ML20247L947

Approach to Licensing Commercial U Mill Sites for Long-Term Care

ML20247L947
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Issue date:	05/06/1998
From:	Joseph Holonich, James Park NRC
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ML20247L934	List: ML20247L928 ML20247L947
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h AN APPROACII TO LICELiNG COMMERCIAL URANIUM MILL SITES FOR LONG-TERM CARE Joseph J. Holonich, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 James R. Park, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 Abstract The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, provides the statutory requirements for the transfer of custody to the byproduct material and any land used for the disposal of such material from a commercial uranium mill licensee falling under Title II of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Controi Act of 1978, as amended, to either Federal or State control, prior to the termination of the site-specific license In addition, requirement.; under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 40, provide for the completion by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of cedain licensing actions prior to the transfer of the land and byproduct material to the United States or the appropriate State for long-term care.

This paper will discuss NRC's experience over the past several years in the licensing of commercial uranium mill sites for long-term care, including:

(1) Preparation of a license-termination procedure that identifies the specific steps that NRC will follow in terminating the license for a commercial uranium mill site and placing the

! site under license to a long-term custodian; (2) Completion of a working protocol between NRC and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that describes the interactions between the respective regulatory agency and the anticipated long-term custodian for potentially all commercial mill sites; (3) NRC's experience, including lessons learned, in terminating the licenses for two uranium mill sites, and transferring custody to these sites to DOE for long-term care; and (4) NRC's interactions with individual States and other interested parties in the license-termination / site-transfer process.

Introduction The Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, (the Act) provides the statutory requirements for the transfer of custody to the byproduct material and any land used for the disposal of such material from a Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Centrol Act of 1978, as amended (UMTRCA),

Title Il licensee to either Federal or State control, prior to the termination of the site-specific license. Two particular requirements in the Act that pertain to license termination are:

(1) Section 83b(7), which requires that the transfer of byproduct material be at no cost to the 9905260123 990506 PDR WASTE WM--54 PDR

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assure a smooth transition of NRC-licensed sites fron, se commercial licensee to the DOE, and (2) assure that potentially troublesome or time-consuming issues are not overlooked accidentally during the site transition process. Additional details of this protocol are provided in a following discussion.

Given a determination that all applicable standards and requirements have been met, the site LTSP is acceptable, and the long-term surveillance charge has been paid, NRC completes the following relevant licensing actions: (1) terminating the commercial license by letter addressed l to the commercial licensee; (2) placing the site under the general license in 10 CFR 40.28; (3) providing notice in the Federal Register of the completion of these licensing actions; and (4) informing appropriate Federal and State officials directly of the license termination and site transfer.

Following license termination and site transfer, a commercial licensee's remaining liability extends solely to any fraudulent or negligent acts committed prior to transfer of the site to the custodial agency, as provided in Section 83b(6) of the Act.

NRC/ DOE License Termination and Site Transfer Protocol l For the DOE to be able to assume its responsibilities as long-term custodian, NRC and the DOE must accomplish a series of activities in a timely manner. Therefore, NRC and the DOE have I developed a License Termination / Site Transfer Protocol, with the stated purpose of assuring a smooth transition of uranium mill sites from the commercial licensee to the DOE. This cooperative agreement, which was completed in February 1998, is based on the experience I gained by NRC and the DOE in the termination and transfer oflicenses for two commercial uranium mill sites.

Through this protocol, NRC and the DOE identify (1) potentially troublesome or time-consuming administrative or technical issues related to long-term licensing, and (2) the respective agency roles and responsibilities to ensure, to the extent possible, that these issues, particularly those involving regulatory jurisdiction, are resolved early in the process and do not delay the transfer of sites to the DOE. The protocol also clearly identifies for commercial licensees those issues that are of mutual concern to NRC and the potential custodial agency.

In this way, a licensees can work, to the extent possible, to minimize these issues as far as its  ;

panicular site is concerned, and thereby allow the license-termination and site-transfer process j for the site to proceed with minimal delays. '

License Termination and Site Transfer Observations l To date, NRC has terminated the commercial licenses for the Tennessee Valky Authority's mill l site near Edgemont, South Dakota and Atla'itic Richfield Company's mill site near Bluewater, New Mexico, and placed them under license to the DOE for long-term care. Based on this experience, several observations and insights can be made.

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- l long-term custodian, and (2) Section 83c, which requires that NRC conclude all requirements  !

applicable to the site-specific license be met before the license is terminated.

