696,suitable Under Possession Only License & Commensurate W/Timely Decommissioning of Site

ML20129F266
Person / Time
Site:	07000734
Issue date:	09/26/1996
From:	NRC
To:
Shared Package
ML20129F241	List: ML20129F237 ML20129F250 ML20129F266
References
NUDOCS 9610010293
Download: ML20129F266 (4)

Text

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!r p UNITED STATES ]

j g ' NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2 WASHINGTON, D.C. 2006H001 l

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/ . September 26, 1996 DOCKET N0: 70-734 j LICENSEE: General Atomics'(GA)

San Diego,. California l

SUBJECT:

. SAFETY EVALUATION REPORT: 1) APPLICATIONS DATED SEPTEMBER 26, 1995, POSSESSION ONLY ACTIVITIES;

2) APPLICATION DATED-JUNE 6, 1996, EMERGENCY PLAN CHANGES BACKGROUND In correspondence dated September 26, 1995, June 14, and July 19, 1996, GA provided submittals which defined authorized activities and specifications for Part II - License Specifications _ of GA's SNM-696 license. Certain references to facilities that have been released for general use have been deleted and conditions referring to^10 CFR Part 74 requirements have been deleted since they are no longer needed under.a possession only license.

l~ GA also provided an update to their Radiological Contingency Plan (emergency I plan) in their June 6,1995, submittal under!the provisions of'10 CFR 70.32.

This submittal included administrative changes which accommodated the general reduction of activities and resources at the facility DISCUSSION )

Specifications j

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The licensee has provided. changes to' site activities and operations to further

reflect the decommissioning and decontamination activities at' the site.

Previously all safety measures relating to an operating fuel cycle facility were part of the license and the license was required to continue compliance.

In the June 14, 1996, submittal the licensee modified Section 2, " Authorized Activities," of Part II - License Specifications of GA's SNM-696 Materials License. The authorized activities listed include only those activities which are necessary to remove material from the site, decontaminate the site, and decommission the site. Since.GA has many separate activities in separate ,

locations located on the general GA' site the decontamination and )

decommissioning will be accomplished on a site specific " piecemeal" basis.  !

j. The license also provided changes'in a June-14, 1996, submittal to Section 6, l l- " Environmental Monitoring Program," of Part II - License Specifications of

GA's SNM-696 Materials License. These changes greatly reduced the scope of the environmental-monitoring program based upon the reduction in activities-at 1 the various-sites. For example, GA has 10 years of data from tap water and  ;

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9610010293 960926 l' PDR ADOCK 070007 4 C

2 vegetation monitoring collected while the site was active which shows no unexpected radiation levels and no significant variation in results. With the reduction in activity such a comprehensive monitoring program becomes unnecessary. However, soil and water will be collected and analyzed yearly due to the current handling requirements for source and byproduct material at GA, by the State of California.

Some other areas that have been reduced are: 1) Environmental air sample locations (because of the cessation of all fuel manufacturing activities);

2) Nonradiological monitoring at the SVA site (based upon a hcl furnace that has been decommissioned and released); 3) Quarterly sampling if airborne results >25% from old readings (cessation of activities and alert set pints are established for all stack / vent effluent points along with appropriate investigations whenever alert levels are exceeded; and 4) Sampling for suspended particulates (GA is not conducting construction activities around the site).

In the July 19, 1996, submittal GA provided changes to Section 3 " Organization and Administrative Procedures," Section 5 " Nuclear Safety - Technical Requirements," Section 7 "Other Special Commitments," and Section 8

" Supporting Plans."

• Section 3 Various onsite administrative procedures were modified to reflect the reduced scope and direction of site activities.

In addition, License Condition S-2 was incorporated into paragraph 3.74, License Condition S-4 was incorporated into paragraph 3.8, and License Condition S-5 was incorporated into paragraph 3.6.2

• Secf. ion 5 References to processing or using material were deleted.

• Section 7 References to purchasing sources, opening sources, analysis and/or testing sources, and to unencapsulated plutonium.

• Section 8 The emergency procedure and radiation contingency plan were combined into one section and 10 CFR 70.22 activities were reduced.

Accordingly, these changes will be included in License SNM-696 by adding the dated of September 26,1995, June 14, and July 19, 1996, to Safety License Condition S-1.

SVA License Conditions The Sorrento Valley-A facility has been decommissioned and the site released i for general use (License Amendment 32 dated August 1, 1995). Therefore, the l associated license conditions specific to this facility are deleted.

S-17 Deleted S-20 Deleted S-22 Deleted

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3 Safeguards License Conditions j i

Under a possession only license the Material Control and Accounting Plan l required under 10 CFR Part 74 are no longer necessary provided that any ]

physical and/or chemical operations involving possessed SNM is limited to: j i

1. Storage, 1

2. Reactor operation,

3. Utilization of sealed sources,

4. Research and development involving reactor irradiated fuels, and

5. Waste disposal operations.

However, the licensee must continue to follow the general MC&A requirements contained in 10 CFR 70.51(b), (c), and (d); 74.13; and 74.15.

Therefore the license conditions specific to MC&A (SG-2 through SG-8.1) are deleted.

Emergency Plan GA has provided minor administrative changes to the Radiological Contingency Plan. These changes further reflect the changing operational and staffing environment at the facility during this period of decommissioning. These 1 changes were implemented in May 1996 and submitted in June 1996 in accordance  :

with 10 CFR Part 70.32. Safety License Condition S-23 has been revised as follows: I S-23. The licensee shall maintain and execute the response measures described in the Emergency Plan dated June 1994 (letter dated July 1, 1994) and as revised by letter dated January 30, 1995 with pages dated January 1995; revisic- dated May 1996 (letter dated June 6, 1996); or as further revised by the licensee consistent with the provisions of 10 CFR 70.32(i).

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW Based on the information submitted by GA, the staff has determined that the changes are related to decreased operations at the facility due to the overall decommissioning of the site and as such will not adversely affect public health and safety or the environment. Accordingly, the staff has determined that the criteria in 10 CFR 51.22(c)(11) for categorically excluding an action from an environmental review have been met. Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor Environmental Impact Statement is necessary for this action.

CONCLUSION The staff has reviewed the applications dated September 26, 1995, June 14, and July 19,1996 and has determined the activities are suitable under a possession only license and commensurate with a timely decommissioning of the site.

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4 The staff concluded that GA's request to amend the license to reflect decommission activities meets regulatory requirements and that there is reasonable assurance that '.hese activities will not adversely impact upon the health and safety of the paolic and the common defense and security. Further, the changes to the Emergency Plan do not decrease the effectiveness of that pl an.

The Region IV Principal Inspector has no objection to these proposed actions.

Principal Contributor Charles E. Gaskin I