The technical requirements applicable to the long-term stabilization of uranium mill tailings are codified in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 40 (10 CFR Part 40). Pertinent requirements laid out in Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 40 (hereinafter, Appendix A) and at 10 CFR 40.28, " General license for custody and long-term care of uranium or thorium byproduct materials disposal sites," provide for the completion of certain licensing actions prior to the transfer of the land and byproduct material to a custodial agency (either the United States or the appropriate State) for long-term care.

NRC's Procedures for License Termination The NRC staff's procedures for this license-termination process and the subsequent site transfer were formalized originally in 1996, and are based on legislative mandates provided in the Act, regulatory requirements in 10 CFR Part 40, and guidance contained in NRC staff technical  ;

positions. As NRC and the other involved parties gain experience in the liceue-termination and  !

site-transfer process, it is expected that these procedures will mature. I Successful license termination and site transfer involves the completion of a number of activities 1 on the part of NRC, the commercial licensee, and the custodial agency. In the following discussion, the roles and responsibilities of each of these organizations are outlined.

Licensee Documentation of Completed Site Remedial and Decomraissioning Actions Under Section 83c of the Act, prior to license termination, NRC must determine whether a commercial uranium mill licensee has met all applicable standards and requirements under its NRC license. By conditions in their licenses, commercial licensees conduct site decontamination and decommissioning activities, and surface and ground-water remedial actions consistent with the NRC-approved decommissioning, reclamation, and ground-water corrective action plans.

Therefore, the NRC staffs determination under Section 83c must be based upon a review of pertinen: licensee submittals that document the completion of site decommissioning, reclamation, and, if necessary, ground-water cleanup, in accordance with an NRC-approved plan or plans.

Documentation of CompletedSurface Remedial Actions Although commercial licensees are required to :omplete surface reclamation in accordance with an NRC-approved plan, currently, there is no statutory or regulatory requirement for a licensee to submit formal documentation that the tailings disposal cell was reclaimed in accordance with the approved plan. However, for the NRC staff to determine, in a timely and efficient manner, that all applicable standards and requirements have been met, come form of documentation is necessary. ,,

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Therefore, when reclamation of the tailings disposa, all is completed, the NRC staff requests that commercial licensees submit, for NRC review, a repon detailing the conduct and completion of the r6clamation construction activities. This Constmetion Completion Report (CCR) consists primarily of quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) records and as-built drawings of the disposal cell. Accurate QA/QC records and photographs kept by a licensee during cell construction are imponant input into the NRC staffs determination that reclamation has been conducted and completed in accordance with the approved plan.

If a commercial licensee does not submit a CCR or similar report, it will be necessary for the NRC staff to conduct a detailed technical review in order to meet its responsibilities under Section 83c of the Act. This review could involve several site visits and signi6 cant confirmation testing and would likely involve NRC staffin the following technical disciplines: geotechnical engineering, surface water and erosion protection, and soil radiation cleanup. In the absence of QA/QC records or in the case ofinadequate records, NRC may require the commercial licensee to conduct appropriate sampling of those portions of the completed cell that are in question (e.g., of the radon barrier). If a licensee is unwilling to do so or unable to comply, the NRC staff or its contrrtors wil. conduct the sampling, and bill the licensee for the costs involved.

Documentation of Gapleted Site Decommissioning Commercial licensees also are required under 10 CFR 40.42(i) to document the results of site decommissioning, which is accomplished by conducting a radiation survey of the premises where the licensed activities were carried out. The results of this survey, the contents of which are specified at 10 CFR 40.42(i)(2), are submitted to NRC for review. Additional documentation pertinent to site decommissioning and soil cleanup may be required by speci6c conditions in the commercial license.

The NRC staff relies on site inspections as the primary means of determining acceptable implementation of the licensee's approved decommissioning plan, especially in regards to soil cleanup. These inspections involve: (1) reviews of procedures, (2) evaluations cf procedure implementation, (3) evaluations of records and quality assurance, and (4) limited gamma surveys and soil sampling. In this way, the staff gains a needed level of conUdence in the licensee's performance to support its evaluation of the final decommissioning survey report. Con 6rmatory sampling, either by NRC or its contractors, can be conducted at sites for which additional con 6rmation beyond inspections is necessary. Specific criteria will be employed to identify l those sites requiring con 6rmatory sampling.

1 Documentation of Completed Ground-water Corrective Actions Criteria SA-5D, along with Criterion 13, of Appendix A incorporate the basic ground-water protection standards imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 40 CFR Part 192, Subparts D and E. These standards apply during the period of mill operations and up until the completion of reclamation and decommissioning. At a commercially licensed site, if these ground-water protection standards are exceeded, the licensee is required to implement a ground-water corrective action program (CAP). The objective of the g ound-water CAP is to return the

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hazardous constituent concentrations in the affected ground water to the concentration limits set I by NRC as the site-specific standards.

Ground-water cleanup must be completed before NRC can terminate the commercial license. 1 For licensees with continuing ground-water cleanup, NRC approval is required for the termination of corrective action. Approval is based on licensee-submitted ground-water monitoring data and other information that provide reasonable assurance that the ground water has been cleaned to meet the appropriate standards.

At license termination, licensees will be required to sample for all constituents that (1) either are (a) identified currently in Criterion 13 of Appendix A, or (b) not listed in Criterion 13 but are identified in a license condition; and (2) have been previously identified in the tailings liquor.

The NRC staff's review of these sampling results will focus on ensuring that the concentrations of all previously identified hazardous constituents are within established standards. As discussed above, NRC will not terminate a commercial license while a ground-water CAP is in operation.

Observational Period Although no statutory or regulatory requirement exists for an observational period following the completion of surface remedial actions, some interval of time is necessary for NRC to assess the potential long-term stability of the tailings disposal cell. The length of this period is determined on a site-specific basis, with a minimum period of one year, commencing at the completion of l

the final disposal cell erosion cover. For some sites, a defacto observational period will occur simply because cleanup of ground-water contamination continues following disposal cell construction. The occurrence and repair of significant cell degradation (e.g., the development of erosional features) during the observational period provides important input into the determination of the final long-term site surveillance charge.

Preparation of the Long-Term Surveillance Plan Prior to license termination and site transfer, it is the responsibility of the long-term custodial agency ta submit a site Long-Term Surveillance Plan (LTSP) to NRC for review and acceptance.

In the LTSP, the custodial agency identifies the legal description of the site to be transferred, the conditions of the remediated site, the proposed site inspection frequency, the extent of expected  !

ground-water monitoring, and the criteria for instituting maintenance or emergency measures.

Custodial agencies are required, under 10 CFR 40.28(c)(1) and (c)(2), to implement the I long-term surveillance provisions and activities of the accepted LTSP.  ;

Because the LTSP must reflect the remediated condition of the site, it is expected that  !

commercial licensees will work with the custodial agency in the preparation of this document.

This cooperation may involve the licensee supplying the custodial agency with appropriate documentation (e.g., as-built drawings) of the remedial actions taken and reaching formal or informal agreements with the custodial agency regarding the necessary long-term surveillance control featuas of the site (e.g., boundary markers, fencing). The commercial licensee may even v

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- elect to help prepare the LTSP, to whatever degree .., ogreed upon between the licensee and the custodial agency.

It is the NRC staff's responsibility to review and accept the LTSP. Upon NRC acceptance of the plan and a favorable determination under Section 83c of the Act, NRC can terminate the commercial license and transfer control of the site to the custodial agency for long-term care and l surveillance under the general license provided at 10 CFR 40.28.

Long-Term Site Surveillance Funding Section 83b(7) of the Act requires that, other than the administrative and legal costs incurred, the byproduct material and land shall be transferred without cost to the United States or a State.

Therefore, in accordance with Criterion 10 of Appendix A, the commercial licensee is required to pay a minimum charge of $250,000 (in 1978 U.S. dollars) to cover the long-term costs of site surveillance. This minimum charge is based, in part, upon a design assumption in Appendix A that no ongoing active maintenance of site conditians by the custodial agency should be necessary to preservt. isolation of the tailings from the environment. h It is NRC's responsibility to determine the final amount to be paid by the commercial licensee.

At the time oflicense termination, the minimum charge will be increased to reflect inflation and possibly escalated further based on surveillance costs and long-term monitoring controls beyond those expected. A situation which may lead to the escalation of this charge is the recognition that some degree of active care (e.g., fence upkeep, vegetation control, maintenance of erosional control features) is necessary to preserve the as-designed conditions of the site. This need should become apparent in the course of site observations during the reclamation and observational periods.

Escalation also could result from a licensee's proposal of alternatives to the requirements in Appendix A, as allowed under Section 84c of the Act. For example, a licensee could demonstrate by analysis that the only mechanism for achieving a minimum disposal cell design life of 200 years at its site is through the use of ongoing maintenance. NRC may approve such a design ifit finds that the design will achieve a level of stabilization and containment for the site concerned, and a level of protection of public health and safety and of the environment which is equivalent to, to the extent practicable, or more stringent than, the level which would be achieved by NRC's requirements. However, the licensee likely would be required to place additional funds in the long-term surveillance charge to cover the costs of the ongoing maintenance.

NRC's process for determining the final amount includes consultations with the commercial licensee and the custodial agency. However, any final variance in the funding requirements is determined solely by NRC. The U.S. general treasury or the appropriate State agency must receive payment of the final amount from the licensee before the commercial license can be terminated.

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Termination of the Specific License / Issuance of the General License The actual termination of a commercial license and the subsequent placement of the site under the general license provisions of 10 CFR 40.28 involves a number of separate actions to be completed by NRC. Significant internal coordination is required so that these actions are completed in an efficient and timely manner, thereby ensuring that the byproduct material and any land used for the disposal of such byproduct material remain under NRC license throughout the process.

NRC Determination under Section 83c of the Act As discussed previously, NRC's determination that all applicable standards and requirements have been met will rely primarily upon the NRC staff's reviews and acceptance of the documentation provided by the commercial licensee. In addition, NRC site closure inspection activities, potentially including limited confirmatory radiological smveys, will provide supplemental information to NRC's determination.

NRCReview and Acceptance of the LTSP The NRC staff's acceptance of an LTSP will be documented in written notification to the custodial agency, with copies provided to the commercial licensee and the appropriate State officials.

If an acceptable LTSP has not been received by NRC for a reclaimed site ready for transfer to the custodial agency, two options are available to NRC. First, if appropriate, the Commission may choose to not terminate the existing license for a short period of time, while awaiting an acceptable LTSP. Alternately, under 10 CFR 40.28, NRC may issue a specific order to the custodial agency to take custody of the site and to commence long-term surveihance, while the agency prepares the LTSP for final NRC acceptance. However, a substantial supporting basis would be required to support NRC issuance of such an order.

Transfer ofSite Control to the Custodial Agency Section 83 of the Act provides that, prior to termination of the commercial license, title to the site and byproduct materials shall be transferred to either (1) the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),

(2) another Federal agency designated by the President of the United States, or (3) the State in which the site is located, at the option of the State. The State's "right of first refusal" may be exercised either on an individual site basis or so as to cover all mill sites within the State's limits.

To date, of the seven States in which mills are located, only the States of South Dakota and New Mexico have formally indicated their desire not to become long-term custodians of sites within their boundaries.

NRC expects that the DOE will be the custodial agency for most, if not all, of the sites.

Therefore, in anticipation of this occurrence, NRC and the DOE have developed a working protocol to (1) identify areas of mutual cooperation, necessary for both NRC and the DOE to

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First, completion of the process is both time- and labor-intensive, requiring a need for clear and open lines of communication between NRC, the commercial licensee, and the custodial agency.

This is particularly important during the actual period of the license termination and site transfer when close contact between the organizations is necessary.

Also, the commercial licensee's role in the successful and timely completion of the process cannot be overemphasized. NRC's ability to terminate the license and the DOE's ability to accept the site are dependent on the commercial licensee meeting its responsibilities. For example, the speed and efGciency with which NRC can complete its reviews pursuant to Section 83c of the Act is directly related to how well the licensee completes and documents site reclamation. In addition, if a commercial licensee is aware of State permitting or regulatory issues that affect its site, the licensee should take a proactive approach in addressing and resolving these issues to avoid delays in license termination.

1 Differences in NRC and State regulations also can cause con 0icts, particularly in the area of ground-water remediation where State standards may be more stringent for certain parameters.

However, from the NRC's point of view, the license-termination and site-trarafer process for the two licenses that were terminated is an excellent example to States of how to allow the license-termination process to work and not over-complicate the issues. Because regulatory authority concerning the disposition of mill sites has been delegated to NRC under the Act, the Federal government has the ultimate responsibility in this process, and States can help implement the process by not seeking to revisit decisions. By actively working with the DOE and the commercial licensees regarding issues that potentially affect the termination of current licenses for mill sites, States can help ensure that these actions will aid in the timely termination of licenses and transfer of site control. Where issues exist with State regulatory agencies, it is important that the commercial licensees, the custodial agency, NRC, and the State begin open and active dialogue. Without doing so, there could be unresolved issues that impact the ability to terminate licenses and begin long-term care.

Conclusion The NRC staff has developed procedures to terminate the licenses for UMTRCA Title 11 uranium mill sites and transfer custody to the byproduct material and the land used for the disposal of such material to either Federal or State control for long-term surveillance. To date, these procedures have been applied effectively for two mill sites. In addition, NRC has developed a protocol with the DOE, the likely long-term custodian for the majority, if not all, of the Title 11 mill sites, with the expressed purpose of assuring the smooth transition of these sites from the commercial licensee to the DOE.

Within the next 10 years, NRC expects that approximately 12 commercial uranium mill sites will have their NRC licenses terminated. The NRC staff considers that it has, in place, an effective and efficient program for terminating these licenses and transferring these sites to a custodial agency for long-term care and surveillance. ,

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